On this page, I will show a whole lot of pics of interesting Trichocereus Mutants, monstrosa, freaks, crests, variegates, variegata, mutants and such.
Photos of Trichocereus Mutants
In the front, you can see the classic TBM clone, an abbreviation for Trichocereus bridgesii monstrosa. This clone is also called Penis plant, Penis cactus, etc.
This clone has a very weird growth habit and produces small, penis-like pups that self-terminate and pup again after a while. There are two different types. One that only grows little pups and another one that can produce large columnar shoots, without producing these little “sausages”.
This one was sold as Trichocereus bridgesii v.inermis. It is the same clone as the TBM.
This was sold as Trichocereus peruvianus variegata. It is grown in black plastic particles, which might sound like a good idea, but I feel like it´s not really something you should do because it´s not able to store nutrients. And god knows what other chemicals are in that plastic.
This is a very nice Trichocereus bridgesii monstrosa. It is similar to a type that Sacred Succulents encountered on one of their Field Trips to Peru
The pics above were donated from Philocacti! It´s an amazing Trichocereus crest and I am very happy to share those pics with you!
The following pics are from Philocacti too. I know it´s a Lophophora monstrosa and is kinda off-topic but considering how rare and cool it is, I am happy to have it on the site. There are a couple more pics of this plant in the gallery below.
Altman´s Trichocereus TPM clone
Trichocereus pachanoi monstrosa – Could be the Altmans or the CCC clone but I am not sure.
This is an awesome Trichocereus Mutant that´s variegated
This is a variegated Matucana. Just for the lulz.
This is an Echinopsis eyriesii v. grandiflora cristata crest.
Crested Trichocereus terscheckii. Labeled Candicans.
Trichocereus bridgesii – Melty Crest – Seems like Trichocereus bridgesii produces some of the most amazing Trichocereus mutants. So it´s always worth the try mass sowing them in order to get interesting seedlings.
Some more NON-Trichocereus Mutants & Monstroses
Cultivation of mutants: Most of these mutated or variegated cacti have very similar needs as their normal equivalents. Some of them might be more vulnerable to rot if the plant is a little bit weak. Especially with old seed or bad crosses, you can sometimes have plants that are genetically inferior to other cacti and tend to have all kinds of diseases. But apart from that, Crests, variegates or monstroses are usually not any worse than normal specimens. Because of that, it´s really sad to see that some growers tend to put them on the compost because they don´t want to have bad genetics in their collections. Not that this can´t also be the case, but I know plenty of collectors who pay a lot of money for mutants and appreciate them as much or even more as standard plants.
Now, some mutants tend to have trouble getting to flower, but that´s definitely not the case with every one of them. Maybe some of them are a little slower but you often see crested plants in nature, that produce pretty normal flowers. I guess it always comes down to the genetic health of the plant. And that can be totally different from plant to plant. I guess we all know those variegated Gymnocalycium that can´t survive if not grafted on something else. And personally, that´s where I draw the line because I don´t want to keep on grafting a plant that isn´t able to survive on it´s own. But yeah, everyone has his own likes and dislikes and if you have a cool mutant that you´d like to see on this page, please let me know or post it in our Trichocereus Facebook Group!
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
And Trichocereus bridgesii here:
Trichocereus scopulicola
Also check out our Trichocereus Facebook group here:
