The Cacti Garden

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Welcome to The Cacti Garden, in this thread i will be discussing and posting updates on my cacti and i encourage others to do the same!


I know most don't like AI but right now i don't have the time to write a manual review, so here is my garden and some ideas for it.

Please feel free to post your pics, videos, questions and answers here!


My Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/@PennsylvaniaCacti



Pennsylvania Cacti - Channel Summary
A digest of outdoor cold-hardy and trichocereus cultivation logs.




Recent Video Logs

• Outdoor #cacti #garden June 12, 2026
  Early summer growth spurt update on the main outdoor bed. Features closeup tracking of outdoor-adapted Trichocereus (San Pedro) varieties waking up for the peak season.
• Outdoor cacti garden June 2, 2026
  A comprehensive tour of the outdoor beds following the transition into June. Highlights how the plants are handling early summer rain cycles and acclimating to consistent daytime temperatures.
• Outdoor cacti grow may 30, 2026
  Late spring check-in showing the collection's post-winter recovery and initial growth pushes. Documents the hardening-off process for specimens kept outdoors.

Core Channel Focus

• Microclimate Acclimation: A practical reference for Mid-Atlantic gardeners looking to push zone limits. Documents how columnar and trichocereus cacti respond to natural outdoor weathering rather than pristine greenhouse environments.
• Transparent Growth Tracking: Focuses on raw, experiential logs. Viewers can track specific specimens over multiple installments to see actual node growth, scarring, pupping, and how local weather fluctuations impact column health.
• Visual Proof: Utilizes crisp photography to share clear evidence of winter-surviving specimens, demonstrating what can thrive outdoors with the right substrate drainage and placement.

For real-time updates and seasonal progression, check out the source channel directly.

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Enjoy one of my most popular shorts!

1. A deeper look at cacti pups June 6, 2026
   [indent]An in-depth look at basil and tip pupping patterns. Documents multiple specimens bursting with new growth, including a massive stand pushing 9 to 10 active pups simultaneously from the base and apex.
   

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For now, here's another short, this time it is just the seedlings!

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Here are today's updates! (videos at bottom)
There are a few pups that are forming and have formed in the last few days. The columnar cacti (Bridgesii x Kimura's Giant)[NOT Kimura's SPINEY Giant] are doing well and also pupping but mostly at the base, every few days they go through severe weather (wind gusts up to 80km/h and rain over 5cm). They have been pushing through like no problem! They like the rain and severe weather like it's nothing. They have no problems with the weather staying at a humidity that dosen’t get lower than 50% during this time of year. In the summer (around July or August) we will probably have a drought here and the cacti will need to be hand watered with my hose.
The joke goes that outdoor plants can stand concrete and city water but indoor plants are allergic to tap water and need RO water.
I have a really good RO system so my indoor plants don’t have any issues.
When the outdoor cacti get watered, some of the salts that are built up in the soil comes out because there’s much more water flow through the bucket/roots/soil. At least 1-2 gallons at a time per plant is usually used outdoors.
Indoor plants don’t get as much water flow in general as most don’t water until there’s a gallon of runoff. As such, the salts build up and such is the need for RO water which is extremely low, better purified than any water on the market) in particles of water, leading to less salt buildup.
These cacti can go from about 3c to about 40c without issues, while not cold tolerant enough to go past freezing all winter, these cacti can take 1-2 days at 0c and still live. I have seen a photo of some related species (these genetics are the species in the cacti I bred out a bunch of times and have growing in the outdoor garden) with snow on them, in fact it was on jlhudsonseeds.net .
Here’s the photos



So all that said, this is a fun time to be updating everyone as the late spring in to early summer. Everything is going so fast!

Here’s the day’s videos

Indoor Garden/Grow Room


Outdoor Garden



Thanks for reading and watching my videos!
Have a wonderful day!

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A quick short for those who don’t want to watch the whole thing

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Hello everybody!
Today is another day in the garden. I don’t post on the forums yesterday but I uploaded the videos and shorts yesterday and today on YouTube. my YouTube is at the bottom of the page for the best and instant access to new videos! In the future I will do some videos that give the viewer a first hand view of additional footage of me handling the plants and maybe even video of mw transplanting a small cactus to a bigger pot! My plan is using my go pro for the footage and edit it from there.
I have started captioning my shorts to see how people like it. I started captioning shorts today please let me know your thoughts on position, font, color, sizing or if you even like it. I’m still not sure if I’m like it or not but it’s getting more views.
On to the main show:

June 17, 2026

June 18, 2026 (today)

[toffee]

These all look amazing! The seedlings especially are adorable I've managed to keep 3 little cacti alive in my office for about a year now and I'm pretty proud of myself - nothing on your garden though!

[jadeia]

That's impressive mate. I have cursed hands when it comes to gardening so colour me impressed with your dedication!

