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Lophophora Cultivation |
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If you read our month-by-month guide for cacti, you will be on the right lines.
The soil mix we use for Lophophora is:
2 parts loam based soil
1 part peat
1 part horticultural grit
½ part crushed lime stone chippings
This mix has given us excellent results and is available from our store (click here). |
Some Observations
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Unlike so many articles I have read that say water your plants once a year, only if there is a full moon, only water with water that has run over a naked virgin etc (I am left wondering how many of these plants the authors have actually grown)
Lophophora can take a lot of watering growing in this soil mix, rainwater is best but tap water is also fine.
Due to shortage of space, for the last 2 years we have grown the plants outside for the entire growing season (UK) with last year (2005) being one of the wettest on record. The plants were out with no protection from April until October with the soil wet almost every day of the season. The result: healthy fat plants with a much better colouring than those grown in the glasshouses and with no pests.
The plants were fed with a 12.5-25-25 fertilizer, every two - three weeks - available from our store here.
After these amazing results, I will continue growing them this way. |
FAQs
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I am often asked, "How can I get my plant to have more offsets (pups)?". If the plant is the common mat forming caespitosa then this will happen without any help from you, they offset from almost their 2nd year and grow large amounts of buttons but have small tufts & few flowers. If we are talking about Williamsii (the true peyote) not so easy. I find they will start to offset at around 5-6 years and offset slowly, maybe 3-4 heads at first slowly increasing, but never anywhere as prolific as caespitosa.
There are ways to increase the heads quickly but you will have to be brave:
You can simply cut off the top of the plant removing the growing tip, but not much lower. Re-root the top and the base will produce pups at nearly all the areoles (this is the way the Native American Indians do it so they can take the top and leave the body of the plant to regenerate for further use). If cared for correctly and undertaken early in the season you should be seeing 2 - 2.5 cm buttons by the end of the year.
The second way is by grafting (click here for techniques). The plants grow at a much quicker rate and offset well, but at some point will need to be degrafted. The plants will then have to grow their own roots. To develop the large tap root true to form can take some years.
I am often asked the following questions:
How old before the plant flowers? ----- Average is 3 years.
How long from flower to seed pod? ----- Summer months 6 - 8 weeks.
How many seeds in a pod? ----- Anywhere between 1 - 40.
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Pests
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Lophophora suffer from mealy bugs and worse of all red spider mites.
Red spider mite can disfigure a soft skinned plant like a Lophophora in a matter of days, it is then disfigured for a few years until you can grow out the marked skin. The red spider mites are tiny and almost invisible to the naked eye but you will see the fine webs across the surface of the plants.
There is no doubt that prevention is better than cure and our plants are sprayed routinely with Spider Mite Control and Buzz Off. These are organic products and are not absorbed into the plants epidermis.
Another pesticide I have seen in use and do use on seedlings is Multi Rose, a pesticide and fungicide combined. If the plants are to be grown as specimens this is fine at seedling stage. Then after 1 year this product is no longer used giving the plants time to expel any chemicals out of their systems; they will then be treated with the organics.
The same treatment can be used with mealy bugs; they can also be washed off with a strong jet of water or dabbed with a paint brush dipped in methylated spirits.
I will add to this article as I experience and remember things.
© Divine Cactus 2006
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| Other growers: please feel free to send me your experiences & observations that I can add to this article, and then between us we can make the growing of this plant a rewarding experience for all that grow it. |
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