Greetings Friends:

I was out cleaning up the garden and thought maybe some of you might like to see some photos of peyote.

I hope you enjoy them.

(This is also an experiment to see if I've understood how to upload pictures...let's see if works!)

That's pretty cool stuff! Amazing garden!

Def worth a promo upvote IMO...

Greetings null24:

Thank you so much for your positive reply. It is nice to meet you and I am glad you enjoyed the photos.

Kind regards and respect.

Thank you! That's very kind to say.
I don't grow cactus, but folks here do (duh!), I bet you have some good garden tips. I am guessing those babies grew under your stewardship?

Hi null24:

You wouldn't believe it but I started with three seedlings planted from five seeds about 15 years ago. For the first couple of years I kept taking cuttings (ie. slice the top off and root it while the part in the ground makes new pups) but then they got big enough to start flowering and making seeds. Initially, everything was kept in pots but when I finally reached 100 plants, I decided to build an outside raised bed with very sandy loam. I still keep 20 plants in pots purely for flowering and seed collection to keep a cycle of new plants growing (and also as emergency back up for if we have a hurricane or natural disaster outside).

I tried grafting to make them grow faster but I quickly found that in our climate they grow very quickly anyway and the humidity actually made grafting more difficult because of rot. I just collect seed and plant more and more plants instead of messing around with grafts. What's also great is that if you harvest them right, they grow back very quickly from the root and you can get a harvest every year.

Truly very satisfying plants to grow. I will try and post some extraction pictures when I finally go for an harvest in the dry season, which is about three months from now.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to check my post out.

Kind regards and respect.

Beautiful!

Thank you for sharing these lovely photos.

Can I ask what USDA zone you are in, and what materials you used to make the loam for the bed?

Hello dreamer042:

Thank you for replying so kindly.

I am in zone 12. I made the raised bed by placing concrete blocks in a 10' x 3' rectangle, three blocks high (no mortar, just stacked). The bottom of the bed is lined with 4-5" limestone rocks for about 6" and the rest of soil that fills the bed is made up by 50% sand and 50% garden soil. As you can see however, lots of leaves collect in the bed and over time rot and are incorporated into the sand/soil. Its been about 15 years now, so the ratio is probably 30-35% sand. They really need good drainage, especially if you get the same amount of rain we get here...but because of the sand, they need regular fertilising as the rain washes everything out through the sand mix.

The peyote that are growing with the dragon fruit climbing cactus are a new experiment as I thought that they might both enjoy each other company and the soil in that is 100% sand. You can't see it in the photograph but I have planted a dwarf sprawling clover as a ground cover which still needs to grow out and cover all of the exposed sand and hold it together. It is experimental and I don't know if it will work...it has only been about two months so it still needs more time.

I hope that answers your question.

Kind regards and respect.

Amazing work and so lovely to see such great cactus conservation efforts in action!
What is the overall depth of the soil in the raised concrete beds? I see you wrote "three blocks high" but how big are the blocks?

Greetings downwardsfromzero:

Thank you commenting.

Yes, good point; the blocks are your standard 8" high concrete blocks, so that would make it a total depth of 24", say 22", more accurately since the soil doesn't go right up to the third block.

The more astute cactus growers will note how some of the cacti have shot up (and look spindly) a bit and not the classical round barrel shape; this is because during the wet season I have to cover everything with some of that clear roofing material. It lowers the amount of light they get AND I forgot to remove it for a few weeks when the weather cleared so that when I finally did, the cacti responded to the low light levels by "reaching up" for more light. They should fill out and fatten up now that I've cleaned everything up and removed the clear roofing.

Kind regards and respect.

Wowie! I smiled today! I'm still new to the cactus gardening. I'm doing research and considering personal finances and stability foremost but when I have the room, I really want to grow trichocereus. Peyote is illegal where I'm at. My eyes lit up though, seeing your seedlings

I want to get into hybridized and monstrose trich's! I know of a few suppliers here and there but I wanted to get some grow lights and maybe a grow tent but it'll take a decent amount of saving up and maintaining my priorities. I might start a few trichocereus Peruvianus since they're a little bit more hardy and it gets me started

I have a lot of mental health issues but for some odd reason when I see cacti like peyote and monstrose and hybrid pictures of these cacti that people loved and nurtured it impacts my mental storm clouds. Gardening for the win!! It's a cool physical piece of evidence of care which makes my heart melt compared to other material objects - it's the fact that the cactus was nurtured by a human and you get to see their beautiful works and labors

Greetings compulsimple:

Thanks for your positive reply.

I would really encourage you to go for it! There is so much pleasure and serenity to be gained from taking the time to grow some cacti, of any species, actually. I am sure that you would find out for yourself how much they would "impact your mental storm clouds" in a really positive way.

Kind regards and respect.

Nice garden, emong!

I hope that our native american cousins have people managing their sacred gardens with your obvious level of care and skill.