Polaskia chichipe

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:59 am

Sorry it took so long Daiv...

Can you please edit them as *CoronaCactus by Darryl*?
thank you

iann · Post by **iann** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:04 am

Nice plant. Does it come with instructions on how to tell it apart from those pesky Stenocereus cacti? I think I can tell them apart fairly reliably now but would love to know if there is an "official" difference.

echinopsis ed · Post by **echinopsis ed** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:16 pm

I've got one of them growing in my back garden and it has a vivid shade of green with red / crimson like spikes where the new growth occurs.

On the weekend I picked up a 3 pronged version around 3" tall.

Post by **daiv** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:07 pm

Ian,
I think that is a tall order unless you get it big enough to flower. Here is a flower from the massive P. chende at the Huntington:

echinopsis ed · Post by **echinopsis ed** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:12 am

My three pronged specimen that I purchased last weekend.

Post by **daiv** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:45 am

Nice Ed, I'll bet that is going in the ground, no?

I wonder how big it will have to get before it flowers. I always like seeing flowers on columnars since most people just can't grow them that big!

echinopsis ed · Post by **echinopsis ed** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:55 am

daiv wrote: Nice Ed, I'll bet that is going in the ground, no?

I'll plant in the ground in the front garden around October after Spring has kicked in.

daiv wrote:I wonder how big it will have to get before it flowers. I always like seeing flowers on columnars since most people just can't grow them that big!

This one in my back garden is about 1 foot tall and I'm hoping for a growth spurt next Spring, Summer and Autumn with some flowers in the next couple of years also.

Post by **daiv** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:02 am

Ed, I had some of the blue columnars in the ground out in CA an they flowered at about 3 feet or so. Have any of yours flowered yet?

echinopsis ed · Post by **echinopsis ed** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:47 am

daiv wrote:Ed, I had some of the blue columnars in the ground out in CA an they flowered at about 3 feet or so. Have any of yours flowered yet?

Funny you should ask Daiv because today before I went to work I checked out the backgarden and two of my blue columnars are now about 6 ft tall as measured against myself who stands at 5'8".

No flowers yet but I've been having phenomenal growth rates during the past three Summers. Both specimens were around 4" when planted 3 years ago.

Post by **daiv** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:17 pm

Ok, in my experience they bloomed about Mid-summer, so 6-8 months for yours... ? Hopefully they don't get so excited about growing that they forget about blooming!

echinopsis ed · Post by **echinopsis ed** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:41 am

daiv wrote:Ok, in my experience they bloomed about Mid-summer, so 6-8 months for yours... ? Hopefully they don't get so excited about growing that they forget about blooming!

I can only hope on the flowering experience daiv.

I think I'm more excited than the blue columnars after picking up a small 4 pronged specimen also last weekend. That's to go with my other 2 smaller 3 pronged specimens. Will be looking to plant them all in the ground next Spring.

echinopsis ed · Post by **echinopsis ed** » Thu May 01, 2008 10:38 am

Early this morning we had lots of rain and in the afternoon, I went and checked out the garden as addicts often do and found that the spines on my polaskia had a glowing white appearance to them.

They are often a dull grey colour with bright red spines on the ends. I suppose the rain gave them a glowing appearance after a nice wash down?

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Thu May 01, 2008 3:16 pm

Nice pic Ed!
Could of been a runner for the contest...

Post by **daiv** » Thu May 01, 2008 3:18 pm

Yeah, I think cacti spines are not waterproof, but actually soak in water. Perhaps this helps to cool them in the desert heat?

echinopsis ed · Post by **echinopsis ed** » Fri May 02, 2008 3:23 am

CoronaCactus wrote:Nice pic Ed!
Could of been a runner for the contest...

Would've been eliminated in the preliminaries as I saw the quality of the opposition.

There were some fine photo specimens in that contest.