Purple Trichocereus

[Wakinyan]

I have just a few specimens that are showing purple after exposure to cold temperatures. I love this trait and to say it is rare in my sea of grafted cacti would be an understatement as I have far more variegates than I do purple Trichocereus.

[Wakinyan]

An example of its many brothers and sisters growing in the same den under the same exact growing conditions shows no signs of purple. Mind you, I tend to graft a bit each week so I have trays like this that are both younger and older than the ones shown here. These are the only ones showing purple to this extreme in the cold as you can see from the tray shown here.

[Wakinyan]

I'm letting the majority of my grafts go down to -2 degrees celsius tonight to see if I can find any more purples in my collection or perhaps just intensify the purple that I do see. Keep your fingers crossed I don't loose all my young babies guys and gals.

[judih]

let us know how they do!

[Wakinyan]

Judih, still sitting at -2 degrees as we speak so its going to be a bit before I bring them back up to a temperature where I can really gauge the extent of the damage, but if you don't cull like this then you won't have any idea which ones are the most cold hardy. Worst case scenario? They are all dead.

[Wakinyan]

Alright... here we go... one purple and one frost bite no purple

[judih]

interesting!
Hope the frost-bitten one overcomes the shock

[Wakinyan]

As you can see from this variegated grafted seedling... it is nearly 90% dead after the exposure to the cold. Thus, I have grafted a small Pallarensis hybrid a but higher in hopes that this one will be more cold hardy.

[judih]

90% just might leave enough percentage for new life. Good luck