San Pedro or Peyote, looking to spend some time doing it.

[Phreakr]

Hey all,

Duno if this board is dead or not? But i was after some help, i wish to grow an active cactus (pedro, or peyote etc) and am after some comments on which is better an experience, etc. I understand that it takes like 10-15 years for a Peyote to be fully mature? but cuttings can be taken and grown after that to have as many as ya wish as long as you put the time and effort in right? http://www.shaman-australis.com.au has Lophophora (peyote) seeds, I want to be in this for the LONG haul, because of the spiritual side of it, so any opinions about which strain/variety to get would be awesome, or if anyone knows about obtaining cuttings etc that would be really helpful too. Cheers.

[godonacid]

peyote or Lophophora williamsii is a slow growing plant but can be grafted to speed up growth, while the san pedro which where know as Trichocereus pachanoi are now know as Echinopsis pachanoi, these are much quicker growing dependant on location and conditions you can look any where from 1/2 a foot to 2 feet of growth a year with around a foot being the average, in my opinion if you have space get both, cacti gardens are cool, very easy to maintain and the san pedro and others in the family have imo very impressive flowers on them, if you have a look on the forum for the site you mentioned above you will find info on grafting the lophophora's onto the san perdos for much quicker growth.

 

about which variety to pick, the Lophophora diffusa dont contain what you are interested in, they where used ceremonially for other uses and i grow them for the sake of them also being rare but the Lophophora williamsii is the one you are after.

next is what type of Williamisii to pick, if you can find a Lophophora williamsii Caespitosa these are a very early pupping variety and are much less likley to flower but will pup at a much younger age and grow very quickly compared to some of the more native ones, of the others the straight Lophophora williamsii is a standard type of generic one, it could even be a Caespitosa im not sure, the others they have listed are from different areas Lophophora williamsii "*" with the star being where they are from, i have a cerdal in my collection and they are a nice cacti getting more than 5 ribs at a young age, there is a good book on these called Kaktusy 'The Genus Lophophora' which has the maps and shows pictures of the cacti growing in the wild and different sub species based on where the plant has evolved, any how any of these are fine just some will be slower and some faster growing than others.

 

on the san perdo or the Trichocereus / Echinopsis family of cacti, as i said Trichocereus pachanoi / Echinopsis pachanoi is the san pedro the others of interest are

Trichocereus bridgesii / Echinopsis lageniformis

Trichocereus peruvianus / Echinopsis peruviana

there are many others but these are some of the more common ones and the ones you shouldnt have to much trouble with.

 

all the best with it.

Edited September 6, 2007 by godonacid

[Phreakr]

Thankyou godonacid for the reply, That's what i thought about growing time, and have read a little on grafting. Seems like I should be reading up about cacti and everything involved with propergating/cutting/growing/preparing etc... over the next few months, should be fun though, I'll track down and read that book, and i think i will probably end up growing both san-pedro and Peyote ( perhaps a few different types of williamsii variety). Thankyou again for the speedy and detailed response. Edited September 6, 2007 by Phreakr