[Dink]

These all look amazing! The seedlings especially are adorable I've managed to keep 3 little cacti alive in my office for about a year now and I'm pretty proud of myself - nothing on your garden though!

Thanks! It’s hard work to manage this type of garden when one is trying to expand it and the only place I can do it is the basement. My wife is already annoyed and will become even more annoyed when I have to set up a grow tent in the basement for these! I might finish off my attic as a grow area for my cacti some day! Keeping cacti alive is harder than you’d think so you keeping yours alive is a great accomplishment you should be proud of! I have spent at least since 14 years old growing different cacti and before these I had a cacti I had from 15-29, these were planted in 2014 and have given many away and some have died from mishandling while learning the ropes on these cacti.

That's impressive mate. I have cursed hands when it comes to gardening so colour me impressed with your dedication!

Thanks! Very difficult when you try too hard for lack of a better word. Either you put in fertilizer wrong or water wrong or it’s in the wrong place. Usually I will go to a nursery versus a regular shop for a flower I am planting and I ask the owners what to do because the nursery green house guys grow them every year for the last hundred or more years. So they can easily help and usually love to talk gardening because it’s becoming a niche now.idk if it’s dedication as much as it is just enjoying it. They are easy to just let go at times too but I want to keep this going and make a unique group of misfits to be on the journey with me.

Thanks for following along!

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Hello everybody!
Today yet again more time has passed in the garden. The cacti are beginning to really grow and get their stride for the summer. It looks like the pupping might be slowing down a bit but every time I think it’s slowed down, it has just stayed as fast or faster growth and pupping! The outdoor columnar cacti garden made up of mostly Bridgesii x Kimura’s Giant (NOT Kimura’s Spiny Giant) is happy and healthy and starting to shape up to get me some nice growth and new tips for more cacti clones! I am no longer worried about keeping them looking perfect but maximizing growth potential over looks.
Here’s today’s updates

Thanks for watching and reading!

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Hello people of the internet!

I have another update on the garden!
All goes well with the cacti and they seem happy and healthy, except one I've noted previously in videos past.
The TBM-B are all rooted and i believe even more pups will soon be forming on the tbm-b.
The columnar Bridgesiixkimura's giant plants outside are all doing well. I still have the summer to go to get the lighting dialed in. I know I will need another few grow lights and am hoping to get away with 2 cheaper ones so i don't have to spend as much as the cacti under those lights will be outside the next year. I have a blurple or two i could add but I'd prefer white light for maximum spectrum lighting.

Here are today's videos.

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Here's a quick view of my annuals garden (poppies, cosmos and zinnias).
Hopefully you enjoy this yearly journey too!
Enjoy!

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Even anther day has passed and another update is here
Not much new, same old same old in the garden, just turning the pots a bit for some sunlight on different parts of the cacti

Thanks for reading!

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More time has passed, the garden remains happy.
Not much to report except it was raining and they like a good rain storm
(we have 5 days in a Row of rain and cooler weather in the mid 70’s f coming this week. Very high humidity and very high chance of humidity spots. They are used to the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes and are used to high desert with these conditions being normal for the plant. So these are right at home with a humidity of 70-8%.
Sorry I’m late getting today’s videos up!

Thanks for reading!

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Things are looking good. I attempted 4k video with 60 fps.
Please let me know how this compares to the other footage. It took me 2-3 hours to upload over 5g uw so it’s a big file and is in super hd (4k at 60fps).

So get out your 4k tv and your high refresh rate tv’s for the new cacti garden which will have a once a week 4k video (or two)!

Thanks for watching so far, I hope you enjoy the hd and higher frame rate so you can see it better!

[toffee]

These all look amazing! The seedlings especially are adorable I've managed to keep 3 little cacti alive in my office for about a year now and I'm pretty proud of myself - nothing on your garden though!

Thanks! It’s hard work to manage this type of garden when one is trying to expand it and the only place I can do it is the basement. My wife is already annoyed and will become even more annoyed when I have to set up a grow tent in the basement for these! I might finish off my attic as a grow area for my cacti some day! Keeping cacti alive is harder than you’d think so you keeping yours alive is a great accomplishment you should be proud of! I have spent at least since 14 years old growing different cacti and before these I had a cacti I had from 15-29, these were planted in 2014 and have given many away and some have died from mishandling while learning the ropes on these cacti.

That's impressive mate. I have cursed hands when it comes to gardening so colour me impressed with your dedication!

Thanks! Very difficult when you try too hard for lack of a better word. Either you put in fertilizer wrong or water wrong or it’s in the wrong place. Usually I will go to a nursery versus a regular shop for a flower I am planting and I ask the owners what to do because the nursery green house guys grow them every year for the last hundred or more years. So they can easily help and usually love to talk gardening because it’s becoming a niche now.idk if it’s dedication as much as it is just enjoying it. They are easy to just let go at times too but I want to keep this going and make a unique group of misfits to be on the journey with me.

