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Black Rainbow

Please help me organise my cactus!

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Hi,

 

I have had these trichocereus for five or six years, a little under two years ago I removed them all from pots and put them in the ground. The first picture shows where I put them.

I want to remove all the pups, root them and plant them separately. I am also wondering if the bottom right guy (second picture) and bottom left guy (third and fourth pictures) should be removed and put in pots because they are so slow growing, to give more room to the other guys. I also feel like top left (fifth picture) might need a prune.

 

Any advice or opinions on this would be appreciated, I would be also interested to hear any opinions on IDs. I lost the labels for these some time ago.

 

Bonus photo number six of longfolia flowers on the spines of what I think is a T. peruvianus semi monstrose.

 

Thanks!

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Looks ok but it could really do with a couple changes.

 

So first of all the only one to prune is that one in the 5th pic, but even then you might be better off staking it up rather than removing it to help the plant grow better. 

 

The other ones are not really large or vigorous enough to take cuttings from yet. They will grow weak and skinny in the pot, so better off leaving them to actually help the plants get bigger and stronger for now.

 

My advice would be to consider transplanting them into a new, raised garden bed in a sunnier spot (against a fence is often pretty good).

 

Even if you can't move them, you should at least dig them up and raise your garden bed.

 

Give them what they want and they'll grow like beasts. Then you can take plenty of cuttings. But taking them too early will only slow down those sulky plants even more.

 

your last pic looks nice and healthy. What are you doing different with that one?

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if those plants have been through two growing seasons in the ground, methinks something is wrong with the soil or planting method (or possibly the climate), the roots are not growing well. Halcyon is on to it. Dig em all up, improve the soil, trim the roots (check for bugs) (if they were in pots for a long time you may have planted them in root-bound state - it's ok/necessary to remove 1/3rd to 1/2 of the roots prior to planting in the ground otherwise the roots will continue to grow around in a circle), stick them back in, don't cut them at all. If you are in a wet area do away with the gravel just dig it into the soil for drainage. A yellow plant placed in good soil should become green within the first two seasons, ideally the first season, a plant the size of the bridgessii (back right) should grow a minimum of 6 inches and develop a 'club' shape in its first year in the ground. The two little plants will take forever to grow into decent plants especially since they appear to have damage at the tip, i'd put them back in pots or chuck them in the bin in the nicest way possible.

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Thanks guys,

 

Some info on their growth since putting them in the ground; the main column on back right (which I think is a bridgesii x psycho0) has grown ~15cm and the two pups have grown ~40cm + each since I removed them from the pot. The centre left has had ~30cm of growth on one column, while the back left’s smaller column has grown ~20cm in height and gained ~5cm in girth. Bottom left and bottom right have pupped since being put in the ground.

 

How do I decide between staking and pruning back left?

 

I am thinking I will remove front left and front right and put them in pots until they are bigger. They were damaged by a friends dog, but I don’t think I could bear to throw them in the bin. I didn’t trim the roots of any cactus before I put it in the ground, will I need to trim them after I dig them up, before I repot them?

 

I was intending to build this garden bed up to the height of the wooden railway sleepers on the border of the area. Should I remove all the cactus before I do this? I was contemplating putting the additional soil mix in without removing the cactus (besides bottom left and right, which I will remove), to avoid damaging the roots – but maybe the roots need a trim, in which case I will need to dig them up.

 

I think the problems are soil and planting methods – the other trichocereus that I have not removed from pots are doing well. I didn’t do much to the soil in the garden before I planted it, but it was good stuff in the pots.

Edited by Wile E. Peyote
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If you do dig them up & trim the roots try not to cross contaminate anything with whatever you cut the roots with. Clean the implement with metho between each plant. Also whenever you damage cactus roots it can be a good idea to leave the plant unpotted/unplanted for a few days for the cuts to callus over. It's not absolutely necessary for trichs but for more sensitive things like lophs it very important. If you don't feel like leaving them unpotted or unplanted you can shove them back in the ground if it's fairly dry soil and don't water them for a few days. Damaged roots are very susceptible to fungal attack especially in wet soil..

It wouldn't hurt to do PH test on the soil either.

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