New Trichocereus

[solomon]

Just received this beautiful cutting in the mail today from someone moving overseas.

It's grown from seed labelled as T. macrogonus

What are your guys opinons on what this could be?

[Gunter]

But then spines reflect PAR, so a long spined peruvianoid will grow short spines when it is is exposed to lower light levels. So it is really hard to make the distinction between Mac and peruvianus one of spines, otherwise a shade grown peruvianus is a Mac, and a sun grown Mac is a peruvianus.

[Teotzlcoatl]

I say leave "macrogonus" out of it.

[mutant]

ok , what's PAR

my plants are growing in the same place....

I admit I have no great experience in growing peruvs, and they seem to go slow compared to cuzcos, but there is definately varieties that are indeed spiney and non cuzco AND distinct plants like icaros that grow small spines. I got two of them , seed growing, into maturity now and have seen many many photos . if these are peruvians too, then maybe the best would be

peruvianus var true blue [dedicated to teotz]

peruvianus var macrogonus

and cuzco on its own catergory, with lots of fat spines per areole and fast growing and, on a side note, shamanically uninteresting

except you are suggesting macrogonus is a cross between peruv and cuzco, which might make sense, I don't know what you're up to, you seem to underestimate some of what lots of people seem to be suggesting, which is pretty serious and solid in my eyes, me being only couple years into cacti, but lots more into identification and taxonomy.

how long have been growing Trichos in USDA 9 ?

[Gunter]

not long for this zone, just about a year

before i was in USDA 5b and grew them for 10+ years there

I forget the year i started, it was maybe 13 years ago?

I've grown a lot of peruvianoid material out from seed of various sources and as cuttings as well.

I've grown several plants distributed as macrogonus as well.

I've sown seed sold as macrogonus that grew out bolivian giants like validus also.

most KK macrogonus seeds seem to be close to validus

PAR is Photosynthetically Active Radiation. Here are some titles you can look up that deal with them.

Park S Nobel is like a hero to me.

Spine influences on PAR interception, stem temperature, and nocturnal acid accumulation by cacti

by P S Nobel

Branching Patterns of Columnar Cacti: Influences on PAR Interception and CO2 Uptake

by G N Geller, P S Nobel

Basically spines cast shade so plants only grow robust spines under brighter conditions.

I am not an expert in terms of cacti but I am obsessed with them.

As to cuzcoensis, i believe it might be a feral form of plants cultivated in antiquity allied with puq, tarma form and schoenii. i believe that the alleles of the cuzco population are homozygous recessive and that a minority of plants in the cuzco population may be heterozygous. I believe that genetic drift can explain the differences between cuzco and its allied forms. but... well that is a whole different topic.

Edited September 9, 2011 by Archaea

[Teotzlcoatl]

I am not an expert in terms of cacti but I am obsessed with them.

 

I consider you, Mr.Trout, Smith, the owner of S.S. and a few others to be Trichocereus experts, likely unsurpassed in your knowledge of the genus by no one else in the entire world.

Maybe I can include myself among that list in 10 or more years or so of study.... I've already been at it 6-7 years!

[mutant]

thanks for the hints, I appreciate a lot.

you went to the right climate, alright!

I think I got this from the begining, that their spine potential reaches its max at max brightness and direct sun. And its true for all spiny cacti overall. I am lucky to be in a good climate too, 9a or something

at first I didn't like spiny cacti... I mean the first 5-6 months. now I have 20+ ferocacti, lol

[bit]

Lol it's probably from the same seed source. Assuming yours were from a NZ importer that has since stopped selling them?

If so, do you have any idea where they came from originally?

Loving the furry areoles.

 

Yeah, that's the one. Still no idea where the seed came from, however, a logical assumption would be a SS or another big online retailer as he had a lot of seeds, and a decent variety that I don't think anyone in NZ offers.

[pinegapcontrol]

Personally i have largely given up on ID's. The amount of variation due to so many factors is just too much to make a solid decision without being able to monitor individual plants over extended periods. And even that is not definitive. Going from photos just creates confusion in my opinion. If i like it i grow it and i will name things to keep track of my own collection. I will also label things " sold as" or "purchased as" I Have seen too much variation in plants due to many factors, known and unknown, to be confident making almost any ID except basic pach, bridge.... everything else is open to interpretation. of course there are a few exceptions( im pretty sure of my knuthianus' )

Just to clarify, im talking only of trichs.