Relative Sun Tolerance of the Trichocerei

[CβL]

What I'm interested in - is how much sunshine the various Trichocereus groups can handle, or prefer.

I'm about to start planting cacti in my painfully dug garden bed. I would prefer to have some form of logic as to where I plant my plants (even if I just have some logic so that I know I'm going against it). The main thing I could think of, was the level of sun that the various Trichocerei can tolerate - I think that knowing a bit more will help me plan the siting and density of the plants I have.

The plants I have that are all contenders fall into:

Bridgesii
Peruvianus

Pachanoi

Terscheckii
Candicans

Taquimbalensis
Scopulicola
Werdermannius
(probably others)

So I would like to open to the floor for anecdotal evidence or experimental regarding which plants can stand a lot of sun, and which ones can't. And anything else regarding planting plants out, for that matter.

Edited March 30, 2013 by CβL

[qualia]

do you have them in pots atm?

you could try your varieties in different spots in pots first to see who likes what,

but of mine it's really plant dependant, some bridgesii of the same clone, one will get a few sun spots the other wont.

psycho0 has sunkissed skin but she's still growing like a madman,

also, i think they'll all grow to like the sun if given enough time

[CβL]

Yeah, they're all in pots. I don't think there's enough time to try them in different arrangements, as I think they'll be happy anywhere in the garden (and won't get burned) - and permutations are a nightmare in practice ;P. But I would like to order them in some way. I'm thinking that the most spineless plants (Pachanoi, Scop) closest to the shade and arrange them from approximately least-spiny most-skinny to most-spiny most-fat, which I think is close to sun tolerance ability.

There's no way my garden will test the limits of the plants, but I'd just like to know anyway - just as a start to laying them out. For example, I think that a Terscheckii can handle a lot more sun than a Pachanoi - but I have no evidence. Some evidence would be nice.

[Evil Genius]

Would be careful with Taquimbalensis. They were the only ones i had that suffered severe sunburn everytime i brought them outside. Lost a lot of the cuttings i made...basically, no cutting of Taquimbalensis i ever took survived. But that was when i was just getting started with growing cacti. They have a very waxy Skin and its possible that they need to be adapted very slowly.

[CβL]

I noticed that my Taqs weren't loving it either - so thanks for that advice. I just assumed I had wrecked the soil where I have them planted next to the house, not in the bed (the other cacti liked the soil a lot more)

[Distracted]

I've had both cusco and bridgesii logs sunburn to a horrible brown soft sludge where pachs will be fine.

[Mr. Bowser]

Interesting thread... from experience with pach, peruvianus, and bridgesii, the pach seems the heartiest when going from indoors to out, whereas a couple of my very blue peruvianus and bridgesii are much more easily sunburned. Then again, other (greener) peruvianus and bridgesii seem to do better. I have best results moving them out into full sun by giving them a week or so with a few hours of filtered/direct sun (morning) and acclimating them from there, making sure to rotate them every other day or so.

[CβL]

Here's an existing thread with some leads: http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9145&hl=%2Bhabitat+%2Bmap

Check out the SBS world weather forecast on the news
La Paz bolivia, is always bloody cold even in summer

so i find it interesting that Bridgesii can easily handle extreme heat, like the 40+ days weve been getting

maybe its the glauscous bloom and the fact they are at higher altitudes therefore having better inbuilt resistance to solar radiation

i wonder too if the reason my bridges get frost burnt is because not because thay are ssceptible but becauise they *grow* at lower temperatures and its these fresh tips that the late frosts nip into

And here's what I was looking for: http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17228&hl=%2Bhabitat+%2Bmap#entry168234
MSS's holy grail of a descriptor of where the Trichocerei live - and I can cross-reference this map with climate data for the continent, to get an idea of tolerances of the species.


Lastly, a further anecdotal piece of evidence - I notice in my seedling containers, roughly 1/40 seedlings are very light in color - they have always been a lighter shade, and seem to simply have less chlorophyll. I have a few mature plants that are the same way - just never seem able to darken to the same shade as the others. I wonder if someone better with genetics would know, whether this is just recessive genes, or a mutation - and if there's a likely cause - such as a thinner layer of chlorophyllous tissue, or less chloroplasts per cell, or smaller chloroplasts - or what the heck is going on. Is this the result of a mutation of larger/more numerous of one of the other organelles?

[Getafix]

I don't think you will have many issues with sun damage where you are living.

My NZ collection was based in Nelson which is pretty hot and sunny during the summer months and I never sun burnt a cacti there. I certainly have here in Aus but that was due to 40 degree plus temperatures.

Just water heaps!

Getafix