types of torch cactus Trichocereus x "torch cactus"

types of torch cactus Trichocereus x "torch cactus"Family Cactaceae Subfamily Cactoideae Tribe Cereeae Subtribe Trichocereinae Genus Trichocereus x Echinopsis Variety multiple cultivars (cv.) available Common name(s) Torch cactus The common type of 'torch cactus' refers to a group of Trichocereus x Echinopsis intergeneric hybrids with large tall upright stems and massive colorful trumpet blooms. The cacti are fast growers, with robust green body color and long spines. Different varieties of torch

Family Cactaceae

Subfamily Cactoideae

Tribe Cereeae

Subtribe Trichocereinae

Genus Trichocereus x Echinopsis

Variety multiple cultivars (cv.) available 

Common name(s) Torch cactus

The common type of 'torch cactus' refers to a group of Trichocereus x Echinopsis intergeneric hybrids with large tall upright stems and massive colorful trumpet blooms. The cacti are fast growers, with robust green body color and long spines. Different varieties of torch cacti have slight variations in body size and color, spine length and color, and growth habit.

Once established they usually bloom at least once every year, producing anywhere from one to a dozen plus flowers at a time on a single stem. I've counted over forty at once on one of my plants! Flower colors can be so saturated they look blown out on camera. Fully opened, the flowers are on average about four inches across. The smallest stay compact at about three inches, while larger flowers like AZ Sunrise dwarf the plant at over six inches. Some flowers have more pointed fanning petals, and others more dense rounded rose-like shapes. Most flowers are fleeting and only last one day, though some varieties like Propane do well into the second day even in high heat.

Note that this genetic line of Neon Dawn will sometimes pop out with an alternative flower type I've deemed "Cheap Frills." The petals have trouble opening and stay bunched in the center, and can be slightly inverted as if trapped in a lifesaver. The petals are crinkled by this, and splay out in a frilly pouf. Some buds are able to fully open, but still have frilly petals.

These Trichocereus x Echinopsis hybrids are fairly hardy and can be treated a bit more like other garden plants: they are happy in potting soil as long as they have appropriate drainage and don't stay soggy, so I mix in perlite and pumice. The cacti crave sunlight, and likely will not thrive or flower as an indoor plant unless they have a super bright spot or are supplemented with grow lights (see: etiolation). In sunny regions the cactus can take full sun or minimal shading. These have been kept under 40% shade cloth in Arizona which is about equivalent to the surface of the sun in most other climates, so they should acclimate quickly to strong or full sun. Torch cacti may pale, sunburn, and shrivel in the harsh sun of late fall and winter, but the healthy green color recovers in the spring.

Options: a cutting, rooted cutting, or a rooted pup, shipped bare-root. Both the cuttings and pups come from a mature flowering plant. Pups tend to take a bit longer to grow large enough to flower, whereas I have started new cuttings in the fall and had some bloom by that spring. Some cuttings and pups will be lopsided from trying to grow out from the base of stems.

Varieties will become available as I thin my plants, so availability will be spotty over the dormant season (winter).