An old friend

[cactushobbyman]

This was one of my first cactus to be planted in my garden, 1995. After we built the house, we took the left over builder sand and started the garden. No special mix, just sand over the native soil, clay and hard pan. A few nights ago while sitting in the evening cool air (85 degrees), I was telling my wife I should trim a few branches before they break off and take out other plants in the garden.

Echinopsis pachanoi

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Well the previous day I watered and last night around midnight my dog was going wild with barking. The top weight was too much. The branches are close to 10 feet tall and are 5 inches in diameter. It fell over onto my car.

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At midnight out cutting the branches off my car. I guess I should have wore my boots.

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Ready for the trash

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The back side has a pup and after a few more appear I'll trim the final branch off and wait for a new plant to reappear.

[tumamoc]

Bummer. Well, at least you still have a healthy base to work with.

[majcka]

Wow. What a mess. I'm sorry for an old friend of yours.

But tell me, is that all your yard on the one before last picturer???? It is huge.

[HP22B]

I'm impressed none of the local teens helped you with pruning

[cactushobbyman]

Wow. What a mess. I'm sorry for an old friend of yours.

But tell me, is that all your yard on the one before last picturer???? It is huge.

California drought, plus tired of fixing sprinklers, mowing and the time to keep it looking nice. So I took out the lawn, 1800 square feet, and went drought tolerant and cactus. I haven't posted the before and afterwards, but I'm working on the pics. "What a mess," this was not the first time I had huge cactus fall down or break off. In the wild, it will just re-root and keep growing.

[cactushobbyman]

I'm impressed none of the local teens helped you with pruning

That would require manual labor. I find it hard to find anybody, no matter what age, to do manual labor. When I was young, I would have jump all over that job. Now days, how much will I get paid. Times have changed

[george76904]

If I lived near you I would have don't it for a few of the tip cuttings .

[mpan]

I have followed your posts and pics
I am impressed
So make a cactus fence on your vast holdings
Good luck and more pics
m