Growing tobacco like its 1688.

[queequeg152]

as of today. had a good streach of warm sunny weather. last night tho, rained about inch and a half, and now its fairly cold, down into the 50's for the next few days... hope they do not suffer!




new horn worm damage.. just one leaf, one inch long caterpillar did this.



another leaf, another horn worm.




cactus cuttings... they are callusing nicely. im not suprised... as they keep the ac at 72 degrees in the place i rent... the air is very dry.






my small cuttings... rooting in coir.
see the bend tips of those ... brigissi? (i think?). they actually bent when they were cuttings... idk why.
the guy in the back with the small pup too, grew that as it was resting on its side callusing.



stumps doing nicely. will put them outside... maby this evening idk. its only been a week, yet they callused nicely.



to dash 2... these are the only cuttings i have atm of the peruvians...
the spines were cut off when i cut them, so as to prevent them from pricking other adjacent cuttings.



and this one.



these are small unfortunatly.

like i said, i have some fatter ones in houston if you dont mind waiting a while... when i can get my hands on them.

id love to trade for a cutting of the... other specie you have that i dont. starts with an m? idk.
your log is insane. id love to get my cactus's fattened up like yours are.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

see the bend tips of those ... brigissi? (i think?). they actually bent when they were cuttings... idk why.




like i said, i have some fatter ones in houston if you dont mind waiting a while... when i can get my hands on them.

id love to trade for a cutting of the... other specie you have that i dont. starts with an m? idk.
your log is insane. id love to get my cactus's fattened up like yours are.

 
     The bend at the tip is the result of a section having been stored for too long in a dark area, on its side. They keep growing after you cut them - always upward. And, yeah, those do look like T. bridgesii.
     You're in luck. I have one macrogonus pup that I'd be willing to part with. I'll post a pic soon. Until then, some pics of my other macrogonus that has never set any pups.
 
 
This one comes up just to my lower lip. I'm 6'5".

   
 
Same one as above.

 

[queequeg152]

god damn. thats exactly the look i want ...eventually.
big monolithic cactus's  with smaller diameter shorter ones clustered around the bottom.
kinda like a cityscape

 
few questions for you:
 
how long have you had that plant?
 
how do you go about rooting cuttings? how long does this typically take?
ive had the cuttings shown above, in coir for almost 3 weeks now, with 0 sign of root activity in one bridgesii  i examined.  ive been too lazy to hook up my heating mats, thinking they would do fine at 72 f, but now im wondering.  im adding something like 15ml distilled water per week to the coir. its not saturated, but decidedly damp. 

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

 
 
how long have you had that plant?
 
how do you go about rooting cuttings? how long does this typically take?
ive had the cuttings shown above, in coir for almost 3 weeks now, with 0 sign of root activity in one bridgesii  i examined.  ive been too lazy to hook up my heating mats, thinking they would do fine at 72 f, but now im wondering.  im adding something like 15ml distilled water per week to the coir. its not saturated, but decidedly damp. 

 
     I think I bought those cuttings six years ago. 
     I root cuttings by sticking them in soilless mix (I use MetroMix 830 plus lots of perlite) about an inch and a half deep. You want to make sure there's enough in the ground to keep the cutting stable (you could stake it, too). I don't know if there are drawbacks to planting it too deep - like fungal rot or something… But about an inch and a half has always worked. 
     After I mix the soil, I fill the pot (I start a new cutting in maybe a 1 gallon pot. More on that later.) and let it sit for a week or two to make sure it's bone dry before I plant. Cuttings don't need any moisture until they're rooted. The darkness from the soil and the tiny amount of humidity in the layer of soil immediately adjacent to the cutting is all that is needed to induce rooting. Any additional water will only lead to rot.
     Once planted, I stick it in a corner of the house that receives a little indirect light. Maybe a month or so later, I'll start gently wiggling the cactus around to get an idea of how well it's rooting. Once it feels like there's some decent resistance to my wiggling, I start watering and give it a little direct sunlight - maybe a porch outside. I only water about a cup at a time at first. Near (not on) the base every two weeks or so. I let it get completely dry for a a week or so before rewatering.
     Once it is firm 360o around, it is rooted completely and can tolerate a good soaking and full sun. Tricocereus spp. like water and nutrients - moreso than most other cacti. I let mine get bone dry for a few days or a week, then flood it. It's important to let them get really dry between waterings (especially T. bridgesii).
     
