Hello, all! At some point during this pandemic I started to take much better care of my cactus collection and acquire some new ones. Really helped get me out of a mental void.


I come with a question regarding bridgesii, any special tips on making these fatter/etiolate less? My pachanoi fo pretty well with consistent growth but my two bridg’s are growing thin. Here are a few photos, a Psycho0 and I believe it was a baker x 02

When I acquired it (august 8th)


Now:




And the baker is particularly off looking

They’re fed the same as with the pachanoi, a mix of a variety of stuff: dr earth fert or Garrett juice, Epsom salts and egg shell calcium, sometimes coconut water or aloe juice, liquid fish fertilizer. They stay on the balcony for the most part which gets a few hours of good sun. Sometimes I bring them inside where I have two 400w metal hallide lamps to supplement some light

They look like they had been growing in full sun in warm temperatures on established root systems. Now growing in less sun on new roots, possibly with lower temperatures?
Give them as much light as you can and keep them dormant in the cold season. When the roots grow out well they might put out fatter growth on top. At that point you would have the option of cloning the top and letting the bottom put out new, fatter, branches.
You will, at some point, just have to accept a new normal. That's the theme for pandemic anyway, right?

I think with this photos it might be possible to locate where you live.

About the etiolation. For me it was always missing light sometimes combined with to much water.

Also sometimes its not possible to get a perfect shape from the cacti after changing their environment.

Nice bridgesii OP!

That psycho0 doesnt look too bad. Sometimes bridgesii grow really fast and streeeeetch like that. Those stretched sections will thicken somewhat as the cactus ages, but will always be proportionally thinner than other sections that come in thicker.

But the Baker is definitely looking like it needs more light. The psycho0 would probably benefit from greater light as well.

If you are in the Northern hemisphere in a region where winter is coming, then it may be time to think about the best way to overwinter them so that you avoid further etiolation. Forcing dormancy is a great option if you have a cold (but not freezing) location to place them, with very restricted watering.

But for next growing season definitely think about giving them more sunlight so that they can grow in thicker.

But they are beautiful looking specimens! All the best with them!

as mentioned, etiolation is the result of them not having enough light. once the days get too short or too dark you will want to force them to go dormant for the winter.
to do that they will need to be put somewhere colder, ideally just below 10°C (50°F).
they will not need light and for the most part will not need water while they are dormant, so even a dark basement is fine.

if that is not an option you could continue growth through the winter under grow lights, but if i am not mistaken they will not flower, or are difficult to flower in the following season if grown like that. could be wrong about that though.