BS: My cactus needs viagra!

Subject: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:37 AM

I have at work, a cacti of the upright, branchless, fluted and spiny variety. He's called Cedric and stood a tall, proud 18" upright.

Recently he's developed a bit of a list and today he's U shaped. How can I restore him to his upright glory? Watering doesn't help it just makes his bottom swell.

And if I can't, can I chop him off at about 6", clone a new cacti from the cutting and leave him to heal over and grow again?

LTS - who doesn't really do cacti, they were inherited.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 08:50 AM

Overwatering will make him rot. You need a new cactus. I suggest this. Or this.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: maeve
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:13 AM

Hi Liz. SRS is correct about the watering of course. The change in sun with the move to your new office may have stimulated an uneven growth spurt.

I have done as you suggest with cacti. Let the cutting callus over for a few days before planting it in cactus soil mix. It is worth a try if you wish to keep that particular plant. Go easy with watering. They are desert plants for the most part. They want excellent drainage.

Have fun!

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Alice
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:22 AM

Sounds like you over watered.
Time for a new cactus.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:23 AM

How fast does a cactus grow? A friend brought back cactus seeds from Arizona. I planted them about four months ago and they sprouted - about 30 of them now 1/4" tall but no growth in two months. What do I do to make them "happen"?

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:23 AM

The cactus in my yard don't even need to be planted. They lie on bare dirt or turf and send out roots on their own and send out new upright pads from there. (These are prickly pear and other pad-style cacti).

The columnar cacti may or may not respond. I would say "keep all of the parts" and go from there. Stop watering the bottom, but cut it off at the point that looks constricted and lay the top portion on a pot of well-drained (lots of sand in it) dirt. Don't over water or over fertilize either of them. The one still rooted might heal over and send out a new segment if it still has roots. The beheaded one might send out roots. Might. Cactus are tough, but they don't respond well to TLC, so resist poking too much.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:47 AM

What kind of cactus, Mary? We used to give away Organ Pipe and Saguaro seeds when I worked out at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. They were supposed to be put on dirt in a pot with some head room and covered with plastic to spout. They do grow slow.

If yours are still alive I'd say that's a good sign. You might want to look at the weather for where you got them and give them water when there is rain out there (and don't exceed that total rainfall amount), that might give them a seasonal feel.

Little cacti get started under stuff where they're out of sight of critters that would eat the seeds or tender new growth. Don't rush them or water them too much, and don't bake them in a window. Give them enough water and enough dappled light to let them get established.

Are they all in one pot? You may need to scoop them up and transplant them before they get deep roots; you might kill them trying to do that later (unless you plan to thin them out and keep a couple and forget the rest).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Severn
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 10:11 AM

I hope all your pricks stand up without Viagra and that cactus makes perfect.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 11:12 AM

Bromeliads are like catus but can take being overwatered.
Currently my large potted bromeliad has a 14 inch mega flower of pink and purple that should last for 3 months.

Try a small desk top bromeliads that have varigated pink leaves. They are often stuck in sea shells instead of a pot. They do really well and are far friendlier than catus,

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 12:17 PM

Don, you need one of these on your desk!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 12:52 PM

SRS - that sounds like mine. I started them in a pot with a cover and once they showed spines, remover=d the top. They get watered VERY sparingly. I hate to do it but shall I bite the bullet and thin them out? I have no place for 30 cacti.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 01:43 PM

I have no idea what variety it is and overwatering is definately not an issue! If they get watered once a month, it's a miracle.

Cedric isn't rotting, just very long and floppy. He's done it before and a good drink has perked him up a bit, but this time he's bent double and looking very sorry for himself.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 02:19 PM

Has this happened at the same time of year before? Maybe it's "normal" for a cactus to droop mid-August. I know I usually do.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 03:09 PM

he he Ebbie

I do have a huge bush that makes orange berries in the winter but when it blooms in July the flowers stink like garbage and attracts thousands of flies. It is a great screen shrub but the small white flowers are gross.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 03:21 PM

I must point out that they had a move from a north east corner that got direct sunlight for about 20 mins at dawn at midsummer, to a south east window that gets direct sun from dawn to about mid morning. I thought it might be getting a little too much sun so I moved it into the shade of a window pillar, but he's still very droopy. His little friends are quite happy - two of the round, fluted and hard spined variety, named Castor and Pollux and two baby hook spined round fuzzy jobs, as yet unnamed. They're all quite happy and healthy, it's only Cedric that needs a splint.

The growth spurt happened whilst I was off for some time, when it was up in the north east wing... coming down to the sunlight doesn't seem to have made much of an impact, except he gets softer more often.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Bert
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 03:25 PM

Change his name to Spaw and he will soon regain his full 18 inches of vigor to keep up with his namesake.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 03:45 PM

"The growth spurt happened whilst I was off for some time"

I will bet that some helpful co-worker watered the poor boy into root rot. Dry him out.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 05:02 PM

Although a slightly different critter, we have about three pots of aloe, all from the same shoot, that are about 20 years old now. We were quite disappointed with the growth rate at first, until the friend who gave us the original suggested we move them to a place where we'd forget to water them.

When we cut back the water to about three times per year they became so prolific that we were having "fresh tomato problems" (i.e. not enough friends to foist the product on) so we cut back to watering about once per year, or maybe every other year.

They're quite healthy now, and we're not overrun with an excess of new offshoots.

