How old would this be?

[dundee]

Hi all, I have been on the road this week for work, and come across a couple of cacti that I am not sure what they are, and was also wondering how old anyone reckons the larger one is.

I got talking to a guy who works on the farm, he come over when he saw me taking photos, he reckons it is somewhere about 80-100 years old, I really don't know, my cacti knowledge is bugger all, do they live this long?

Also I saw the other smaller one yesterday at a job I was at, was wondering what sort of cactus it is also, any help is greatly appreciated, cheers.

[ballzac]

First is Cereus. Second is the predominant cultivar of Trichocereus pachanoi. As for age...anyones guess. It could get to that size in much less than eighty years if conditions were right, but could just as easily be older.

[solomon]

wow lovely specimen

first plant looks to be a Cereus.

second plant looks like Trichocereus pachanoi (san pedro)

...looks like i got beat to it

Edited December 9, 2010 by centipede

[MORG]

I've seen a Cereus that tall, growing up against and clearing the roof of a two-story apartment block. The apartment block clearly wasn't built around the cactus and couldn't have been older than 1970's. So the cactus could be as young as 20-30 years.

[dundee]

Cheers guys, I was definitely on the right track for the smaller one, as for the big one I was lost, thanks for confirming my suspicions, guess I'll have to have a nice little chat with the owner on the pedro, knew I should have asked for a cut anyway, well I'll be back to his place in a couple of months.

Edited December 9, 2010 by dundee

[dundee]

Ok, 20-30 years,.....yeah sounds more like it, in one photo you can see the cactus growing through the fence wire, pretty sure that fence ain't been there for 80-100years

[ballzac]

I've seen a Cereus that tall, growing up against and clearing the roof of a two-story apartment block. The apartment block clearly wasn't built around the cactus and couldn't have been older than 1970's. So the cactus could be as young as 20-30 years.

I wouldn't say that it's the height so much as the bulk, because they tend not to grow much taller than that anyway. But yeah, there's plenty of them out there that can't be very old and have gotten massive.

[shruman]

Yeah I agree with zac, That cactus is a very thick clump, I've seen 20-30 yr old specimens & they were that tall but very sparsely branched compared to that beast.

The stump on that thing is amazing, twisted & gnarled & looking genuinely massive, looks pushed to one side sort of?, maybe fell over in the past. Also seems to exhibit some previous limb removal & I'm not sure why the wire is in there but thought perhaps some sort of maintainence on the plant, anyway theres evidence of maintainence so I'd be inclined to think it may have had a haircut or 2 in its life.

100-80 yrs ago was an interesting time for cactus in OZ, it appears to me this was a time when alot of cactus importation & dissemination was going on.

I think its old & could very well be the best part of a century.

Also there are a few species of cereus that are hard to distinguish, from what I ve seen Cereus peruvianus (which I think yours is) does'nt get as tall as some of the others. I also think they tend to grow taller if they are shaded, just overcoming an obstacle.

I seen a Cereus hybrid that was truly massive a 10 yr odd old plant with a 10" stem & that was at chest height & almost as tall as the 20-30 yr old cereus around it.

Nice finds

Edited December 9, 2010 by shruman

[dundee]

The farm worker reckons that there is a whole lot of cactus spread around the farm and house, would be interesting to go for a tour with him of the property

[bogfrog]

oh yeah definately worth going for a wander! i'd say the cereus would be 80-100 too its got some major density