Hi guys, today I wanted to give you a preview from our Trichocereus Facebook group called Trichocereus & Echinopsis growers worldwide. It is one of the oldest Trichocereus groups on Facebook and was funded sometime around 2014.

Photo: Jason Hollinger

After all these years, our Trichocereus Facebook group has almost 17.000 members and we´re getting bigger every year. In regards to the subjects and topics that are allowed, we are rather open to off-topic subjects or threads about other cactus genera such as Lophophora, Lobivia, Hildewintera, Pseudolobivia, Ariocarpus, Akersia and many others.There are lots of different threads with hundreds of Trichocereus photos per week.

You can find the group here: facebook.com/groups/trichocereus

The current Trichocereus Facebook seed giveaway in our Facebook group

To celebrate the Trichocereus Christmas spirit, we have organized an amazing seed giveaway this year. Below you can see a small selection of the seed prizes from our 2018 Trichocereus Facebook giveaway. There are many, many more Trichocereus seeds that you can get for free.

These seeds were donated by the family of Karel Knize, the Peruvian seed and plant collector who had just passed away, and we are very proud that we can pass them along to the community.

Trichocereus tarmaensis
Trichocereus longispinus
Trichocereus glaucus KK334
Trichocereus carmaensis
Trichocereus cuzcoensis KK242
Trichocereus KK1670
Trichocereus tacaquirensis
Trichocereus sp. ‘House’
Trichocereus tulhuayacensis
Armatocereus matucanensis
Armatocereus KK230
Armatocereus procerus
Cereus repandus
Selenicereus grandiflorus

Secret Santa Trichocereus Facebook Giveaway

In addition to the Trichocereus seed giveaway, we´ll also have a Secret Santa event where our members are gifiting each other with some cactus related gifts. So far we have over 40 participants who are participating, and we still leave it open for new members to join. We´ll probably pick the matching Santas in 10-14 days, and it´s definitely not too late to join.

Regular giveaways, events and Trichocereus Facebook and Echinopsis seed trades/sales

We are very welcoming when it´s about events or giveaway, and there´s lots of private members who run their own giveaway or events as well.

Australian Trichocereus clones and hybrids

We´re truly an international Trichocereus Facebook group, and a large part of our members are actually from Australia. Because of this, we see quite a fair share of Trichocereus Australia clones that are being posted in our group.

Members from all across the world Trichocereus Facebook

Due to the fact that there are so many different people in our Trichocereus & Echinopsis Facebook group, there are members from all over the world. We have members from Europe, the United States, Australia, India, Africa and and and. Having so many different people in our group provides our members with great insight into the lives of cactus growers worldwide.

Information about the best Fertilizer or Soil Recipes

A large part of the posts in our group discuss the best fertilizer for Trichocereus and Echinopsis, or look into the most unseful soil recipes and minerals that are best suited for Trichocereus. There´s lots of content available about Pumice, Lava, Coir and all the other additives needed by cactus growers.

Trichocereus Facebook Tissue Culture, Cytokinines and Plant Hormones

Due to the fact that some of our members are into Tissue culture and have extensive experience with it, there´s quite a few postings about it and how to do it right. Also, there´s many posts about other plant hormones that can be useful, e.g. BAP, GA-3 Gibberellic Acid, etc. All of these can be very useful if you know how to use them.

Trichocereus Facebook Pests and Disease Treatments

If your Trichocereus plants are sick, you can find answers about the pests and diseases that affect them in our group. We have threads about pretty much everything that can infect or attack a Tricho, for example Thrips, Root mealies, Fungus gnats, Nematodes, Bugs, Slugs, Snails, Virus infections like Tobacco Mosaic Virus and other viruses, Witches broom disease, etc

DNA Testing on the genus Trichocereus

During the last year, some of our members started organizing DNA testing on plants from the genus Trichocereus and we´ll try to bring in some of the results that we´ll hopefully have during the next years into my upcoming book THE GENUS TRICHOCEREUS. We´ll try to conduct tests on some of the rare species like Trichocereus orurensis, Trichocereus uyupampensis, Trichocereus riomizquensis, etc, to find out if they deserve to be seen as correct and sepparate names or not.

Insight into the production process of the books we make

I am posting regular updates about the book production process in our Facebook group, and pretty much all of the content and photos are shown there as well. If you enjoy the Trichocereus and Echinopsis books that we make, feel free to join our group to see how we´re making them.

Lots of colored flower hybrids and beautiful clones

We have lots of professional breeders in our midst, which is why there´s regular photos of beautiful Trichocereus, Echinopsis or Lobivia flowers to be seen in our group. There´s lots of unique and amazing hybrids like Flying Saucer, Orange California, Wörlitz, First Light, some of the MEX hybrids, hybrids like SUNNY and other hybrids like HELLFIRE, GOLDFISCH, ETC, lots of rare Pseudolobivia and Lobivia hybrids from Thailand and Asia such as BIT, BIV and all the other cool hybrid.s

So yeah, I hope I could give you a small preview of our group and how amazing it is. 😉 Hope to see you soon in our Facebook group.

Join: https://facebook.com/groups/trichocereus

Also make sure to join the newsletter at trichocereus.net/newsletter or follow us on Instagram.

This amazing Trichocereus Australia collection can be found in a private garden in Australia. We were given the chance to show this beautiful collection here on our site and I am proud to have it. All photos: Simon Maddern

The Trichocereus peruvianus clones Rosei 1 & Rosei 2 are among the most interesting Trichocereus cultivars out there. Both are very glaucous with a dark blue skin. They have yellow or dark brown spines that often have black tips. The old spine growth looks very gray and the areoles are covered with very fine, white wool.

