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zed240

Skinny bottomed scopulicola, bury or not?

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I'm going to plant these 2 seed grown scops into my mums brand new garden most likely tomorrow. They're each about 30cm and the bottom half, especially on the second one, is really quite thin while the tops are fattening up nicely.

So what do you think, bury them a bit deeper so the thinner part is under the soil? Or just plant them like they are now with the skinny parts out of the ground? I thought planting them a bit deeper might make them a little more sturdy for when they grow up nice and fat.

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nice looking scops mate, I'd Bury them deeper.

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it wont matter how deep you bury them, as soon as the plant establishes itself in the ground it will increase in girth substantially.

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Thanks guys.

Yeah, I thought they'd fatten up when I moved them from their small pots into the ground orginally but the bottom hasn't gotten any fatter and it was about a year ago I did that, but the new growth is certainly a lot fatter than the bottom... I know a year isn't really long enough to get properly established though...

So you'd just recommend planting them at the same depth they are now then, Zelly?

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beautiful plants btw, I would go with zelly. You have more plant to receive sun aswell

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I was just slightly worried about it becoming too "club like" and possible getting too top heavy for the base at some stage in a few years.

Here's another one of mine that has a pretty thin base compared to the fat top. This is a bit over a metre tall, there's knife at the bottom for scale. This is the kind of skinny bottomed scop I was hoping to minimise.

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This is the kind of skinny bottomed scop I was hoping to minimise.

how do you know that your skinny bottomed scop wont throw out two or three branches right at the skinny spot, thus making it fatter than ever before? :wink:

but yeah you could transplant the two into a bit deeper holes, just make sure the soil around the green stems is very well draining

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This is the natural growth habit of Saguaro cactus in the wild - with a thin stem supporting a HUGE plant. This condition results from the way a young, small cactus becomes the root stock for the plant later in life.

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not that I know alot about planting them in the ground and I certainly think Scop is more likely to thicken up than the Saguaro, but if you have some strong winds in your area i'd probably bury it deeper.. just something to think about but not to worry too much... the wind usually goes around them but I know scops can get pretty heavy clubbed heads or at least they look heavy... Saguaros are a much woodier plant I would think and a plant that handles more extemes whereas triches come from more temperate zones and not they can't handle it but they just haven't spent as many centuries evolving that way.... thats a pretty neat pic tho.. just wow .. really I think either way is fine but i'd just go deeper for looks and sturdiness early on, or maybe even grow out a fat tip and plant it, and replant the smaller base to produce tips or something

I don't think more sunlight is a big deal cause they grow fast enough and more roots can only help but probably a good idea what

zelly said to make sure the soil around drains well... but I wouldn't do a big hole full of sandy soil surrounded by clay or you'll just

get a pool and soil that turns to "pudding" eh im sure most ppl probably know that already tho

also if you have freezes in your area i'd bury deeper.. the reason i say that is my experience so far.. I have several skinny necked plants that simply bent over at the necks over the winter but that was in pots... im not sure how cold it got to trigger it, was pretty damn cold and I had to replant a few because of that ... the freezes we get here are the same reason i have none in the ground but im gonna try a few in raised beds and then cover the beds over wintertime to keepem dry and also im gonna plant some cold hardy ones on opuntia stock that is root hardy and see if things work out.. i guess if you plant them in the ground regularly then you are obviously in a warmer zone than me lol oh well its 4:30 am here

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Thought I've give people an update.

Due in part to my laziness and procrastination at removing the small skinny-bottomed scops from my garden to re-plant I ended up going with an Eileen (with a pup that I found when removing from the pot), 3 pronged Yowie stump and another slightly larger scop that I had in pots. Big ups to -YT- for providing the Eileen and Yowie cuts to me late last year. I have some of his other Eileen cuts in the ground at my place and have since got more Yowie at my place too, so thought this would be a great opportunity to give these ones more legroom.

But don't worry! Your information will not go to waste! I will be putting the other 2 smaller skinny bottomed scops that I posted about and one other cactus on the opposite side of the garden in the next week or 2 to balance it out and make the garden symmetrical again. There's a range of fruit trees all around the edges of this garden, there will be 9 fruit trees in total, (with about 4 still to be put in to fill the spaces that have been left on purpose), and there will be a native garden, (save for 2 citrus), in the area that these plants surround with a spot for people to sit in the middle and bask in the garden's glory. ;)

Eileen, Yowie and Scop (the order from left to right that they are in the ground in the 2nd pic)

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