Swifty's Cacti Collection

[Swifty]

Hello everybody,

I've been busy last week transplanting and nursing my cacti. I've neglected them a bit the last few years but they are hardy.
So they all received a new container and some fresh dirt. I tried to remove as much of the old dirt as possible, doing a good root pruning at the same time.

I have these around 20 years now, they can grow old with me and I'm quite fond of them. They give some pretty flowers and a bunch of seeds.
Never planned on consuming them, they are part of the family!

So I started with this collection:




As the years went by I had to part with some and kept my Peyotes.
The rest I gave away to friends, most have them still today.

 

[Swifty]

And here is what remains of my collection, you can see that they have grown a fair bit.

 

[Swifty]

This one is my smallest but also my oldest, bought this when I was around 17 years in a smart shop in Amsterdam. It has never grown much but does give almost yearly flowers.



I gave away my Crested San Pedro to one of my best friends and when I talked him a while ago about transplanting my cacti he cut of a small pup from his and gave it to me as a present! Glad to have it back .

 

[Hanzde]

in the sec post they look like mutants

 

[musashi]

Fascinating, beautiful, astounding brah! There is a certain attraction and I have seen so much healing from this fruit of the Gods. Mitakuye Oyasin.

mu

 

[Swifty]

in the sec post they look like mutants

extraterrestrial, ethereal, otherworldly, ghostly, heavenly, strange, alien, supernatural, unearthly and weird!

 

[Swifty]

Fascinating, beautiful, astounding brah! There is a certain attraction and I have seen so much healing from this fruit of the Gods. Mitakuye Oyasin.

mu

Thanks Mu!

Since I first came in contact with Peyotes I felt there positivity.
There are things in life that words can't describe, this is how I feel about them.

 

[Hanzde]

my Peyote with his 2 small fellas and 1 tinny one wich u cant see i have them about 2 years now he dos not flower until now because i dont know wat im doing

 

[Swifty]

Looks okay to me @Hanzde!

Repotting into a bigger pot and most imporant a deeper pot (Peyote needs room downwards) and a light root prune (not the main root!) in spring/early summer should give a boost to the growth.
Carefull with watering, in summer months you can give more regularly water but always let the medium dry out completly. Less is more with these.

Greetings.

 

[Swifty]

Forgot about this thread.

I will make new some pictures, they have grown a bit and it seems that the fresh soil did them good last year.
I found some pics of them flowering a couple of years ago.

This year still no flowers on them...

How are your cacti doing @DannyTwoJoints and @Redlegs?

 

[BrotherBoris]

What a very cool hobby and great looking Cacti. Amazing that you started at 17 years old. There’s a variety of cactus that grows in the Sand Dunes not far from where I live. The strange thing to me is that we have cold winters and this variety lives here. I had always thought that they were hot weather only plants but live and learn. I remember years ago in Key West Florida that there were 10-12 feet tall huge cacti. They are amazing plants and having magical ones as roommates is so cool. I understand that they are family and it’s better to watch them live and flower...

 

[quinxstar]

What a very cool hobby and great looking Cacti. Amazing that you started at 17 years old. There’s a variety of cactus that grows in the Sand Dunes not far from where I live. The strange thing to me is that we have cold winters and this variety lives here. I had always thought that they were hot weather only plants but live and learn. I remember years ago in Key West Florida that there were 10-12 feet tall huge cacti. They are amazing plants and having magical ones as roommates is so cool. I understand that they are family and it’s better to watch them live and flower...

at night in the desert it freezes

 

[BrotherBoris]

I had no idea. I guess then that freezing is freezing and it doesn’t matter if it’s overnight or for prolonged periods. Nice to know and I keep learning something everyday. Thanks.

 

[Proud Kraut]

@Swifty have you ever used Valerian extract? Ive made some (for the use on Cannabis) but it seems some Cacti afficionados use it also with success for their loved ones, it warms the plant a little and is said to induce a nice flowering effect. You can make it easily by collecting (fresh) Valerian flowers, put them in a mixer with water (immeediately) press the button and strain afterwards - stored cold it can be kept viable for some months, ive kept it in little bottles and stored in the fridge. Smells good if done right. Worth a try... can be watered in or applied as foliar, few drops per L are already good.

 

[Swifty]

I keep them inside during wintermonths @BrotherBoris , they can handle some freezing at night but longer periods of frost would kill them.
I once had a Peruvian Torch (one of the worlds fastest growing cacti) as a 15cm cut.
I put it in a 20L pot with regular potting soil and after some years (can't recall it exactly) it outgrew the ceiling of the house and had to top it!
These type of cacti always entrigued me.

@Proud Kraut, thanks for the tip! I did not know this.
I wil try this next year, season of flowers is over here now.

 

[Swifty]

As promised some new pics.
They age ugly... just as me.




Feel free to show your own here!

 

[BrotherBoris]

Incredible collection there Swifty! Beauty is the eye of the beholder and they look awesome to me…

 

[Proud Kraut]

I second @BrotherBoris there is beauty hidden in the language of nature.

Found two bottles of Valerianflower extract sitting in the fridge...the are from 2020 (!) one went bad, smelled like mold and had plaque built up. Liquid was still clear. The other one still smelled fresh like i just made it one week ago...i am pretty happy to see that it can be stored 3yrs and still be fresh. The bad batch was probably contaminated...so thats a helluva shelf life for pure organic inputs no extras!



So it can be worth the trouble to collect, mix and strain the Valerian flowers if you have an usecase...how times flies i still remember collecting these...

 

[Redlegs]

Hey Swifty Nice pics! I only just saw your tag!

I love the monstrose Trichs goit a soft spot for them!

First time with photos here so expect some issues...

My plants in the GH are generally all OK, but some of my Trichs in the conservatory got hit with thrips real bad when I closed the windows for a holiday, so they had to go outside see outdoor image.

Only got a few recent snaps on me at work, but will get some together for a further update.

@Swifty - I am concerned for some of your older Loph's - some look to have RSM pretty bad, which effects the surface like that, I know as I struggle with it too quite often. You can try dusting them with DE... It does similar damage to the thrip issue seen on my outdoor trichs. A bigger issue is it can provide a vector for fungal issues later on. I find it is often worse with Lophs with a very organic substrate like yours so I transferred most of my lophs to a more mineral based sub.

I have a large Tr. Peruvianus that at around 12ft tall has this year reached about an inch from the roof of my conservatory and I kow it'll just punch right through if I leave it. It's about 8" thick diameter so not sure what it weighs, only that I cannot lift the pot, it's going to be a fun one asking the Mrs to help me when I have to cut it down!

I have some really big lophs that I grow fast, some grafted monsters too, but my favs are some I grow very "hard" and only water like 3-4 times a year in summer, in 100% mineral substrate. They are about 30 years old but you could get some that size in less than 5yrs by pushing them much harder, they just look much more natural grown slower - I'll get some snaps of them to try and demonstrate and no doubt upload them terribly badly like the luddite I am.

 

[musashi]

Remind you of anyone?


mu