Thread: any tips to grow faster?

is there any tips out there on helping cacti grow alittle faster.
fertilizers ??
i nkow its probly not the best thing to push the old cactus but im well impatient.
any one tried Brassinolide, the plant steroid.

Hello mate,

I believe the best way one can increase growth speeds is by Grafting the cactus.

Personally I have never really looked into it deeply but I have found some very usefull information on grafting for you

A guide on grafting:
http://www.kadasgarden.com/grafting2.html
A background on grafting:
http://faculty.ucc.edu/biology-ombrello ... _cacti.htm

Hope this helps

i love u guys, this site rox my sox lol

Seriously, miracle-grow speeds along growth.

You dont want to consume chemical plant steroid...

Its best to keep to organic ferterliser and grafting in my opinion, Chemical ferterliser doesnt facilitate for all aspects of plant growth. Organic ferterliser has enzymes and other unique compounds that help to produce a better smelling, looking and tasting plant which can only mean that it is working to its highest production rate in all other area's. Just becuase something is big doesnt mean its full of goodness

Depends on what cacti you want to grow faster: Grafting is useful for slow growing cacti like peyote - but as a grafting base, people often use the trichocereus species because these are the fastest growing cacti in the world. So, if you have a San Pedro cactus, it is already as fast as any cactus will ever grow. Nothing can speed that up.

you can use fertilizer poor in nitrogen like (2-3%). Nitrogen slows down cacti and succulents growth!
sorry for my bad english
ciao!
Hulk

Originally Posted by hulkpolliceverde

you can use fertilizer poor in nitrogen like (2-3%). Nitrogen slows down cacti and succulents growth!
sorry for my bad english
ciao!
Hulk

100% false. i was feeding my KK242 peruvian torch using the exact same soil, same lighting, once i added a 20%N fertalizer, within 4 days it was almost 2X as fat. (i noticed a considerable difference in rate of growth (the distance between spikes was longer, where usually that means the cacti grows skinnier, which was not the case))

100% false ?i don't think so, ALL cacti and succulents plant fertilazers are poor in N

Originally Posted by hulkpolliceverde

you can use fertilizer poor in nitrogen like (2-3%). Nitrogen slows down cacti and succulents growth!
sorry for my bad english
ciao!
Hulk

Nitrogen (N) stimulates the growth of Cacti and other plants.

Few Nitrogen (as in a Cactus fertilizer: N-P-K = 5-15-25) stimulates the growth less
than a normal fertilizer (N-P-K = 20-20-20).
So it indeed slows down the growth in comparison with normal fertilizers !

sorry if I speak. nitrogen should be used sparingly in the fertilization of the cacti, it makes the plant grow faster, but it becomes very weak to face the winter. for fertilization of the cacti are good fertilizer with high potassium and phosphorus, these help to Lignify the plant's tissues, making it more resistant to disease and rot.
This can be a good fertilizer would be 1-2-3: 5-10-15 NPK.
p.s. sorry for the bad language

@ Scaltro...This sounds as if you speak from experience. Is this so?
If this is the case, would then using a high N fert make them grow faster with less lignin, if certain ones were to be harvested before winter(or, as here in southern cal, there isnt much of a winter). This may make for easier extraction, and more mass, ergo(possibly) more mescaline.(If it continues to produce alkaloids at the same rate)
Sorry, this seems a bit strange, and just thinking aloud. But this is interesting, and may warrant an experiment or two, as AFOAF lets nature do the work...

I think you need to keep this cacti at dry place. This will help in grow cacti faster.

wow, so my NPK : 3%-5%-7% won't really speed up the growth of a san pedro?
I should use a 20-20-20 (they do not have to fear winter since they are in the same room as me)

would it hurt the plant if every time I watered it i'll add this fertiliser? (i'm watering my san pedro every 3 days)

I prefer not to fertilize my cacti, thus producing more mescaline.

yes but if you plan to sell them, higher lenght equal higher profit.
I've looked at my local gardening store, the maximum is 6-6-6

you have to see the fertilizer granules, it has high nitrogen bonds.
But in this case we are not interested to sell but we are interested in eating them.

High nitrogen will produce long but weak cacti with a lot of water in it.
Hopefully it will not freeze there !

Grafting

..never tried this but apparently it works. Could be good for someone like myself in Canada where it can be a real S.O.B to get trichocereus sp Have a look here: Grafting Cacti seedlings - How to graft cactus seedlings onto Pereskiopsis

I agree with Sticki, grafting is definitely good for growth.

HOWEVER, I would say it is important to realize that faster growth means alkaloid percentage decreases. So it's a pointless trade-off if you're going for consumption.