I have no experience growing San Pedro inside; I only grow outside.But I know that insects attack plants producing too much carbohydrates or plant sugars caused by too much nitrogen fertilizer. I'd recommend you talk to a local house plant store/expert.

I don't know of scale being fatal, just parasitic sucking...scale, I believe can be killed safely with neem oil?

Give the san pedro non-chlorinated water, less fertilizer --and only during spring/summer. Bright but diffused light lets them grow slowly without etiolation. Like a south facing window with a white gauze?

Insects infect sick plants--not healthy ones. Check the soil? Peat moss based soil mixes get acidic. I use compost instead of peat. If you have acid soil then add limestone. I check PH with test strips and use powdered marble (limestone) for fast acting and ground oyster shell (flour) for slower acting.

I have never known a san pedro to die from insects. Insects, to me are a symptom of underlying ill health. Health = correct type of/and amount of soil+water+light

White spots appeared 72.76.165.62 / Wednesday, April 25, 2007 Hello, I bought this cactus from you awhile ago and it's been growing very well, but recently white spots appeared and kinda propagate up (on one side only). It's really disturbing to see that, please advise how to heal this (I checked Disease section but did not find similar images) Thanks in advance ----------- I disagree with your assertion "...it's been growing very well," In fact it has not been growing well at all. It is etiolated. No, there are no pictures of this in the disease section because this site is not about disease; it is about how to naturally grow healthy specimens. [by the way--the sick plant shown on the Disease page, held up by a twist tie, was later for sale on ebay. I am not kidding. It had healed, yet I recognized that poor thing.] The disease section begins: Why, why, why, why...do I get emails month after month asking what to do for diseased San Pedro? Is my entire website serving no purpose? Is the attention span of the visitor so superficial that the only thing they find is my email address? Apparently so. Your plants are sick because you make them sick. You treat them like "things" and not like living beings. The sickness in your plants is a mirror of the sickness in you. My website shares information about how I grow plants. It is basic "organic agriculture" which is in simplest terms just imitating nature. Ever noticed how beautiful trees are in a forest? Nature shows us how its done. Many people think plants are dumb things that they have to control like a pet, or a lab experiment. If "it" has a problem then there must be a chemical or "trick" to fix it. That's wrong thinking. Plants are living beings that coexist with us in a universe where consciousness pervades everything. The plant becomes a manifestation of what you did to it. Nature hides nothing from us; but a person who has no eyes can't see that. If you really did buy this plant from me it came with a "Cacti-care" sheet that has been ignored. All plants need sunlight; organic, living soil; clean, non-chlorinated water; and respect for whatever they need to keep themselves healthy. As caretaker of the plant you have to provide it with a natural environment. San Pedro have been growing just fine for tens of thousands of years before recorded history. Their only disease is humans.

How deep do their root systems go?
76.199.104.208
Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I need to move a couple San Pedros in my yard that are between 2 to 7 feet high to replace them with a hedge. I was thinking of digging the entire cacti out and moving them roots and all. How deep do their root systems go? Is this a practical idea? Some of the Cacti are peruvianus. I'm not looking forward to moving the big suckers.

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Start digging.
http://www.sacredcactus.com/index28.htm

Nice new pics
71.95.175.214
Monday, March 26, 2007

Thanks for the new photos! Nice to know you have documented San pedro being cold hardy to 22 degrees F. Also I appreciate your comments on the problems with cactus seed. I had many problems, lots of work, etc. and when I got some to grow my cat used it for a litter box.

When to repot?
69.48.621.32
Friday, March 23, 2007

Just wanted to let you know my 7 Peru's arrived today. They all look great ! (despite the mean Fed-Ex tossing) Question: how long until they shall need to be repotted? thanks again!
~Neal

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I repotted a couple months back. That should be good till they show a couple of inches of growth. I can't predict your growing conditions/rates, etc.

Try to up-pot to avoid roots running circles around the pot. You can periodically take one (before watering) out of the 4" pot to check the root ball to see if its bound. It is easier when the soil is dried out.

Go up to at least a 6" round pot next. The more root space they have the bigger the root system, the faster the growth, the less stressed they are with watering concerns. After all, in the earth the roots can dig for the water they need.

Verne

Hidden Trout
79.133.180.23
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The problem with Trout is that he's hiding his identity. He is obviously paranoid that the DEA would show up at his door if they knew who he was. In similar manner his "specimens" are from fictitiously named owners like "Oz"! Probably all these folks grow mushrooms, pot and engage in all sorts of illegal alkaloid usage. Drug use may well explain his substandard writing. If the old fish has an editor he must be one hell of a pothead!

Since these cacti have an ethnobotanical heritage [see: Josh Bernstein] their classification could be understood in that context. Someone needs to document the various Trichocereus varieties as they occur in Peru. What name do the local natives use for a particular plant? Plot maps for the region in which it is found. Photograph actual field specimens with a color correction bar in the photo and the standard meter stick, etc. Such an approach would clear up all the nonsense being generated by the Fish with his minions of fellow drug fiends.

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Documenting native Trichocereus is an excellent idea. It would be wonderful to see all the varieties of San Pedro, Peruvian Torch, and Bridgesii as they naturally grow in Peru. If I were a millionaire I'd be on the next airplane to Peru.

