Growing Trichocereus Cacti

I started getting back into cacti at the beginning of last summer and have been in love ever since. It started with a bunch of clearanced little ornamentals from walmart. After transplanting them into a mix a of 50% aeration bits (usually a mix of lava rock, perlite, and chicken scratch) and 50% of my own organic, "water-only" type potting soil, these plants have been thriving. My trichocereus grandiflorus has at least tripled in size. That inspired me to go buy a few trichocereus bridgesii seedlings I spotted online.

They just arrived and I'm glad I gained a little recent cacti experience because they shipped the plants with partially bare roots. The listing didn't mention it but I wasn't all that surprised as the shipping price seemed low. Those plants are now potted and chilling with the other plants in the veg chamber.

My other types of cacti are in windowsills and have gone dormant, but the t. grandiflorus has been loving sitting in the corner of the veg room and continues to shoot up and get watered. If the t. bridgesii enjoy the program as much as their cousin, the tiny little guys should be at least a foot tall by this time next year. Hopefully they'll be tough enough to stay outside here in zone 7b permanently by then.



So who else is into this genus? I wanna know all about your cacti garden and preparations.

7b may be slightly optimistic. That about where many growers prefer putting them somewhere dark, dry, and cold for the winter to prevent freezing and etiolation. It's standard practice to ship this genus without dirt.

I dig em (peru's) up every year when the forecast is for below 27F, I have some in the corner of the basement now.

Thanks! I'll be sure to keep them mobile then.