Just for laughs, a monster in my yard! ENOUGH!!!<Update2>

[DWDogwood]

Bought this Pach pringlei at Target in 2005. The top of the plant closes out growth to 2008 and it's popping forth again. Watching a bulged ring at around 20" as new spines usher forth in hopes of some branching.
Sure these grow like weeds in Vista nurseries but I think this pup is rather healthy.


Here's what it looks like 5 years later- August 12, 2014
Scary!
For comparison, check out my beloved Saguaro during the same time, maybe 10" of growth.
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s77/ ... mage-3.jpg

OK, 12' tall September 5, 2015, that's 10' in ten years. I just can't envision another decade of this.
I felt like my window of action is closing.
I want nice manageable arms before this gets ridiculous.
I figure that cutting the growing tip will slow it down. Maybe coax some lower side branching. If I do it right, you wouldn't notice it from the ground, and if I do it now, no one dies when it comes crashing into the house someday.
A nice 10' ladder with an 8' sidekick, some rope, and a 2x2 clamped on for a hand hold.


Looks ok from up here.....I think I got enough of the apex. I fully expect to have to snip a few crown pups in the coming months, but I'll be overjoyed to see some proper mid-level arms for all my efforts eventually.

[Saguaro123]

Wow, lots of new growth.

how big was it when you brought it?

[John C]

That is a lot of growth! Looks great!

[daiv]

That is a monster! Do you have to move it ever? It sure looks healthy to me!

[DWDogwood]

Thanks. It was just under the 2005 pinky finger when I bought it. I planted it in a raised brick planter about ten feet from where it sits now, having moved it here in spring of 2007. I doubt there will be any more moves. Our soil here is clay, so my planters are all amended with a local rockery house blend: lots of sifted earth, sand, red lava, some forest product, and reclaimed, uhm......waste material, which I make sure to air out for a season before planting in cacti, but they love it.

[daiv]

Do you have to worry about cold/wet conditions in the winter there?

I mean, is it likely that once every 10 years a bad winter will hit that can kill off such a plant?

That is what it is like here in Central MN. We are on the warm side of Zone 3 here. So we can get away with Zone 4 plants without too much fear. Likewise we can even get by with some Zone 6 stuff, but with those it is only a matter of time. Some of us are still dumb enough to try and for several years we claim success and then that one winter hits and wham! - a decade old special plant bites the dust!

[Saguaro123]

Daiv,
The winters here aren't really that bad, but a very cold one can strike once in a while. Last winter, I probably lost a Pachypodium and the tip of a Euphorbia ingens from the cold, but those aren't frost sensitive and the rest survived.

[DWDogwood]

The coldest winter I can recall here was December 1990, I think even LA and SD people talk about that one. It went something like this: 40/24, 37/19, 40/19 in San Jose just before Christmas. 20's are exceedingly rare in downtown SJ near the south end of the bay. 55/38 is the average.

[DWDogwood]

Thought I'd update this.
Dog days of summer 'n all.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

That is an absolute clonker of plant , fantastic looking specimen .

Well done

=^_~=

[cantharis]

What a beauty !!!

[DWDogwood]

Hope this doesn't offend any purists, but there's only so much a guy can take.
Update in top post.
Thanks for looking!

[jfabiao]

Maybe you should try grafting something really tiny, like a Blossfeldia, to it.

Jokes aside, it's a magnificent plant and it must have taken a lot of courage to top it like that.

[DaveW]

"Maybe you should try grafting something really tiny, like a Blossfeldia, to it."

If he did not want it to grow that fast he should have grafted it onto the Blossfeldia instead Jfabio, just like a dwarfing rootstock for fruit trees!