Tell it like it is
216.78.33.35
Sunday, March 04, 2007

Very nice website and great photos. Your comments about that verbose blowhard "Trout" (http://www.sacredcactus.com/trouts_snout.htm) are hilarious! Isn't he the "armchair expert"? Not one photo of a specimen growing in Peru, Bolivia, etc. This guy hasn't left his backyard yet pontificates about species native to another hemisphere of the planet.

His writing is a joke. Colleges offer English Composition at the Freshman level for good reason. If a student fails to learn how to organize material, how to write in a clear style--then all their future work will only make readers yawn, roll their eyes and toss it aside. Trout's paragraph long sentences are as ridiculous as you point out. His stuff reads like one of those classic 1950's Japanese direction manuals on how to assemble "mower machine lawn."

You must have read Pirsig's classic Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The author made fun of the bad instruction manuals while making a compelling case for excellence in technical writing. That certainly changed my view of and tolerance for bad writing. I don't respect anyone who thinks their first draft is perfect. Like Hemingway said "The first draft of anything is shit." Yet snot nosed know-it-alls refuse to allow editors to alter one word of their crap. Its a joke.

So thank you for being the only website I know of to tell it like it is. Trout has done a huge disservice to the Trichocereus varieties. The lack of color photos, and the absence of color standardized ones is as unforgivable as his endless snapshots lacking scale objects. And your point about his choice of specimens is worthy, too. Small cuttings and buds in flower pots have little in common to the real specimens grown to full size in the earth. K in Ga

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Thank you!

68.97.212.65
Saturday, March 03, 2007

I've just found your site. I haven't explored everything you've written about cultivation yet, but I will. Found your cats...that was much appreciated...I had two who lived for 18 years each and have passed now...yes, cats respond if you treat them with the dignity and thoughtfulness you'd give a human. Thumbs up to you and may your cats prosper. Re. cactus. A couple years ago, I inherited a single extremely long slim cactus (it was about 5') in a narrow pot from a friend who was moving out of the area. Looking at Google images, I'm guessing that it's a San Pedro, but the oldest branch (or trunk? what do you call those?) has only 3 ribs...the other two have 4 and 5. I have treated it with the basics, or most of them, but would like to move on to better care. I've never raised a cactus before, so here's what I've done; what should I do differently? I've wintered it in a coolish room (down to 60-65 at night) with lots of windows, where it gets daylight indirect light ; I water it sparingly in the winter but never cut the water entirely off; in the summer, I wean it to outdoors light, placing it on a covered patio where it does get afternoon direct light from the West. It generated 2 more branches/trunks/spires from the bottom, so there are 3 spires. I inherited it in a yellowish green state, and that's the way the original spire looks now; the 3rd is a nice darker gren. All are now in 2 segments. The bottom segment in each of the 3 always plumps up or thins down, depending on watering, but the top segment never does...it's always extremely thin, or flat. With occasional fertilizing, that's about all I've done. The plant is surviving, since it's made it through a couple winterings and late spring/summers outdoors, but what can I do to make it thrive better? I had thought this spring to change its soil and get it in a wider flatter pot (It came in a long narrow one, with what looks like cactus potting soil in it). Would that matter? Is there a time to prune these plants or shall I continue my usual when I don't know about a plant: keep care going and let it do what it does? As for what planet I'm from...well...someplace where things grow. I'll explore your site.

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Thank you!

76.181.220.112
Saturday, February 03, 2007

i really enjoyed the pics of your pedro and peruvian, bridgessi monsters that you created, i did not get to purchase one this year but would like to in to coming year! keep up the good work!

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Thank you! This coming year I'll document some "upside down" grafts and "split in half grafts."

172.162.136.226
Saturday, January 20, 2007
I have one four feet tall San Pedro with five new pups . Two of the pups look bruised on the tips and have a oily ooze coming out of tips . The other three Pups are fine and all pups are aprox. 8 inches Long . I have several others Large San Pdero Cactus that are in a different room that are fine .They are all growing in the house . As I live in Arkansas and it is very cold outside I in the Winter . Here is a picture of the tips . Any Help would be appreciated . <img src=http://members.aol.com/sryoufin/sanperdo.jpg>

70.178.198.108
Saturday, January 20, 2007
I have one four feet tall San Pedro with five new pups . Two of the pups look bruised on the tips and have a oily ooze coming out of tips . The other three Pups are fine and all pups are aprox. 8 inches Long . I have several others that are in a different room that are fine .They are all growing in the house . As I live in Arkansas and it is very cold outside in the Winter

138.220.30.133
Friday, January 19, 2007
Hello, I have a 8 inch Trichocereus Peruvians, the top of my baby is black, it appears to be going down the shaft. How do I save my cactus. Can it be graphed. Should I graphed it. Please tell me what I can do to save my plant. I have had this plant for 6 years

138.220.30.133
Friday, January 19, 2007
Hello, I have a 8 inch Trichocereus cuzcoensis, the top of my baby is black, it appears to be going down the shaft. How do I save my cactus. Can it be shafted