     Some tips and critiques:
     I would start the cuttings in a bigger container than you're using. Once they root, it'll be way easier to keep soil moisture at a good level. 
     I live in a more temperate climate than Houston, so I have to OW mine indoors. Maintaining dormancy during this time is one of the most important tricks to getting a thick cactus. If your cacti have any moisture during their bed time, their growth will be all etiolated compared to summer growth. (They're finicky like Mogwai like that!) I give mine their last water of the season about a month before they go inside for good. 
     I've never used coir for anything, so take this with a grain of salt… It may be your problem. If it's too porous, it might not be convincing the cactus that it's in soil. Maybe that's why they're not rooting. I dunno. Sometimes it just takes a long time. Also, I've always started rooting in spring. Once they're rooted, they need water. Once they get water, they need LOTS of light and warmth. Lots of light is hard to come by indoors in winter.
     Just some thoughts. I'm happy to answer any more questions you have. I don't run into many folks who are as interested in growing trichcocereus as I am. Now we just gotta figure out how to get them to flower in captivity! 

 

[queequeg152]

Some tips and critiques:
     I would start the cuttings in a bigger container than you're using. Once they root, it'll be way easier to keep soil moisture at a good level. 
     I live in a more temperate climate than Houston, so I have to OW mine indoors. Maintaining dormancy during this time is one of the most important tricks to getting a thick cactus. If your cacti have any moisture during their bed time, their growth will be all etiolated compared to summer growth. (They're finicky like Mogwai like that!) I give mine their last water of the season about a month before they go inside for good. 
     I've never used coir for anything, so take this with a grain of salt It may be your problem. If it's too porous, it might not be convincing the cactus that it's in soil. Maybe that's why they're not rooting. I dunno. Sometimes it just takes a long time. Also, I've always started rooting in spring. Once they're rooted, they need water. Once they get water, they need LOTS of light and warmth. Lots of light is hard to come by indoors in winter.
     Just some thoughts. I'm happy to answer any more questions you have. I don't run into many folks who are as interested in growing trichcocereus as I am. Now we just gotta figure out how to get them to flower in captivity! 

 
yea i started these in cups with the expectation of immediatly potting them up to one gallon grow bags.
they are in clear plastic solo cups. the idea was that id be able to see when the roots emerge. and indeed i checked a few today, and one of the big fat bridgesii cuttings has roots resting on the bottom of the cup. i haven't checked them all, but ill take that as a good sign.
 
i used the coir, not only becasue it was all i had, but because i feel its closer to sterile than anything else im familiar with. it does hold alot of water tho, maby not compared to raw soil, but compared to what i usually use, peat lite or coco lite.  the coir also doesnt shrink when dry, like peat does.
 
so you dont use heat mats or what have you? i think next go around i might try that.... see if maby keeping the soil around 85 ish will speed things up.
 
you ever root with hormones? ive read, as well as been told by others, that it does not appreciably speed rooting.
 
im super bummed that you havent had any flowers on a 6 year old plant? i was hoping for flowers myself in a few years, after i pot my fat pac's up, and put them into their final home around my ma's pool. You think its your cool climate?


and yea, i got into these cactus big time, quite on accident i might add. i was looking for something to replace the big stupid bushed around my moms pool... she has these build in rock planters, they are incorporated into the pool shell and surrounding concrete deck... so its not like you can just abandon them... it would look poorly.

the bushes that are there, are insanely stupid plants to put around a pool.. they drop these god damn berries, and grow like 8" a week.
they need pruning 3x a year at least. i cut them down to a stump, literally with no foliage left, and in a year they are bigger than ever. they are also causing issues with the pool deck by heaving concrete at expaision joints, so they have to go.
being my ma lives along, without anyone to use the stupid poool, i figured cactus made the most sense.
im going to dig out the planters to like 20inches, bed the bottom with 6" decomposed granite, and build a basin below grade with masonry blocks. im hoping it drains well enough. im planning on placing big 12" deep 30 gallon totes inside this basin, and covering them up with crushed limestone, which is cheap around here, to a depth of like 2"
my reasoning is that i could easily retrive the totes to remove plants, take cuttings, add plants etc,

i bought the two bigguns, i posted above at HD for like 22 bucks... i didnt like that they had them both in a single container, so i carefully seperated them... they were like maby 12 inches when i got them in... the spring of 2013, so like 18 months ago. ive looked at every HD ive been to, since then, and have not found a single pac, or anything similar since then. they only sell these wierd grafted ornimental cactus's now... in shotglass sized containers. i do not like those cactus's.