Trichocereus ‘Rosei 2’ was part of the legendary Australian Fields collection. Both Trichocereus rosei clones were brought to Australia by Harry Blossfeld, who was one of the first importers of cacti.  . Prier donated some pics of the original mother plant at Fields and I am extremely glad we have them on the site.

“Rosei 2” is certainly not a real species name and belongs into the context of Trichocereus peruvianus / Echinopsis peruviana. It is very similar to the dark blue Trichocereus peruvianus plants coming from Matucana and it´s possible that it was originally collected there. Either as seeds or as a live cutting. The spine color can be very variable and this clone is known to produce massive spines, which can be seen on some of the photos.

If you want to see more photos of Rosei 1 and Rosei 2, check out our Facebook Trichocereus group: https://facebook.com/groups/trichocereus 

Photos of Trichocereus ROSEI 2

Trichocereus ‘J2’ (Echinopsis) Cactus Country

J2 is a hybrid from Cactus Country.

Just like the other J-hybrids, this clone comes from Cactus Country in Strathmerton, Australia. They were named after the owner Jim, who built an amazing collection filled with beautiful Trichos.

Most people call this an Echinopsis pachanoi, but I do not agree. The distance between the areoles and the flower indicate a Trichocereus bridgesii hybrid. If not as the mother, then as the father.The clone clone was propagated and distributed by SAB forum member PD, who still uses the J hybrids for hybrid cultivation. All of them, including the J2 are hybrids.

J1 = Trichocereus peruvianus / pachanoi hybrid. Apart from the long spines, it looks like a Tr. pachanoi.

J2 = Trichocereus bridgesii hybrid or hybrid between Trichocereus pachanoi and Trichocereus bridgesii.

J3 = Trichocereus peruvianus

JB = Trichocereus bridgesii

If you want to see more photos of the J hybrids and clones, you can check out our Trichocereus Facebook group: https://facebook.com/groups/trichocereus

J2 in Cactus Country – Photo: Rodni Kisar

Trichocereus ‘BOGAN’ (Echinopsis)

The Bogan clone has one of the funniest backgrounds of all the clones that are known in the community. It all goes back to the year 2006, when the SAB Member DuG discovered a very cool type of (back then, suspected Trichocereus macrogonus) growing in front of a house. He initially asked for a cutting (which he was lucky enough to get) and next time he got there, he realized that the large motherplants had been hacked down by the “bogan” homeowners. And not only had they hacked them down, but they also tried to burn them. He immediately asked if he could take them with him and they were more than happy to get rid of them…because…you know, cacti don´t burn so well. Here is DuG´s original picture on SAB just to show you how they were looking back then.

Copyright DuG, have a look at the complete Thread on SAB here!

Well yeah, and the plant was passed down from DuG to many other SAB members, of which some of them still grow them today. Copyright Prier.

So far, I havent seen a flower pic but I will certainly update this page as soon as I get some. The plants usually have a very bright green epidermis and look very much like the Ecuadorian types. On the earlier pics, they looked a lot more like a peruvianus, but this clone shows it´s genetics on the young growth. But for a pachanoi, it can get very long spines and it definitely is a very cool plant!

BRUCE is a beautiful Trichocereus bridgesii aka Echinopsis lageniformis with very broad ribs and a funny spination. Just like many other, it is a Trichocereus hybrid of Australian origin. Because of the broad ribs, this plant tends to have relatively few ribs. Most plants I´ve seen had between 4 and 6 ribs. The mother plant goes back to the SAB member BLACKDRAGON, who had a giant monster of this amazing plant growing in his garden. He also managed to get it to flower and the flower was relatively typical for a Tr.bridgesii.

This clone is suspected to be somewhat related to the Tr. bridgesii clone EILEEN, that was growing in front of reshroomED´s house. Personally, I would not be surprised if both were grown from similar or the same seed lots. But that´s just speculation and I have yet to hear more detailed information on the background. The plant is also known to show a “melting” look from time to time, which indicates that this is (at least partially) mutated somehow. BRUCE comes from South Australia and is also very similar to the clone MBN95/ SUPER BRIDGE, which more or less lost as I do not know of anyone who has that  plant with an intact label.

BRUCE: COPYRIGHT: GOT

Where to buy cuttings or seeds of BRUCE (Trichocereus bridgesii)?

BRUCE is one of the rarer hybrids from Australia and I know of no breeder that is currently breeding with it. I know of various hybrids involving Bruce and it will take a few more years until we see the results of these Trichocereus bridgesii seeds.

If you enjoy our work with the database you might want to send in some photos to improve it. Also, feel free to join our Trichocereus Facebook group or follow us on Instagram.

J3 – Trichocereus (Cactus Country)

J3 is one of the unlabeled hybrids that Jim Hall of Cactus Country grew. There is not really much known about this clone, and the parents are lost unfortunately. Most people that grow them label them “Peruvianus”. Nonetheless, the plant looks like it could also have Bridgesii relatives.I am pretty confident that there is a Trichocereus bridgesii / Echinopsis lageniformis somewhere in J3´s family tree, but I doubt that it´s actually a botanically pure one plant. 

Those three pics were donated by Michael Stillman and I will add a lot more to the database. All clones from cactus country, also known as J clones, are pretty rare and there only are a few of them in cultivation.

The following pics show hybrids in which this clone was used as a father.

SUPER PEDRO x J3. Though the latter was only the father, the offspring is very similar to it and only shows very little similarity to the Trichocereus scopulicola hybrid Super Pedro. Definitely an interesting plant.

This plant shows Trichocereus pachanoi x J3 and looks very much like the father too. Despite the fact that plants often look more like the mother. However, it seems to have very dominant genes when being used as father.