I'm very new to this type of thing, which type of cacti

[stonewolf]

I originally found this sight out of interest of san pedro and its spiritual and recreational uses...after reading some topics i discovered i wouldnt mind taking a bit more of an interest than just for their contained chemicals. Can anyone tell me how much a san pedro would cost and its availability in brisbane..also, can someone possibly suggest something else to grow.

[Dodie]

San Pedro aka Trichocereus pachanoi are generally the cheapest of the medicinal cacti.

Most say their worth around $1 per cm

Best bang for your buck for san pedro Imo

www.funkyfungus.org owned by forum member rev

www.gomaosgarden.com owned by forum member gomaos

just get into contact with one of them and they will help you out.

Other cacti to grow

Trichocereus bridgesii - more potent than pachs but are more likely to get rot

[DuG]

stonewolf a warning, growing cacti is adictive, you start off with one, then ne3xt thing you know you are after every species and strain

brisvagas should be a great place to grow, just watch out for rot.

another place is SAB They have heaps of stuff you might find interesting

[incognito]

thats weird.

in my limited experience growing cacti i have never lost a lageniformis (bridgesii) to rot of any kind.

i have lost a few pachanois though(and only up here in the subtropics).

however in orange my lageniformis used to get frost damage on the tips(over winter ur lageniformis undercover if u live in a heavy frost area, i dont know about lageniformis hybrids though, i think i recall ed telling me eileen receives full frost over winter?), which would soon turn to mush, until i moved them under cover, where they soon recovered.

i can honestly say that at sab i have never thrown out an echinopsis lageniformis from rot of any description.

Maybee that is because of the genetics of the cacti, and perhaps previous ones that did exhibit susceptibility where culled accordingly before my time there( none that ive heard of-yet)??.

However new strains at sab and palnts in my own collection that are not in sabs stock have not shown any signs of rot problems.

I have not had any scale problems as well working with lageniformis(and lageniformis hybrids) i might add.(could the scale thing be due to higher alkaloid content and diversity? just a thought)

I have, in regards to pachanoi, had to throw the odd (very few) pachanoi exhibiting black rot and control aphid predation, both at sab and in my own collection(not lageniformis/pachanoi hybrids though).

this is all in my brief experience though, im sure i could live to eat my words!!

but yeah, no problems from me with lageniformis only a couple with pachanoi, they are both beautiful,

amazing, healing plants. God bless em

.

Edited July 19, 2006 by jono

[Gunter]

I'd go for the T. bridgesii, aka E. lageniformis (I don't use the newer taxonomy because of the problems with the inclusion and the poor descriptions)

I'd also add that I find bridgesii grows in the same conditions as my other cacti of this group.

Species of interest, using the more widely accepted taxonomy as opposed to the very controversial newer epithets, include but are not limited to:

T. pachanoi

many forms exists for this name, perhaps more than a dozen

T. peruvianus

at least 3 distinct forms carry this name

T. pallarensis

a very interesting species having some traits like some forms of peruvianus and bridgesii but not seeming to be a hybrid in any recent sense

T. scopulicolus

Two distinct forms seem to carry this epithet

T. bridgesii

a few distinct forms seem to carry this name as well

T. macrogonus

a questionable name that may just be a refference to a form of T peruvianus( or vice versa)

T. riomizquensis

A nice form said to be allied with the scop

I'll stop for now.

Please note that some of these names, although representing real plants, are not going to be found outside of horticulture.

In 8 years I have collected over 50 different forms, species, clones and hybrids of San Pedro and found them all beautiful plants. They are all easy to grow in my experience and all seem to have very similar cultivation requirements. Some are more or less tolerant of cold, wet or sun than others but once you get used to them you can tell if they are happy or not so to speak and adjust as needed.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Archaea

[stonewolf]

great, thanks for the advise guys. Only problem i found with it is how to pronounce those names. San Pedro is one thing, the actaul names of each cacti is another >_>