My Pilo has a pillow!

[Spination]

2016 08 27 Pilocereus a.JPG (96.92 KiB) Viewed 1733 times

I think this means a flower can't be too far behind...

2016 08 27 Pilocereus b.JPG (90.95 KiB) Viewed 1733 times

2016 08 27 Pilocereus c.JPG (82.64 KiB) Viewed 1733 times

[RCS]

Very nice. That's one of my favorites. Are those M. geminispinas at the bottom of pic. two?

[Spination]

Yes, they are. Some few years back, a town about 1/2 hour away had a great nursery, several quite large greenhouses, with loads of cacti trucked up from L.A., at super prices. That's one I got there, a memory of yet another nursery that once was...

I too really like those blue columnar cacti. The color combined with the white hairs I think is an irresistible combination. I'm still on the lookout for one of those really super blue ones I've seen in pics. One day...

[Gee.S]

Love 'em, but too tender for me. Tried and died...

[Spination]

It's developing fast, and now I'm wondering if this is actually a flower developing, or a branch? I wasn't even really aware these branch as it seems pictures I recall are straight columns. But, that's kind of what it's looking like to me now.

2016 09 03 Pilocereus.JPG (139.78 KiB) Viewed 1686 times

[mcvansoest]

Since it appears to have spines in addition to the hair, I would think it is a branch. The one I have that has flowered (it is a Pilo just not sure it is the same species) had flowers without spines and hairs.
I think these will branch on occasion with age, and definitely in response to damage - I had one were the tip froze and now it has three branches.

[Spination]

Thanks for confirming and your logic mirrors mine. The spines made me think twice, and also the appearance of pigment (but more green than blue currently) under the hairs. I had read too that they can branch in response to damage, but I was very careful with mine. I know these are not very cold tolerant, so I even had the pots placed inside out of any potential frost/freeze timing. I got my first one as a smallish one gallon specimen, and shortly afterwards went back to grab the other they had. This was in summer of last year, and they are more than double the size since, so very fast growing! The growth rate thus far has been a surprise, but the branch even more so.

[mcvansoest]

The are fast growers and really do like the sun. I got mine as about a 2 foot cutting, it did some really weird growth while rooting but since then has been growing strong and I have had flowers on it 2 years in a row now.
From my experience it is more blue/grey in the sun and gets greener with less sun. Two of the branches were on the damage spot, the third was pretty basal nowhere near the frost damage. The initial growth on the new branches was also a lot greener than the rest of the plant. The fruit on mine has bright purple flesh:

DSC_0219.jpg (53.52 KiB) Viewed 1671 times

I had intentions of harvesting - I got fruit in 2015, not this year, but I was too slow and the birds too fast...
Here in suburban Mesa where we get a pretty good urban heat island effect we have not seen much frost the last few years, but I still tend to cover the tips on this plant every time it is predicted to go into the low 30s - I just stick some christmas hats on them.

The main problem I now face with the biggest of my Pilo's is that it is just about to outgrow me and it is still in a big pot - in all likelihood rooted through the bottom of it so the job of putting it in the ground will be hard.

[Gee.S]

I had some kind of Pilo when I lived in Phoenix. It went from 6" to 10' in about 4 years. It took frost damage every winter, but then came roaring back each spring.

[Spination]

There's no doubt about it now, it's a branch. Even with it's thick mop-top, it's pretty easy now to tell what it is.

2016 09 13 Pilocereus a.JPG (80.36 KiB) Viewed 1641 times

Interestingly, there's also now something else happening right next door. Another branch, or a flower this time? Time will tell....

2016 09 13 Pilocereus b.JPG (118.42 KiB) Viewed 1641 times