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Gary350
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7396
Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

My Phoenix Arizona Cactus Garden

I managed to finally get these pictures off my old dead computer hard drive. These cactus are all very easy and very fast to grow, most will grow about 1" to 2" per month. Better growing conditions and better soil than AZ, high nitrogen fertilizer, a sprinkle of water every day and shade 11am to dark makes them grow very fast. These are not native to low elevation Phoenix AZ area, they all come from higher elevation place about 2500 ft to 5000 ft where it rains and snows. They are not extremely water sensitive like low elevation dry desert cactus where it only rains a small amount 2 times per year. Cactus are extremely easy to grow from segments and cuttings. All of these cactus I started out with segments and cuttings then had 200 to 2000 cactus each a year later. When I moved I advertised free cactus on Craigslist 2 women that were starting a cactus growing business were looking for cactus they could no find any where else they dug up about 1000 cactus and took them home. I still had lots of cactus. I sold about 400 boxes of cactus on ebay and I still had more cactus. Cactus grows as fast as weeds with the right conditions.

I had all these same cactus growing in my yard in Tennessee but spending 90% of my time in AZ. 3 years later I had a cactus forest 6 ft tall in TN these grow better in TN than AZ. When I moved back to TN I cut all the cactus down they were taking over. I don't want anymore cactus.
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These are Weber Agave they have rhizome roots that make lots of baby plants around the mother plant. Little 2" tall plants become 15" tall in about 6 months then they start making baby plants about 30 babies each time. If you plant 10 plants you soon have 300 babies if you let them grow next you have 9000 babies. When plants get about 3 ft tall they send up a 8 ft tall stalk that is loaded with about 1000 to 2000 baby plants.  I liked Weber  Agave it is a beautiful plant.  I soon got rid of my American agave.  I had 3 kinds of Aloe at first I had trouble growing this until I learned to plant is near the south side of the house under the roof over hang where the 6 ft tall fence blocked sun until 9am then house roof blocked sun 11am to dark.  Aloe grew fast 3" tall in 9 months.
These are Weber Agave they have rhizome roots that make lots of baby plants around the mother plant. Little 2" tall plants become 15" tall in about 6 months then they start making baby plants about 30 babies each time. If you plant 10 plants you soon have 300 babies if you let them grow next you have 9000 babies. When plants get about 3 ft tall they send up a 8 ft tall stalk that is loaded with about 1000 to 2000 baby plants. I liked Weber Agave it is a beautiful plant. I soon got rid of my American agave. I had 3 kinds of Aloe at first I had trouble growing this until I learned to plant is near the south side of the house under the roof over hang where the 6 ft tall fence blocked sun until 9am then house roof blocked sun 11am to dark. Aloe grew fast 3" tall in 9 months.
I found these cactus growing about 6 blocks from our house they were 6 to 7 ft tall.  Several had fallen over laying on the sidewalk so I cut them into 6" long pieces and planted about 100 of these.  Must of the cuttings grew 1 arms.  They make a nice house plant when small.  I kept finding more 6 ft long cactus laying on the sidewalk I planted the whole 6f long piece laying on its side it sprouted about 20 new plants the full length of the body.
I found these cactus growing about 6 blocks from our house they were 6 to 7 ft tall. Several had fallen over laying on the sidewalk so I cut them into 6" long pieces and planted about 100 of these. Must of the cuttings grew 1 arms. They make a nice house plant when small. I kept finding more 6 ft long cactus laying on the sidewalk I planted the whole 6f long piece laying on its side it sprouted about 20 new plants the full length of the body.
This is Chollas cactus it is evil stuff with long needles and it grows fast.  There are other types of chollas including jumping cactus.  I found this growing along the highway 60 miles from town, I planted about 50 segments at first then 100 more later.  This stuff can become a nightmare it grew too fast I cut most of it down.
This is Chollas cactus it is evil stuff with long needles and it grows fast. There are other types of chollas including jumping cactus. I found this growing along the highway 60 miles from town, I planted about 50 segments at first then 100 more later. This stuff can become a nightmare it grew too fast I cut most of it down.
This is pencil cactus it grows very fast 1 segment with grow several new arms 8" long in 2 months. Plant all the arms next thing I know 9 plants have 100 arms.  I had these along the wall in about 10 months plants were 5 ft tall.
This is pencil cactus it grows very fast 1 segment with grow several new arms 8" long in 2 months. Plant all the arms next thing I know 9 plants have 100 arms. I had these along the wall in about 10 months plants were 5 ft tall.
I don't remember the name of this cactus, it started out growing slow but later grew very fast, nice looking cactus. When it grew bigger segments turned into flap pods they curled up like potato chips.
I don't remember the name of this cactus, it started out growing slow but later grew very fast, nice looking cactus. When it grew bigger segments turned into flap pods they curled up like potato chips.
This is a flat arm prickly pear don't remember the real name it grew extremely fast and made beautiful pink flowers.  I found this plant in the trash it was almost dead so I cut off the segments and planted them.  Most of the segments lived to make about 30 cactus plants 6 ft tall with 1000s of arms.  I had several other type prickly pear cactus, pink, long needle, short needle, cow tongue.
This is a flat arm prickly pear don't remember the real name it grew extremely fast and made beautiful pink flowers. I found this plant in the trash it was almost dead so I cut off the segments and planted them. Most of the segments lived to make about 30 cactus plants 6 ft tall with 1000s of arms. I had several other type prickly pear cactus, pink, long needle, short needle, cow tongue.
I don't remember the name of these little barrel cactus, they grew about 20 babies per plant then I planted all the babies.  When babies were about 3" to 4" diameter they all made about 20 more babies.  10 plants turned into 200 and that turned into 4000 plants in about 15 months.
I don't remember the name of these little barrel cactus, they grew about 20 babies per plant then I planted all the babies. When babies were about 3" to 4" diameter they all made about 20 more babies. 10 plants turned into 200 and that turned into 4000 plants in about 15 months.
These are called Penis cactus also called Pine Cone cactus. I started with about 500 segments some guy wants his cactus removed so I took all the segments home in 5 gallon buckets.  3 months later each segment was growing 2 new arms that I planted.  500 plants soon became 1000, 2000, and 4000 plants.  These cactus have very small micro small hair like needles almost invisible.
These are called Penis cactus also called Pine Cone cactus. I started with about 500 segments some guy wants his cactus removed so I took all the segments home in 5 gallon buckets. 3 months later each segment was growing 2 new arms that I planted. 500 plants soon became 1000, 2000, and 4000 plants. These cactus have very small micro small hair like needles almost invisible.



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