Trichocereus Peruvianus “Ferret” is definitely one of my favourite blue cacti. It’s a darker blue than alot of the more popular blue Peruvianus clones which makes it a little unique and of course a little bit special. It’s reputedly a fast grower. However, I’ve had mixed results which I suppose adds to the intrigue of growing cacti.
As a rule of thumb, if you have two cacti which are the same clones, and plant one in the ground and the other in pot, then you’d expect the one in the ground to outgrow the other. In this case the results I got were different to what I expected.
Therefore, I thought I’d document the last 2 years of my Ferret clone as I think it’s an interesting story and will hopefully lead to a better understanding.
I purchased this cutting in March of 2021.
From memory, it developed roots in the following spring and then got potted up into a larger container. And of course . . . . . . the tip etolated.
Therefore my common practice when this happens is to cut off the tip, as it looks ugly and rarely ever fattens up. So if you’re new to propagating cacti, it’s important to point out etolation is when the tip grows narrow into a point. This is common with shorter columnar cactus cuttings that are about this length. An exception was True Blue which was shorter than this cutting. So then I had 2 options, root the tip as a cutting or use it as a grafting scion.
Grafting was always going to be a much better option. Rooting an etolated tip will only ever produce an even narrower cactus.
So here’s what I did.
Interestingly the 2 slab grafts have outgrow the tip graft (or at least one has!). I would have expected it to be the other way around???????
Around this time I then decided to try and accelerate the growth.
Step 1 was to cut the bottom out of the plastic pot on the tip graft and let the roots grow into the ground. I placed it in an area where I’d recently removed an old compost bin. The top layer of soil was virtually worm castings dug into the existing soil. I nice rich soil, so you’d expect it to then really take off.
Step 2 was to then remove the smaller slab graft, along with a section of rootstock. The objective here was to let the original rootstock devote all it’s energy into the remaining, larger scion. Then re-root the smaller slab graft and see how it responds.
So here are the results.
10/06/2023 The tip graft has come along quite nicely. The roots have grown down into the soil below and the container is now locked into that space. It has now grown an extra 35cm from the original tip.
Here’s the larger slab graft.
I suppose the question is why the slab outgrew the tip? Especially since the tip sent it’s roots down into the rich soil below. I have theory, but first . . . .
Here’s how the other slab graft faired.
The rootstock grew roots fairly quickly. But while it was rooting the tip just kept growing. And of course, you guessed it. Another etolated tip!!!! Not unexpected!
Therefore this tip got the same treatment as before
So how did the original cutting fair?
It got planted into the ground in spring of 2022. It had quite an establish root ball as I think it was in a 20 or 25cm container. I had high hopes for the original Ferret plant but it was slow to start pupping. Then it formed a tiny pup. And the next day it was gone.
10/06/2023
The second pup then grew. But as you can see. Not much!
The slab graft is now 55cm and getting fatter at the tip
I ended up staking the slab graft. It was very unstable. I don’t think the roots of the rootstock were as advanced as I’d expected.
At the moment the plan will be to take the large cutting in spring, just above the slab (it still appears to be growing). Then I’ll re-pot the rootstock to encourage better root growth and then hopefully it will pup again to repeat the process over.
The idea is to get the scion as large as possible before it’s cut so when it roots it doesn’t etolate. I’ll pump it full of Gogo and fert first, so the cutting will have enough energy to keep growing fat. We’ll see!!!
So why did one tiny little slab graft from an etolated tip, on a rootstock with barely enough roots to keep it upright, produce a pup much larger than the original mother plant??????? Afterall, the mother had a much larger rootball with plenty of space for the roots to grow. Plus it was watered and fertilised as well, so there should be no excuses!
So here’s a couple of “theories”.
Firstly it could be a similar scenario to Bridgesii “True Blue”. The grower in NSW said True Blue was a slow to medium grower. While here in Melbourne it grew quite quickly. So the opposite is possibly true for Ferret. It may need some really warm weather to get it going (I’ve experienced this with other peruvianus), while the T. Spachianus roostock wasn’t affected by a cool growing season.
But then why did the slab graft with roots contained within the pot, outgrow the tip graft with roots growing down into a really rich, fertile soil?
Well here is another “theory”.
Many years ago I lived in Central Australia. In the sand dune areas there were lots of trees growing called Desert Oaks. There were smaller narrow ones and larger rounder ones. I suppose from a distance they probably looked like 2 different trees. I asked one of the locals why some were skinny and others were round.
The answer given was this. The trees start off growing quite narrow. As when they are young they put all their energy into growing their roots down deep into the ground. The idea is to grow until they reach the water table deep in the ground. Once they have a steady supply of water then they put their energy into the part of the tree above the ground. Makes sense right!
So who knows? Maybe some cacti like to establish their roots before they put too much energy into the bit above the ground. This certainly wasn’t the case with True Blue. It just grew from the moment its tiny little, unestablished roots hit the ground and didn’t look back. In the case of Ferret though, both plants with roots into the ground didn’t seem to do as well.
Or here’s another “theory”. When Ferret was planted it had a really established rootball. Some of the roots were quite long and starting to coil around in the pot. When the pot was removed the mix was quite loose and mostly fell away. So in effect the roots didn’t need to be teased out. So I suppose there was quite a bit of root disturbance. In the case of True Blue, it was planted with just the tiny little beginnings of roots as shown in the photo. So there wasn’t really any root disturbance at all.
I plant most of my cuttings like this. As soon as they show the first sign of roots I plant them into there next long term home, either a much larger pot or straight into the ground. With the inground ones I’ve had mixed results, some grow quicker and others slower.
So what is the ultimate answer to the question? Why did the slab graft outgrow it’s mother which was in the ground?????
Maybe Ferret’s roots didn’t like the cooler growing season or,
Maybe Ferret’s roots needed time to recover after being disturbed or,
Maybe Ferret decided it would put most of it’s energy into sinking it’s roots deep into the ground
Who knows!
I suppose, maybe the next growing season will reveal the answer?
But the irony of the whole situation is maybe this. If you were to ask 10 different growers how well their Ferret clone grows you may possibly get several different and opposing answers. The opposing parties may even argue over it. “I’m right” or “you’re speaking shit” or “what would you know”. So maybe the reality is this . . . . . they are all correct. It’s just that their experiences were different !!!!!
