Hello friends, I have a cutting I would like to place outdoors in a natural enviornment. I am well aware of the dangers of invasive non native species and great care would be taken to prevent that. I feel with the cactus that is relatively low risk. There are several climates in Southern California, I feel one might suit the cactus, but I have next to zero knowledge on the subject. There is a mountain range close by that the cactus might love.....the San Jacinto range. Can anyone offer me any advice on this or am I better off putting it on my balcony (very little sun).

My coastal So Cal projects are doing exceptionally well*. As long as you stay out of freezing temps, you should be fine. They grow fast here...use well drained soil/compost mix including sand, pebbles. I like ag lime and worm casings for fertilizing once a year...but a professional grower friend has spectacular results with 50% seasoned steer manure. All Trichs will do well, especially bridgesii. For super growth, water moderately once a week in the summer...some of these babies will triple in size in just one season. Early settlers in late 1700's planted considerable T's around San Diego, and I have seen some of those specimans still surviving in multiple locations...even snipped a twig or two of some very old pach's and bridgesii's: POTENT!

For maneuverability, I keep some very large specimans in 10 and 15 gal plastic pots.

A landscaper/handyman guy I use - a Mexcian guy in his 70's - tells me that his grandmother used to raise pachanoi in Ensenada when he was a kid for medicine...he took a lot of it. Indeed, the literature refers to useful antibiotic and even hair tonic properties.
Good luck

San Diego's old Trich's and cacti/succulents generally are wonderful! A sprightly old woman two houses down from me had about two dozen LARGE pachanoi's. The smallest were around 3 feet, ranging up to considerably taller than me! (6'4"! I saw one pachanoi (or perhaps macrogonus?) on el cajon blvd that was literally tree-sized!

I started two bridgesii and 5 or 6 pachanoi while I lived there, which I transplanted to my father's house in north east Texas when my wife and I hit the road. Actually I cooked all but one of the pachanoi, the other three are still doing pretty well, doubling in height (though not at all width) over the summer.

ive got some growing in coastal la and they are doing pretty well. since we get mist/fog often times, they developed some of that orange rust infection from being wet (i think?) since that happened i took them out of the ground and potted them, they seemed much happier after. i also tried adding some fertilizer, i think it was fruit/flower eb stone brand and it shot up by about 2 feet and sprouted several buds

graft the pups onto some pereskiopsis ^_^

Thank you all for your suggestions! I really do appreciate the input. Maybe ill post yo some pictures if things are successful