I really like how well organized they are, very clean and 'monolithic' like i said above. they do not branch excessivly like the more common cactus's you see in peoples yards around here. i forget the name but they look vaguely similar, but with very deep groves when compared to a pac.

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

 

so you dont use heat mats or what have you? i think next go around i might try that.... see if maby keeping the soil around 85 ish will speed things up.
 
No heat mats. They do fine outdoors all summer. And I don't think heat  would necessarily have any effect on rooting. And in winter, the goal is to [SIZE=17.84336280822754px]maintain dormancy so they're counterproductive. [/SIZE]
you ever root with hormones? ive read, as well as been told by others, that it does not appreciably speed rooting.
 
Never used rooting hormones. I always figured that with such a thick cuticle and (hopefully) thick callus, that it wouldn't "soak in", and would just be wasted.
 
im super bummed that you havent had any flowers on a 6 year old plant? i was hoping for flowers myself in a few years, after i pot my fat pac's up, and put them into their final home around my ma's pool. You think its your cool climate?
 
​I think it's a product of the cool climate. I know that the plants bloom in response to the dry, cool season when they go dormant. I think having to take them inside every winter must just feel somehow abnormal to them, and it's just not enough to get all the proper hormonal cues to click.
, bed the bottom with 6" decomposed granite, and build a basin below grade with masonry blocks. im hoping it drains well enough. im planning on placing big 12" deep 30 gallon totes inside this basin, and covering them up with crushed limestone, which is cheap around here, to a depth of like 2"
my reasoning is that i could easily retrive the totes to remove plants, take cuttings, add plants etc,
 
[SIZE=17.84336280822754px]Yeah, just make sure the aggregate at the bottom doesn't become a sink and retain water and that should work great. And your cacti will love the limestone. They are used to growing on well draining, high organic matter soil atop limestone substrata. They like alkaline soil. (Before it comes time to plant them out, I'll give you my recipe for soil.)[/SIZE]

 they only sell these wierd grafted ornimental cactus's now... in shotglass sized containers. i do not like those cactus's.
 
Probably not as hardy, beautiful or fast growing as trichocereus either.
I really like how well organized they are, very clean and 'monolithic' like i said above. they do not branch excessivly like the more common cactus's you see in peoples yards around here.
 
I gotta post some pics of my pachanois here. (Maybe I should start my own thread instead of taking yours completely off the rails…) One of them looks kind of like the Willis Tower. It has one 5' central stem with a bunch surrounding it of all different heights. "Organized" is great word choice!
 

 
     Your cacti should make a really neat (and clean!) visual screen for the pool. Just keep taking cuttings to fill in the gaps. It'll be interesting to have a half dozen different species throughout it too.
     One question: Does the specimen that you suspect of being bridgesii have short spines, or did you trim them off? Bridgesii has long spines (longer than peruvianus or macrogonus). If not, you may just have a weird-looking pachanoi. It's always hard to tell exactly what they are until they've and a chance to really grow for a couple of years. Then you can get a better idea of the true size and shape of the mature plant.

maby you could help me identify what i have exactly?

 

 
     Post good pics of each species next to something for scale and I'll do my best.

 

[queequeg152]

Your cacti should make a really neat (and clean!) visual screen for the pool. Just keep taking cuttings to fill in the gaps. It'll be interesting to have a half dozen different species throughout it too.
     One question: Does the specimen that you suspect of being bridgesii have short spines, or did you trim them off? Bridgesii has long spines (longer than peruvianus or macrogonus). If not, you may just have a weird-looking pachanoi. It's always hard to tell exactly what they are until they've and a chance to really grow for a couple of years. Then you can get a better idea of the true size and shape of the mature plant.

 
     Post good pics of each species next to something for scale and I'll do my best.

yea i think it will look pretty swell myself. we have a few neat looking rocks sitting around, waiting for that project.

i dont think ill have enough to fill even one of the planters by this spring tho. it will have to wait till later im guessing.

yes i did trim the spines. they were enormous, and the cuttings kept pricking each other.
where cuttings were pricked, black spots occured.
i had all of the cuttings inside of a clear clean plastic bin, with strips of foam insulation seperating the layers of cactus cuttings, the foam was not enough to keep the spines away from each other, so i just trimmed them off.

ill get better pics when i can.

