Cactus wood

[shortly]

Now that most of you have a mental image of a cactus with an erection to my question.

I'm looking for a reasonably fast growing woody columnar cactus that doesnt mind the humid subtropics?

It doesn't need to be quite as robust as Echinopsis pasacana, these beauties have been milled for lumber to build churches etc in their homeland.

Any suggestions?

[whoami]

we have some in the gardens here and around town you might find of interest, that grow to 5-6 metres in height. non psychoactive however but they are doing quite well in the tropics. can find a name for you if you'd like

[Halcyon Daze]

is this the kinda thing yr talking about?

[shortly]

That would be great Whoami

And given the current climate its probably better if they are non psychoactive, its only the timber inside that i'm after, although if it had a reasonably palatable fruit would be a bonus.

[Evil Genius]

Trichocereus Cuzcoensis maybe? Like a Knuthianus Cuzcoensis. They get a massive woodlike Base and look badass when bigger.

[bogfrog]

Hey

I bought a rainstick from Coromandel Cacti nursery in nz, which is probably from this plant, the only name i could find was Cereus 'green wing'

Both these pups are from the same plant:

http://www.cacti.co.nz/index.php/component/phocagallery/category/273-cereus-green-wing

I imagine any kind of cereus would do the trick.

Heres my stick, its not really strong, like i accidently stood on one end and it got a bit crushed.

They also had pics of a couple other kinds of cholla,

Arrojadoa rhodantha

(Apparently extremely strong wood)

Trichocereus pachanoi (worth excluding for the above reasons, but interesting to see anyway)

And same goes for trichocereus scopulicola

Edited September 19, 2013 by Ceres

[shortly]

Whoa that top one is a monster Was that really a Cereus? I didn't realize that they developed such a substantial skeleton as they aged, i had assumed that they would have retained a hollow tube of wood that they have a juveniles.

Interesting to know about Arrojadoa but a bit small for what i'm looking for.

Do scop's & pach eventually develop a solid wooden frame like that Cereus above or do they retain the wooden tube filled with conductive tissue like that of Eulychnia spp?

[bogfrog]

Yep its really a cereus! Follow that link for lots more pics.

I think the pach and scop will do the same eventually, but alot slower.

May i ask whatcha gonna do with this cactus wood!? Build a temple?

[shortly]

I did follow the links, there are some very sexy plants there

Furniture, specifically an altar thingy for SWMBO.

Plz plz plz don't be mentioning temples, or that its likely to end up on my to do list .