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CounterCulturest
-Positive Mental Attitude-

Registered: 01/18/10
Posts: 3,662
Loc: Nesting on modems
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Do cacti gro faster the larger they get ?
#18808455 - 09/06/13 05:46 PM (10 years, 5 months ago) |
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That is a pretty obvious question, yes they grow faster the larger they are. More surface area for sun and more established etc. But how far does that go? I have a very nice achuma that is approx 40" tall with 2 pups that are about 30" tall. So it's getting to be a fairly big cactus. My question is, now that it's fully established and cruising along, will it continue to grow faster and faster ? I'm kinda at a crossroads of wanting to chop and prop it to expand my garden as quickly as possible but I'm thinking that maybe it's in my best interest to just let it keep growing and growing till it and it's pups are 6+ feet. This is my first really big and nice specimen so I'm having a really hard time here lol. I kinda wanna see it keep growing and growing until I am forced to chop it but at the same time I would like to have a lot more cacti. It's a touch choice when you have been nurturing the cacti for years ya know ?
Im sure you guys have had this dilemma, how do you usually make your choice on when to start multiplying your prize cactus ?
Another question. When I have boughten some bridgesii specimens I have had some jaw droppingly big ones. These suckers have the girth of a coffee mug. How do you think the grower achieved such thick growth ? achumas always seem to be smaller in diameter. I see tall pictures of them all the time but they are never that thick. What conditions do they require to grow like that ? I have grown pedros and peruvianus thicker than I can get my bridgesii to grow and I really wanna know the trick.
A bridgesii that has the diameter of a coffee mug, do you think the specimen must have been like 8 feet tall in order for that to happen ? Ive never seen pictures of the really thick ones growing before. Sorry for the jibber jabber I'm not good at writing or expressing my questions that well. I try though.
Thanks !
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karode13
Tāne Mahuta




Registered: 05/19/05
Posts: 15,290
Loc: LV-426
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Quote:
I have a very nice achuma that is approx 40" tall with 2 pups that are about 30" tall. So it's getting to be a fairly big cactus. My question is, now that it's fully established and cruising along, will it continue to grow faster and faster ?
They reach a point of growing to about a foot a year on a single column and if multiple columns from one plant then the growth is spread between them. The growth rate does speed up as it matures but it reaches that point where it can only grow so much.
If I were you I would remove one of the 30" columns and propagate that. It should speed the growth of the other pup. Main columns seem to slow when they put out basal pups.
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how do you usually make your choice on when to start multiplying your prize cactus ?
Here's how you avoid that problem. When you receive a new cutting you get it to root. Then once it's rooted and starts growing you cut it a few inches from the base. Then you root the new cutting. You now have Two plants of the same genetics. You let one grow as a specimen plant and the other you use for propagation purposes.
If you haven't done that then you are forced to do what's necessary at the time, there's usually not a choice involved. Always try and limit damage to the mother plant, both physically and aesthetically(take cuttings from the rear of plants to hide cuts etc.)
Quote:
When I have boughten some bridgesii specimens I have had some jaw droppingly big ones. These suckers have the girth of a coffee mug. How do you think the grower achieved such thick growth ? achumas always seem to be smaller in diameter. I see tall pictures of them all the time but they are never that thick. What conditions do they require to grow like that ?
Girth is usually an age thing and not all bridgesii are equal. Some varieties are slender and a few are girthy. Most thick cuttings are from older growth 3-5+ years, from established plants, grown in good light. I have a bridgesiioid as thick as my thigh and a few others about three fingers wide in diameter. All grown in the same conditions.
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