I sometimes find myself thinking of a particular cactus as "one of my favorites" but then again... most of half my collection falls under that category lol. This particular one is truly in the top 5, as it has both sentimental value and because it is beautiful af. The species' name is Echinopsis chamacereus, or as I like to call it "Fingers". I got them in 2 batches. The first one was also one of the first to join my actual collection, and was a small baby indeed.
Fair to say that at first my cactus (including this one) were not put in a proper location, as there wasn't one at that time in my house (or I didn't find one yet). So, growing was truly slow and sort of etiolated (etiolation is when the cactus gets "long" as it is trying to reach for more sunlight than what it is getting; not only this gives the plant an awful look, it also makes them more susceptible to diseases... no not advisable at all an that's one of the reasons why cactus ARE NOT INDOOR PLANTS!!).
Anyway... after I put them on a more sunny location (not ideal tho...) it started growing a bit better and by that time I also got the 2nd batch of this specie. At first I doubted putting them in the same pot as I try to be very careful and give every new specimen a "test time" in order to see if they develop a hidden disease they may be carrying (it happened in the past... not a cool situation...).
Here below is a picture from when they were put together and after a few months of more sun :)
Well... It was winter when I decided to move all my cactus to the balcony where they are at current time. Did so because they were not looking "healthy", and even though winter is usually their rest period, they still need lots of light and they were getting little (almost nothing on cloudy days...).
At first, it showed signs of stress due to the adaptation it was going through... You can tell if a plant is getting stressed because they show a color change that helps them adapt to the new environment. It is advisable to adapt them gradually and don't put them through extreme changes...
This story has a happy ending tho... Because right now I'm delaying the transpotting coz 1) I didn't have soil (I have now) and 2) it rained a lot today and its not advisable to change pots when the soil is wet as it can damage the roots and lead to fungus attack.
But believe me when I say that the development it had the past months of summer is AMAZING. From a little baby finger cactus to a full mutant animal claw. The first picture (I had from an earlier time but I can't seem to find them) is from a year ago. And the following one is from just a couple of weeks back:
There's still one pending item on the list: for it to flower. I don't think I'll be seeing flowers on this cactus this year, but perhaps the following one it'll bless me with their gorgeous red flowers!!
i do have this baby in my collection!!!....very interesting your article....i could not understand why my succulent was getting too long...when i bought it ,it had thick leaves but afterwards it became thin and tall....god...i didn't know that it was trying to reach the light...all of my cactus are inside my house in front of a huge window.....i don't understand how does the light is not enough??