Agaveville

I was watching this & am surprised at the outcome, $200 for a 5" (12.5cm) blue cactus. Pilosocereus magnificus appears to be the one everyone wants, including me. The Huntington's ISI "introduced" this plant in 2015, but seemed to be immediately sold out.

pic

I managed to get one from the ISI release, but it is one of the few plants I lost last winter. Something next to it fell over and knocked it off the bench and it got damaged. It developed rot in that damage spots and despite beheading it I could not safe it.

that doesn't even look like magnificus... which is indeed a spectacular plant... but I think that looks more like the average pachycladus

http://cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus=pil ... magnificus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Geoff, definitely some range of appearance from the HBG photos shown on the linked site, which look similar to the plant offered, to your photos of that spectacular blue, incredible otherworldly looking plants.

Koehres has (presumably) wild-origin source seed for both this species and fulvilanatus available on thier website. My somewhat limited experience with Brazilian pilos is that you can get a nice, 20-25 cm tall plant in less than two years from seed under glass. Not sure I could see springing more than 20 bucks for a seedling of any of them, even true magnificus or purpureus. Wonderful tentpoles, for sure.

J

Does anyone know of a reliable source of P. magnificus seeds? Mostly I find seeds too slow, but I'm tired of waiting to find a plant at anything approaching a reasonable size.

Hi, Vieg.

I'd say Koehres is the most reliable succulent seed seller that there is.

J

I just ordered some from Koehres. Aside from an extra step in the payment process it was really smooth.

FWIW, I rarely provide a full-throated endorsement of anyone, but have dealt with KK for well over a decade - only very rare and extremely hard-to-find things - and have never been delivered anything but the real deal with excellent viability (I am now more convinced than ever that the small percentage of "striata" seed mixed in with everyone's albopilosa seed batches in the early part of this decade was introgressed hybrid seed, not intentionally adulterated).

Was a huge fan of Mesa's seedling list but - and I know this will surprise some people here - never got a single viable yucca or furcraea seed from them in three tries over the years.

J

Hmm interesting. I have a couple pachycladus seedlings growing right now. Just googled magníficus for the first time. Could be in my head, but I think I can see the beginnings of that "faceting" in the picture of the seedling above that seems to be a defining characteristic of magnificus, at least in the pictures I've looked at. Gorgeous cactus.

mcvansoest wrote:I managed to get one from the ISI release, but it is one of the few plants I lost last winter. Something next to it fell over and knocked it off the bench and it got damaged. It developed rot in that damage spots and despite beheading it I could not safe it.

I managed one from ISI too before they sold out, but like yours, lost it to rot that I couldn't save. Luckily I managed to get one from Mesa Garden before they shut down their plant sales for the year; not very big (seedling about 4 1/2" tall), but faster than seed!

I would keep an eye out for MG plant orders to open up as your best bet other than seed.

Minime8484 wrote:

mcvansoest wrote:I managed to get one from the ISI release, but it is one of the few plants I lost last winter. Something next to it fell over and knocked it off the bench and it got damaged. It developed rot in that damage spots and despite beheading it I could not safe it.

I managed one from ISI too before they sold out, but like yours, lost it to rot that I couldn't save. Luckily I managed to get one from Mesa Garden before they shut down their plant sales for the year; not very big (seedling about 4 1/2" tall), but faster than seed!

I would keep an eye out for MG plant orders to open up as your best bet other than seed.

Will do. I gave the ISI release a miss this year as there was not that much I really wanted and I also must say that for me the plants always have a little bit of trouble acclimatizing, I must not be providing the right amount of care or conditions, most eventually 'turn on', but often it takes up to a couple of years of sitting around doing nothing and in that period there are always one or two that croak.

I keep my eye out for Pilosocerei type cacti at the big box stores - I have noticed that often they are center pieces of these cactus 'baskets' they sell - 3-6 or so cactus stuck together with glued in gravel, mostly the Pilosocerei in those are the more commonly available but I have seen the occasional outlier in that it looks decidedly different from the usual fare.

Steph115, what do you mean by "faceting" in the P. magnificus?

Faceting may not be the best word, but I'm referring to the oblique/curvilinear striations that run downward along the cactus. These seem to separate regions of either slightly different color or slightly different curvature. IMO it gives it kind of a prismatic or geometric look.

Here's a good example

Ah yes, I know exactly what you mean. You can see it on the ISI listing too. It's a really nice effect...

Those lines are separation marks delineating growth spurts. The different colors show where there is variation in the age of the surface tissue and/or in the density or age of the glaucous powder on the surface of the plant.

On many columnar cacti, this is a very good way to delineate yearly or seasonal growth spurts, allowing comparison of the amount of growth that took place during progressive years. Of course, in greenhouses or occasionally outside, growth spurts can sometimes happen more than once a year due to weather aberrations or cultural changes. For instance, many Saguaros will reflect the onset of particularly strong and persistent monsoon seasons by quickly adding rapid new growth that can occasionally be thicker than the preceding growth. Sometimes this leads to a major flowering event, which can often slow terminal growth during the flowering and fruiting stage. This can often be seen as successive thicker areas along trunks and arms, often reflecting observable conditions over many years time, much as tree rings reflect precipitation rates and/or climatic conditions over many decades. Sometimes this is particularly evident on columnar cacti, expressing itself with strange or even comical effects similar to "Popeye arms".

The Monger