 

[Proud Marine Dad]

Why are you growing tobacco?

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

yea i think it will look pretty swell myself. we have a few neat looking rocks sitting around, waiting for that project.

i dont think ill have enough to fill even one of the planters by this spring tho. it will have to wait till later im guessing.


yes i did trim the spines. they were enormous, and the cuttings kept pricking each other.
where cuttings were pricked, black spots occured.
i had all of the cuttings inside of a clear clean plastic bin, with strips of foam insulation seperating the layers of cactus cuttings, the foam was not enough to keep the spines away from each other, so i just trimmed them off.

 
     You got me thinking about doing a container garden with all three of my plants now.  The contrast would really be something.
     In case you haven't already, invest in a good wire cutter. I bought a good, American made Channel-Lok brand cutter just for trimming spines. Sooooooo much easier than using a scissors. Your hands will thank you. Don't worry about any black spots, though. It won't spread. Your cacti produce a whole stew of toxic, antibiotic alkaloids to defend itself.
     What kind of weather do you get in winter? I know most trichocereus can tolerate temps near freezing. (I've seen pics of them covered in snow!) 

 

[queequeg152]

Why are you growing tobacco?

cuz its fun. and kids wont jimmy open my gate to steal it.

the weather in houston is about as mild as is possible. we rarely freeze, maby once or twice in the winter, and its a pissy 31 degrees maby.
major heat island effect too, so the weather station at the local airport like 10 miles away, is always like 2 degrees lower than it actually is in the neighborhood.

 

[Proud Marine Dad]

I didn't think it was legal to grow it. Hell it's more dangerous than Cannabis and I don't see raids for tobacco crops.

 

[queequeg152]

I didn't think it was legal to grow it. Hell it's more dangerous than Cannabis and I don't see raids for tobacco crops.

the governments funny like that huh.

i recall in a thread a while back someone made the argument...
 

WELL SIR, if gmo was not dangerous...EU governments would not have banned/regulated its sale! Now what say you good sir?! there is nary a man able to confront such rock solid logic!!

think that was nigle, or maby not, back in that gmo thread he got closed.

 

[hot stuff]

Why are you growing tobacco?

 Because it's $5/oz..

 

[Proud Marine Dad]

 Because it's $5/oz..

Sounds like a good time to give it up.

 

[hot stuff]

Not if you can grow your own.

 

[queequeg152]

had some nasty weather blow through this afternoon. winds around 30 miles an hours.
many of the plants still in 1 gallon containers got blown off the table, and damaged... mildly. some of the big leaves are cracked, and will probably die.

i might try to cure them in my closet or what have you... idk. ill see how they go.

ill post some pics up later in the week.

edit:
5 bucks an ounce. haha such bullshit. i used to buy pipe tobacco for like 2 bucks an ounce from brick and morter stores.
the fug happened.

the government is great at altering behavior right?

 

[John1234]

 Because it's $5/oz..

 
Stupid Americans... you can all rot in hell.
 
30 clams for a 1 1/2oz pouch of bacco north of the border.... getting pretty close to a dollar a cigarette for a pack of tailor-mades.
 
Don't take the insults seriously, it's just jealousy flaring up.

 

[hot stuff]

 
Stupid Americans... you can all rot in hell.
 
30 clams for a 1 1/2oz pouch of bacco north of the border.... getting pretty close to a dollar a cigarette for a pack of tailor-mades.
 
Don't take the insults seriously, it's just jealousy flaring up.

There's a reason I grow my own.
Would it make you feel better that one of my ancestors was one of the founders of Quebec and the rest were driven out of Acadia by the British? I did have one come down to New Orleans from Montreal around 1765.

 

[John1234]

I generally do not look favourably upon the Quebecois....
 
 
you seem alright though

 

[queequeg152]

Stupid Americans... you can all rot in hell.
 
30 clams for a 1 1/2oz pouch of bacco north of the border.... getting pretty close to a dollar a cigarette for a pack of tailor-mades.
 
Don't take the insults seriously, it's just jealousy flaring up.

orly.
when a government tries to price people out of a good legal or otherwise... what they are really saying is:
 

hey bro, this product is trivial to produce, why dont you take the means of production out of the legal framework, and make a few bucks in the process?

clearly you didnt get the memo.

As of 2009, illegal cigarettes are believed to be a $1.5 billion industry in Canada.

but your fellow canadians did.

There's a reason I grow my own.

dont suppose you have any pics to share?