San Pedro for the Masses, a Scratch on the Surface of the Marvelous Trichocereus Pachanoi

An article on T. pachanoi by Gnosis

Ah, the trichocereus pachanoi. What a wonderful plant. Its beautiful smooth green skin calms me, and at the same time its phallic resemblance excites me in ways I never imagined a plant could. Among all my plants, my pachanoi come first in my heart, and so here on these electrons you see before you, I try to give something back to these lovely organisms by helping you propagate and care for their kind. Keep in mind that my way of doing things is not necessarily the best, it’s just what’s worked for me. Also, these tips should work just as well for trichocereus peruvianus.

How to tell if it’s a pachanoi
The trichocereus pachanoi is a tall, branching columnar cactus. It has anywhere from 4-10+ ribs. Its spines are short, growing in a star-like pattern from fuzzy aureoles. They bloom at night with large white flowers. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and I’m not good at descriptions, here’s a link to a good picture at the Lycaeum.

Making babies
So, you fancy yourself a green thumb, eh? Even if you don’t, growing pachanoi from seed shouldn’t be too difficult, and is definitely a worthy endeavor. There are two ways to go about doing this, organic or not. In both cases, you need some sort of a flat tray (aluminum pie tins or shallow plastic trays work well), Zip-lock freezer bags, cactus potting soil, and some good seed. The object of both methods is to prevent fungal growth, which can claim the lives of many a young cactus.

For the organic method, think mushrooms. You need to create as sterile an environment as possible for the little guys. Sterilizing any tools you work with and your hands before you start is a very good idea. Begin by putting about 1/2" of soil in the bottom of your tray. Now, either put the tray in the microwave or the oven and cook them until they’re steaming and quite hot to the touch. When they’re done, and the lovely aroma of roasted soil is wafting about the room, pull them out and place them in the plastic bags. If you’ve used pie tins, be sure they’re cool enough so that they don’t melt the bags. After they’ve cooled down, it’s time to add the seeds. Just open the bags a little and sprinkle the seeds evenly over your tray. Next, you have to be sure there’s enough water. Remember, these seedlings like it wet! You should use either distilled water, or tap water that’s been boiled. I’ve found that using a spray bottle works very well. In any case, you want the soil to be very wet, but not mud. Now it’s ti me to seal the bags and hope for the best.

If you want to make things a little easier on yourself, you can use a fungicide for the cacti. A downside to this is that the fungicide may decrease your germination rate, although I have found that the quality of seed has a much greater effect (if you can, patronize Mesa Gardens). Go to your local hardware store and get a fungicide that contains Daconil. Mix up a half-strength solution in a spray bottle. Add about 1/2" of soil to your tray, and spread the seeds evenly on the top. Now give the soil a good soaking with the fungicide. Put the trays in a freezer bag, seal, and you’re ready to go.

Now that you have your trays of seeds, you’ll want to place them in a spot that gives them a good amount of light. They should get a lot of indirect sunlight, but not more than an hour a day of direct sunlight, as they easily get sunburn. You’ll know that this has happened if they start to turn reddish-brown. One thing that helps germination is a little heat. A heating pad under the tray works, but be sure to keep it under 85 degrees Fahrenheit. In a week or so you should start to see some little sprouts peeking their heads out of the soil. If you have used fungicide, you can open the bags every few days to exchange air. Remember that this causes them to lose moisture, so you’ll have to give them a little water if the soil looks dry. If you have gone organic, you shouldn’t open the bags until you’re ready to transplant them, as this lets in contaminants.

At first the sprouts will look like little green tubes which are easily distinguishable from any weeds that may appear. Soon their seed leaves will separate into two "horns," giving the appearance of a field of little green devils growing. Over the course of a few months, they should grow bigger and develop spines. Don’t be discouraged if they grow slowly, as they don’t really take off until they have a few inches under their belts. When they begin to hit their heads against your plastic bag, it’s time to transplant them. You should start by slowly acclimating them to a drier environment. You can leave the plastic bags open for a few hours at a time, increasing this until you have them fully out of the bag after about a week. Now you can move them to their own pots, or wherever you like.