Although over watering is quite definitely the most common cause of "poor performance" for many cacti, it's not so much (IMO) the amount of water as the need for the roots to dry out quite completely between waterings. Many of the most showy "true desert" cacti have very shallow roots, since the water when it does rain runs off before it penetrates more than a very few inches (or fractions of an inch). If the roots aren't pretty well dried out when the next rain starts, they don't "receive" the moisture well and pass it on to the body of the cactus. It's just retained in/around the roots, and often causes them to rot.

In a small/deep pot, the roots may have been forced to grow down into soil that retains moisture longer. In the desert the "wet stuff" at the surface doesn't last long at all, and the shallow roots dry out quickly. With deeper roots the soil in the pot may stay wet enough to harm the roots for quite a while between waterings, even after the surface dirt is at the "crumble" stage when you'd think the plant just has to be ready for water.

Note that the above is based on quite personal observation during some years of living (in a former life) with one who had the uncanny ability to KILL WITHIN DAYS almost anything with thorns, spines, prickles, or burrs - unless it grew in the ditch out back where I had to mow it.

John

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Severn
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 07:00 PM

overwatering?

So the problem, then, is not a lack of Viagra but too much Niagra, under falls pretenses?

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: olddude
Date: 18 Aug 08 - 09:25 PM

overwatering

Dang prostate again ...it happens when we get older

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 01:07 AM

Quick!..Make tequila out of it!! Then it might be your Viagra!

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 04:51 AM

Can I state here and now that he is not rotting, no-one but me waters the cacti. His roots are in sandy, gravelly soil so even if he were over watered, it would drain away to the rest of the pots - several plants in one long tray.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Alice
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 10:18 AM

I've worked as a professional horticulturist in interior plantscaping. Cacti and succulents were one of our specialties. It's pretty difficult under most non-greenhouse or desert garden conditions to regenerate a cactus after it has declined. It would be best to remove it and replace it. The symptom you describe sounds like over watering, which can happen even in sandy soil.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 10:42 AM

But I'm the only one who waters them and I do it less than once a month! I don't understand....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Alice
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 10:55 AM

They need a very bright light location and warm temps. We also would water usually only by spritzing the soil with a spray bottle of water rather than pouring water in the pot, unless the pot and plant are very large.
If the pot or tray is shallow and the humidity is high, moisture stays in the pot too long before evaporating. Even in an arid climate, it is difficult to keep cactus growing long term in an indoor situation.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 11:13 AM

SINS, I didn't answer earlier, but yes, I think you need to thin your cactus sprouts. Maybe divide them to a couple of pots and get rid of 3/4 of them. Leave 3 or 4 in each pot. You'll still have to thin again, but you're assuring more success of the ones left in the pots if they aren't over-crowded.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: pdq
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 11:36 AM

A simple answer to a question back there somewhere: Yes, you can trim a cactus. You can take a sharp knife and remove any or all unhappy parts, even reduce it to a stout base unit. Not a bad idea, actually. The cuts will "scab-over" in a few days. If you dont't want new branches this year (as wait until next spring) you can "rub-off" any buds that may appear.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: pdq
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 12:42 PM

LtS,

Just a thought, but can you put a picture of this cactus up on one over the internet sites that does such things?

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 04:51 PM

I'd have to take a photo of it first and that's a bit difficult... cameras aren't forbidden, but they are frowned upon... that's life in the Government for you.

It's about 2" in diameter, columnar, no branches and fluted. Spines grow on the outer edge of the flutes in widely spaced clumps.

I'm going to trim it off tomorrow.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Alice
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 09:40 PM

Sounds like a euphorbia.
Is it a Euphorbia confinalis?
Click for Image

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 06:49 PM

No-where near so pretty.

Plain green all the way down.


It's like the tall ones in the back of this picture. But I reckon it could be a Trichocereus pachanoi cactus in which case I'm off to make peyote thanks to this lovely site I found that shows me just how to do it!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 06:54 PM

And it looks like I will be able to cut it down with impunity. A sort of Cactectomy...
LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: pdq
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 07:12 PM

They said, "Lizzie, cut it out!" so that's exactly what she did!

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Aug 08 - 11:25 PM

Cactus is the New World answer to Euphorbia in the Old World. They formed along lines called "co-evolution"--similar desert environment, similar botanical response in different plant families. Cacti have clear liquid and are considered an off-shoot of the rose family. Euphorbs are noted for their milky juice.

There are five giant cactus in the Americas, and this one resembles a couple, one called Organ Pipe, another called Senita. It could even be a small Saguaro. But I doubt that's what they are, because those do grow very large. Someone might sell them figuring they'd never make it to full size, but there are a lot of intermediate-sized cacti out there also and I think that's what you have. Something smaller that grows faster.

If you poke it with the point of a sharp knife through the skin into the flesh and it oozes a drop of sticky white milky juice, then you have an Old World Euphorb. If it has a clear juice, it's a cactus.

Let's go from there.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Aug 08 - 01:18 AM

It's a San Pedro Cactus or Trichocereus pachanoi.

I don't go around randomly poking cacti as often they poke back.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Alice
Date: 21 Aug 08 - 10:08 AM

Liz, it would probably like a grow light if you can add a grow light lamp to your office.

Subject: RE: BS: My cactus needs viagra!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Aug 08 - 08:48 PM

There are lots of hits when you Google "Trichocereus pachanoi." I'd try that.

SRS