San Pedro (Trichocereus pachanoi) .

   San Pedro is a very easy to cultivate cacti. It can be grown from seeds and cuttings
. Growing them from seeds goes in the same way as with Peyote
. Seeds are here
available.

  To grow them from cuttings is simple. Just cut the cacti in pieces of about 4cm length
 and leave these pieces for about one or two weeks, in this time the wound will heal,
 a callus is formed. The cuttings do stay alive for a very long time, so  don't worry
about time and don't hurry, it is important that the wound is really dry.

   Once the wound is dry and something like a skin has formed, the cutting is ready.
Often it is hard to see what is the top or bottom, in that case just plant it on its side.
 If it is clear, what is the top, then plant the cutting straight up, half in the earth.
 You can use cacti earth from the local plant shop, but any good earth will do as well.
It might take some time before growth starts, somewhere between a few weeks up
 to even a year.

  San Pedro likes it hot, if you have a greenhouse, open the windows only in extreme
 heat. Indoors it grows well, infact it is one of the fasted growing cacti. It can grow
quite a bit in one season, sometimes half meter, under the right conditions (Peyote is
 one of the slowest), which makes it for certain purposes a lot better.

  When you live in a place where the days are quit short in winter, the cacti should be
kept in a place with plenty light, at  a  temperature of

minimum 0-5C ( a little above freezing point) to 10C. It  is important to keep them
during winter in a cool place, else they will start growing and start making thin pieces
(see picture below). A thin waist might be nice for a woman, but for a cactus it is ugly,
 and makes it instable. The trick is to stop the cactus from growing during a period of
 shortage of light. So it also important not to give water in this period, this causes
growth and possibly even rot. Don't worry, it is cacti and can stay without water for
 long periods.

   In the growing seasons you can give them regularly water, fertilizer is appreciated,
both natural and artificial. There  is no real need of artificial fertilizer, if the plant is
 regularly repotted or when natural fertilizer is used.

  San Pedro flower only after many years, rarely in cultivation, which is pity,
because it has very beautiful flowers. There seems to be quite a lot of variation in
the genus, like more or less needles, sometimes small needles and sometimes very
small. 

 
 
Daphne and San Pedro


 

         Peyote can be grafted on San Pedro, which speeds up the    growth.
I did experiment with it and had  about

50% success.
 

             grafted Peyote on San Pedro
           grafted Peyote (the one with many buttons) on San Pedro

Trichocereus pachanoi



The thin top is the result of either too high a temperature, too little light
 or a combination of both. In colder climates is better

 to stop growth in winter by keeping the plant in a cool 
 ( 0-5 degree celcius: just above freezingpoint) and light place 
                                                             and giving it hardly or no water.



Trichocereus peruvianus  Trichocereus peruvianum


 different  kinds of Trichocereus, Trichocereus peruvianum, is said to be 3
 to 4 times more potent  as Trichocereus pachanoi.
 
San Pedro/Trichocereus pachanoi in Arad, Israel.
 

San Pedro/Trichocereus pachanoi in Arad, Israel.
Trichocereus pachanoi in Israel, Negev, Arad.
5 years old.

back to index

pictures