8oz of cactus "tea"

this is what i was saying about grafting. those are around 50-60 days old from seed, grafted to pereskiopsis.
 

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Very nice cat !!! and much thanks for the info bro !!! :-)
The PM is not working rt now, but I wanna talk some more about L.W. and other cacti
 
Hey curiouscat :-) I just bought some L.Williamsii seeds (15) from Thailand. Will be herein 2 weeks. Can you tell me how to proceed with these so that I don't have to be a grandpa before I dose my Peyote?
 
first you'll need to bake your sand, remove any nasty stuff. i do 1/3 medium sand, 1/3 fine sand, and 1/3 filtered potting soil. after sterilizing, add to a pan (food storage containers work great). moisten thoroughly with a spray bottle/mister, then sprinkle your seeds on top. cover with saran wrap, and place in the shade (no direct sunlight) or under a flouro (about 12'') after a week, if the seeds are good, you should have a bunch of little green dots growing on the sand. you'll want to replace the air every day, but be careful; you don't want to get mold in there. heating pads are beneficial, 80f is a good starting temp.

after they sprout, you'll want to start hardening them off, removing the plastic longer each day. after 2-4 weeks from first planting, the little green balls can be grafted to pereskiopsis spathulata (get these first, root them and grow out new shoots for new cuttings). pere grows like a weed, so it'll be no time before you have graft stock ready and available. grafting is really simple, and hard to screw up if you pay attention to detail. i'll try to find a tutorial.

i tried to pm you, but it's not working right now... :(
 
Thanks cat, I am still shaky about having to grow all that grafting cactus. I have a Very small space to grow 30 L.Williamsii seeds to maturity and it will be a major pain in the ass to find all of them a sunny home here. When can these cacti tolerate full sun? I hear peyote grows in the shade. The seeds should be here in about 10 days. I am looking around for Tupperware containers with a clear lid I can start my seeds in. Any advice is always welcome ;-)
 
'all that' is nothing. the pots take up more room than anything. i use to stick em anywhere, flower room corners, sides of the veg table, shelves in the sun room, out on the patio, etc...

lophs stay small, and once you graft, your stock doesn't grow (and shouldn't be allowed to if it tries). only the scion will blow up, and you can cull pere like crazy, cuz it grows so fast.

i actually don't even grow pereskiopsis all the time, but buy a cutting or two when i'm planning on growing some cacti seeds.

they're just a bit bigger deal than mushrooms. the perk is, set it, and forget it. i enjoy the flowers, but honestly, other than a weekly summer watering, they just sit around by themselves... the little rectangle pots you saw in my pic are only about 4'' wide and 8'' long, 4'' tall... lol, six per pot, do the math.

lophs can get full sun, but have to be acclimated. indoors they'll be lime green, and you'll want to harden them off before going outdoor and especially full sun. trichs dig full sun, so they can go from first root to outdoors in about 12 days (increase direct light by one hour per day unless burn symptoms occur). sunburned cacti are easy to spot... they turn red. kind of a dark red, with bruising coloration (dark green, grey, purple). if you see this, your cacti is burnt. bring it to full shade, and wait. they generally recover in 2-3 weeks.

let me know if i can help you cat. you should find this a piece of cake. cacti are lincoln logs vs pot being lego's...
 
Curiouscat, you are awesome and knowledgeable on the subjects at hand. I am planning on growing these L.W.'s on my balcony. I hear that provided adequate care, they will flower in 3-6 yrs. How big does a L.W. have to be before it can be harvested? I will have about 30.. but I don't want to screw it up by picking too early. I can't really find any info so I'm asking you -
 
indicat33 said:
Curiouscat, you are awesome and knowledgeable on the subjects at hand. I am planning on growing these L.W.'s on my balcony. I hear that provided adequate care, they will flower in 3-6 yrs. How big does a L.W. have to be before it can be harvested? I will have about 30.. but I don't want to screw it up by picking too early. I can't really find any info so I'm asking you -
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if you use pereskiopsis, you should have baseball sized lophs in 6-12 months. after the scion is removed (leave on a shelf for two weeks to allow cut to callous) you can place on dry sand until root buds appear. then water moderately. once lophs are rooted, wait one year (this allows alkaloids to build). all in all, two years is a good guestimate from seed to harvest.
it's more the amount than it is the size, i would generally cup out 2-3 for a trip (around baseball size, perhaps a little smaller).

also, on pereskiopsis, it's not uncommon to get flowers at six months.
 
i might also recommend leaving one or two naturally, so you can see how they grow on their own. they're prettier when they grow slower. those will take 2-3 years to flower...
 
indicat33 said:
I don't want to screw it up by picking too early. I can't really find any info so I'm asking you -
Click to expand...

also, you don't pick em... you crown them (cut the majority of the plant off leaving a few aeroles to produce pups). the plant and roots will be viable still, and the resulting pups will grow very quickly, allowing you to harvest again in the future. never kill a loph, it's bad luck :p
 
Okay, thanks curious1 ;-)
I like the grafting idea but need to learn a lot more about it. Don't know a whole lot about cactus propagation yet.
2-3 yrs doesn't sound that bad, especially since I just ordered some 12" Achuma cuttings from CA. They Look FAT
and almost Blue in color. Gonna put 1 through my juicer and plant the others. Have you heard of T.Brigdesii? I keep
reading this one has more mescaline than S.P or T.Peruvianus. Any thoughts on what a good dose would be?
 
i've grown all three magic trichs. i like the bridges, but they're picky and rot easily (they really hate water), but usually more magical. for dosing, at least 12'', 24'' would be better. check your inbox ;)
 
canndo said:
Well I am impressed, wish I had known about this earlier.
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Hey Canndo :-) How are you bro? Besides the curiouscat you're my only beacon of knowledge here. You both know your cacti. Thanks for checking in bro, and hope you are doing well -
 
indicat33 said:
Hey curiocat :-)
You never cease to amaze. Please tell me the best way to root my 12" cutting...
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by the time you get it, it will surely be calloused. so, get some sand and potting soil, about 2/3 sand and 1/3 soil (preferably no or little nitrogen. cacti hate nitrogen). bury the cut deep enough that it sits without falling.

wait a month.

gently tip the pot so the sand/dirt falls out onto a plate (waste not, want not). inspect the calloused cut. are there big, thick buds jutting out? yes! replace and water only enough to get the mix wet. forget about it for another month.

no? replace, and forget about it for a month.

cacti are fun. if you procrastinate, you're golden.
 
also, cacti can be stored for 6+ months in a dark, cool closet. winter time is no prob, just pack em in a box and put em to bed for the winter.
 
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