How to keep ‘em happy
Pachanoi, like other cacti, are the easiest things in the world to care for. They thrive on neglect. For sunlight, pachanoi like it hot. While it’s warm out, give them as much direct sun as you can. If they’re used to indoor light, be careful not to burn the plants. Acclimate them to the strong light by putting them out for increasing intervals over the course of a week, starting with 3-4 hours of sunlight. If you’re going too fast, they’ll let you know by turning reddish-brown. How much you water the plants depends on how hot it is. If it’s very hot, they should get water as often as once a week or more. During the winter when they go dormant, only give them water if they begin wilting, and then only a little bit. Keep in mind that the thinner a plant is, the more often it will need water. Their soil should always be completely dry whenever you give them water. You can test this by putting a wooden chopstick all the way into the soil for a minute and checking it. If you would like to fertilize your cactus, y ou can either sprinkle a little fertilizer on the top of the soil before their next watering, or use a half-strength solution of fertilizer and water them from the bottom.

Most health problems that you could encounter with a trichocereus involve overwatering. If in doubt, don’t water! Black rot may infect your plant. If this happens, cut the unaffected part of the cactus off and root it as per cutting directions below. If you start to see translucent blisters appear which later turn black, this is a sign of too much water. Most insect infestation can be dealt with by swabbing a little rubbing alcohol with a q-tip on the offending bugs. If you find that new growth on your plant is thin, it isn’t getting enough light. Either give it more light, or take it out of the light altogether to stop its growth.

All you ever wanted to know about cuttings
Propagating the San Pedro from cuttings is also quite easy. All you need is a sharp knife and some soil. First, be sure that your cactus is big enough. 10" or more above the soil is a good starting point, as you want at least a 6" cutting and a 4" base. As to width, it really doesn't matter, but remember, the thinner the cacti, the quicker it will lose water. If you keep your cacti indoors, you can make a more straight cut. If you leave your cacti where they can get rained on, be sure to cut at a slant, so the rain water doesn't pool in the cut. After you have made the cut, you'll want to let both the base and the cutting heal and callous over. This should take about 2 weeks. In that time, you'll want to keep the cutting out of sunlight, and the base in lower light. After that, you can slowly reacclimate the cactus to the level of light it was previously at. As for the cutting, it's now time to plant. You should have a pot of dry soil ready. If you wish, you can dust the callous and the bottom inch or so of t he plant LIGHTLY with rooting hormone. Put the cutting about 2"deep in the soil. Wait about a week or so until you water the cutting, and then do so as normal. Soon they will put out roots, and voila, you now have two healthy, happy San Pedros.

Things to try
Some of these things are rumors I've heard, others are just things I've been speculating on and plan on trying. Making a polyploid trichocereus: Something I've just thought about trying. All you need are some good seeds and some colchine. All you should have to do is soak the seeds in colchine (somebody PLEASE tell me how to spell this word) for about 24 hours. Any seeds that survive this harsh treatment may be polyploid, and might grow much faster. Of course, I don’t even know if it’s possible to make cacti polyploid, so you might just end up killing a lot of good seeds.

Branching: Supposedly, if you feed a trichocereus Miracle Grow after you've cut it, more branches are supposed to form. I tried this without success. Also, if you plant a cutting sideways it's supposed to put out quite a few branches. I also tried this without success. I plan on trying both again using slightly different methods. Another thing to try is destroying the apical meristem. This is a tiny area at the very top of the cactus where the ribs meet and new growth comes from. It could be done with something like a heated pin. Doing this should force the cactus to put out branches. Experiments like this are planned.

Grafting: Another musing of mine. What would happen if you grafted a trichocereus onto another trichocereus? Might it continue to grow at the scion and also put out branches from the base? Once again, experiments to this effect are scheduled a little later on.

Germination rates: Giberillic acid increases the germination rate of most cactus seed, so a soak in it should increase the number of cacti you end up with.

Growth: Another use of giberillic acid is stimulating enormous growth in plants. In a biology class a while back, we took giberillic acid in a lanolin base and spread it around the stems of pea seedlings. These plants showed phenomenal growth rates. I also saw a picture in a bio book of 11’ (yes, 11’) cabbages that had been treated in this way. The only problem with this is that it causes "bolting." The plant grows so fast that it cannot support its own weight and will topple over. Still, with support you could end up with some mighty big cacti.