Night-blooming Cereus

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:19 am

I have been working on a construction site where a backhoe pulled up a night-blooming cereus (Peniocereus greggii). Apparently, the stems broke off and were lost, and now, all that is left is the large tuber.

Is there a chance that a new stem will grow up from the tuber? If so, what is the best way to help this cactus out?

Buck Hemenway · Post by **Buck Hemenway** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:36 am

Almost certainly it will grow. I have to presume that some of the above ground growth is still there, some short stubs of where the cactus arms were.

Just plant it and stand back.

Some of my best rescues have come from exactly this sort of thing. Someone thought ths arms were great, took them for rooting stock and left the stump. One stump was out of the ground for 12 months and re-rooted alomst instantly when I planted it.

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:11 am

For the time being, I put it in a 5-gallon bucket with soil from the site. Does it need to be watered or should I wait until late winter? Is transplanting a cactus in the winter a bad idea? I didn't really have much of a choice.

templegatejohn · Post by **templegatejohn** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:31 am

Yes, keep it dry until the Spring and there is some sign of root growth before you start to water it and then only give a little until the roots become established.

Winter is not the best time to transplant a cactus but needs must as they say. As long as you keep the plant dry it should be OK. If you see the plant start to shrivel, a light spray with water will not harm it.

John

Post by **daiv** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:38 pm

Don't forget also that you live in the native habitat. The place that it will do best is right out in the ground and just let it get watered when it rains. (That is, if you have a place to plant it.) That is one of my favorite species. I have looked for it every time I was in Arizona, but it has eluded me in the wild. I did buy one at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum when I was there a year or so ago -just a little guy.

The key difference of the Sonoran desert (AZ, Mexico) as compared to the Mojave (Southern CA, NV) is that you get Winter and Summer rains, whereas around here it is almost completely dry all summer.

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:32 pm

I have never seen one with a flower on it. Occasionally, I will see some with the big red fruits. More often, I stumble across them by chance. The good news is that they tend to cluster together. I found five of them within a 20-meter-diamter area on Ft. Huachuca, in southeastern Arizona (Where's Waldo?):

Post by **daiv** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:55 pm

Those are great habitat shots! Thanks for sharing -talk about camoflague. It is no wonder that I have never found them in the wild yet. Next time I get out that way I will have to look a lot harder.