Fast Food Cacti Please check my math as I'd really like a clear answer

[Inyan]

 Simply buying a specimen and growing it out. I call this the Fast food or McDonald's Cacti way. 

I see it as a reflection of our cultural dependency on having things seemingly fast and easy. Not that it is always the case. 

2018 12 inches

2018-2019 24 inches

2019-2020 36 inches

2020-2021  48 inches

Growing via cutting... 

2018 you have 12 inches of cacti. You grow for 1 year. Now 2019 you have a  single 24 inch tall cacti.

 

2019 divide into 2 pieces 12 inches each.

 

grow 1 year add 1 foot each

 

2019-2020 =  2 pieces 24 inches = 48 inches

 

2020 divide into 4 pieces = 12 inches each = 48 inches total

 

grow 1 year add 1 foot each

 

2020-2021 = 4 pieces  24 inches each = 96 inches total

 

2021 divide into 8 pieces 12 inches each = 96 inches total

 

Slab grafting...You could also take that 12 inch specimen in 2018 and divide it up 12 times into 1 inch slabs.

 

Grafting those 1 inch slabs 2018 onto 12 foot tall specimens and you have now channeled that same growth into your 1 inch slab that you would normally get per yer. However, Subtracting 12 inches of growth for the initial recovery and budding of that graft.

 

2018-2019 no growth or budding only 12 buds formed. In all likelihood, you will indeed have growth that first year. 

2019-2020 12 inches of growth via bud gives you 12 specimens 12 inches tall = 144 inches total growth

2020-2021= another 12 inches of growth gives you 12 specimens 24 inches tall or 24 specimens 12 inches in height = 288 inches total growth

 

Halving your 1 inch slabs width wise

Now, should you decide to cut your 1 inch slabs in half and graft you will double from the start.

2018 = 24  slabs 1 inch in height/cut in half width wise.

2018-2019 no growth or only budding

2019-2020 12 inches of growth via budding gives you 24 specimens all 12 inches in height for 288 inches of total growth.

2020-2021 another 12 inches of growth gives you 24 specimens all 24 inches in height or 576 inches in total growth.

 

Areole grafting...

How many areoles do you have per 12 inches of cacti? Again, give it a year to bud, but highly suggest use of growth hormones to expedite this process if your impatient. 

 

It makes sense to graft and or take cuttings if you wish to expedite the growth of your collection. And as one can graft new seedlings a few weeks old to a 12 inch tall Trichocereus or taller even, it really does not make sense not to grow your own specimens from seed as well.

 

 

 

 

[od101010]

I can't afford fast food so i have to take a snack pack, seedlings is my only option ;) should have a mighty collection by 2021 lol

Edited March 24, 2018 by od101010

[Inyan]

1 hour ago, od101010 said:

I can't afford fast food so i have to take a snack pack, seedlings is my only option ;) should have a mighty collection by 2021 lol

 

I think it goes without saying I'm with you on the seed train as being one of the best options in the long haul for those willing to make that same investment time as you see above you should have many specimens and perhaps even a few that are blooming by the same time as it would take to acquire the above sized specimens from cutting. Especially so if one is working with early flowering genetics like L.E.R. and some of the others that are known to flower at 2 years of age from seed or less than 2 ft in height.