After the rains...

[M S Smith]

It looked like a nice time to take some pictures to share. There was a bit of hail that probably did a little number on some of the spines.

Here are some T. pachanoi PC which are giving flowers on all three limbs, unlike last year where I got them only on the tallest plant.

Some other random T. pachanoi. The Kimnach shows just how hardy these things can be, even when neglected.

A couple plants labeled T. pachanoi, but more along the lines of T. peruvianus.

~Michael~

[M S Smith]

Some T. peruvianus sorts, sort of. The T. argeneninsis is no doubt in the T. peruvianus groups while the T. peruvianus var. Knuthianus is a T. cuzcoensis type.

Now some T. scopulicola varieties.

These are T. uyupampensis from SS seed. Interesting that there is so much variety in the seed packet I received.

~Michael~

[M S Smith]

A couple other randoms and a few shots of the plants around my house.

Well I hope you enjoy the photos.

~Michael~

[Philocacti]

2nd pic in your last post is a lumberjackus??

[M S Smith]

Hey Philo, well not the Lumberjackus, but something probably quite similar. That's the SS01 x SS02 (file names are attached btw), but I've thought for awhile now that the Lumberjackus is some sort of a mix between T. peruvianus and T. bridgesii and the SS01 and SS02 are these species respectively.

~Michael~

[Philocacti]

Thanks a lot Mike..... It sure looks very similar to mine, at least the top part.

As always awesome specimen ..... Glad that you have one flowering for you

[Evil Genius]

Love your collection, Michael! Very nice pics! Thanks for showing!

[M S Smith]

Philo, I usually can't let the plants get so tall and was always curious if my local environment or my means of winter storage might prevent blooms. It appears the lack of flowers was a height issue. I wish I could grow more to the same height, but I really don't have the space.

I'm glad everyone likes the photos! I got plenty more other plants to photograph, but maybe will wait till after the next rains just to keep the thread on topic, and anyhow I like the wet look.

~Michael~

[Philocacti]

Funny that you mention that flowering of Trichocereus is related to plants high as opposed to root systems' age. I was going to start a thread inquiring about this, cause I noticed with the stapelia I have, that flowering has to do with the age of the root system and not with the mass above ground. I didn't do any controlled experiments, but after my stapelia flowered I could cut of all the plant and leave one "finger" with the old root system and it would still flower.

The tallest Trichocereus I have, is in the 1.5 m range with a 11 year old root system and its not showing any signs of flowering ....yet. I have a big melted wax grafted to a tall stenocereus, making it measure less than 2.5 m and it's also not showing any signs of flowering. So this got me really curious.

So how tall did yours get to start flowering?

[M S Smith]

I suppose it's close to 2 meters tall. Interesting comments about the root age. Never thought of that and would love to see others' input.

~Michael~

[zelly]

personally i dont think plant height has much to do with flowering, a more significant factor would be age & maturity.

[MrDoRight]

Beautiful cacti as always Michael. I own a freshly rooted macrogonus with a flower precursor at about 5 inches i'm not sure if the flower will open or if the bud will end up falling off.

[M S Smith]

personally i dont think plant height has much to do with flowering, a more significant factor would be age & maturity.

I guess one can say height equals age to some degree. Me, I'm just so happy it's blooming for me. Thanks zelly.

~Michael~

[Philocacti]

Let's say one roots a 1.5 to 2 m column. Would it flower right away or would it need a few years for the root system to mature for it to flower?

I hope I'm not taking your thread off topic, but this subject really interests me. So Mike, let me know if I'm hijacking your thread, I'll start another thread concerning this topic.

[M S Smith]

I don't subscribe to the idea of hijacking. One idea leads to another; it's organic.

~Michael~

[zed240]

Lovely pics Michael, if you haven't seen it you should check out all of the wet cacti in the below thread too.

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41259

[Psyentist]

Stunning Michael!

I too quite like the wet look, as do a number of us around here it seems.

Thanks for sharing.

There must be hundreds of people across the planet that are envious of your cactus collection.

I'm glad that through the miraculous wonders of the interwebs I can gaze upon your glorious garden from the other side of the globe.

[Berengar]

I noticed with the stapelia I have, that flowering has to do with the age of the root system and not with the mass above ground. I didn't do any controlled experiments, but after my stapelia flowered I could cut of all the plant and leave one "finger" with the old root system and it would still flower.

I would just like to share a recent experience. I received an unrooted Stapelia grandiflora cutting about a month ago, it rooted quickly and started growing, and yesterday I noticed two flower buds on the new offset. So since it's a small plant cutting with barely developed root system, I'd assume it has a lot to do with the age and maturity of the plant, like zelly said.

[Philocacti]

Put into prospective that if you received a cutting from a mature "flowering" Trichocereus, it's not uncommon for the cuttings to produce flower buds and bloom, even before settings roots.

But would that same cutting flower the next season?

[djmattz0r]

Flowering is so strange because it can be signs that your cactus is doing fantastic or that it's on its way out and flowering is a last ditch effort to reproduce before dying as in the case of a mature column cutting that flowers without setting roots. I don't have personal experience with tricho flowers... yet. I have a peruXSS02 that is about flowering size (hopefully) so we will see what happens this winter. But this is what I have observed through my internet excursions and I would believe Zelly since he is the seed king

[zelly]

But would that same cutting flower the next season?

highly unlikely.

i mentioned age & maturity, but theres other factors in play.

For example a tall multi branched columnar has very mature 24"-36" branch pups at its base, and a 12 inch branch pup 7-8 feet up the main stem. The 12" branch pup has multiple buds & the main stem has multiple buds at the tip, yet the 'older' 24-36" branch pups at the base have no flower buds.

Its been my experience that branch pups harvested higher up the main stem have a much greater likelihood of flowering when rooting than a much lower located branch pup. Also in play is the season or time of year the cutting was made; before normal bud set timing, during or after.

I had this pc pach in a pot for several years, finally threw it in the ground 6-8 months before the pic was taken in Nov 2013. The flowering stem is an offset from the main stem & not a rooted out top cut.

An SS02xSS01 branch pup that was harvested 7-8' up the main stem, and harvested prior to bud formation on it or the main stem.

same SS02xSS01 branch pup a bit later