Thanks for following along!

lol secret basement cactus grow lab, I love it! I tried pickling cabbage in our basement and just ended up growing interesting and novel buckets of mould.

btw, this is what I imagine any time someone tells me they're growing cacti - I used to visit here as a kid
https://www.adoremagazine.com/blog/oranacactusworld

[Dink]

These all look amazing! The seedlings especially are adorable I've managed to keep 3 little cacti alive in my office for about a year now and I'm pretty proud of myself - nothing on your garden though!

Thanks! It’s hard work to manage this type of garden when one is trying to expand it and the only place I can do it is the basement. My wife is already annoyed and will become even more annoyed when I have to set up a grow tent in the basement for these! I might finish off my attic as a grow area for my cacti some day! Keeping cacti alive is harder than you’d think so you keeping yours alive is a great accomplishment you should be proud of! I have spent at least since 14 years old growing different cacti and before these I had a cacti I had from 15-29, these were planted in 2014 and have given many away and some have died from mishandling while learning the ropes on these cacti.

That's impressive mate. I have cursed hands when it comes to gardening so colour me impressed with your dedication!

Thanks! Very difficult when you try too hard for lack of a better word. Either you put in fertilizer wrong or water wrong or it’s in the wrong place. Usually I will go to a nursery versus a regular shop for a flower I am planting and I ask the owners what to do because the nursery green house guys grow them every year for the last hundred or more years. So they can easily help and usually love to talk gardening because it’s becoming a niche now.idk if it’s dedication as much as it is just enjoying it. They are easy to just let go at times too but I want to keep this going and make a unique group of misfits to be on the journey with me.

Thanks for following along!

lol secret basement cactus grow lab, I love it! I tried pickling cabbage in our basement and just ended up growing interesting and novel buckets of mould.

btw, this is what I imagine any time someone tells me they're growing cacti - I used to visit here as a kid
https://www.adoremagazine.com/blog/oranacactusworld

That’s what I want to have but Pennsylvania gets way too cold. There’s only one native cactus in Pennsylvania. Which is still more than most states.
Thanks for the support!

I figure a secret grow lab is 100% legal but has all the same set up as other things so I moved over as it is now cheaper to go to the dispo than growing your own. So say bye bye to a lot of fun times but I made it so there’s more time for other fun in the indoor garden!

I will post a video of the indoor garden in a bit but might take a few hours as I’m trying 4k uhd/60fps for a bit it just takes forever to upload.

Here’s what I have so far today, rest will come late tonight or tomorrow morning before I update tomorrows updates

Thanks for reading and watching all!

[Dink]

I feel like it’s the same messages over and over again so I’ll try something different:
Except where noted, I grew all of these from seed. This last winter I made the mistake of having them too warm under grow light without sufficient light they all stretched and become thin and then fattening out. I believe it’s likely from unintentional training from how the sun hits them but it is very possible that the plants are pupping from the bottom because of that low level of light and being shocked by going straight outdoors with no shade cloth. I’m a bit bummed out some got sunburn, but they all came out of it just fine!

[Dink]

Yesterday and today have been good. Rainy, but good. My outdoor cacti need the water badly as they were drying out a bit for the growth I want on them during the summer.

I forgot to post yesterdays videos on YouTube until early this morning because of how tired I was/am

Here are videos

[Dink]

I can not keep up with long form 4k videos every day so Sundays or Mondays.
Beyond that they are doing well, had a huge storm that moved through while I was asleep and nothing seemed to be having an issue.

I have a few more zinnias coming in my annuals garden and I missed the first flower because of the rain but I have pictures of the next three. I think 1 is a Hungarian breadbox and a second one may be too so I should have great seeds for bagels and other poppy seed recipes!

The cacti are starting to grow and getting in their stride, not much to report

I know there’s no videos from yesterday but I couldn’t get around to it.

June 30, 2026

[Avatar]

Great job and I think the videos now look even nicer in the landscape format!

Excellent stuff!

[Dink]

Great job and I think the videos now look even nicer in the landscape format!

Excellent stuff!

Thanks! I try my best and I hope it shows that I’m trying. I’m not an expert by any means, just have been doing this since I was a kid.
Thanks again for the suggestion to go land scape!

[Dink]

More days have passed and it’s time for updates. Everything is going well and it is hot! They are not having any issues with the high heat and high humidity, they are loving it!

June 30, 2026

July 1, 2026

[jadeia]

In that last video, you mentioned a cactus you planted upside down and then grafted another one to it? You can plant them upside down?!

[Dink]

In that last video, you mentioned a cactus you planted upside down and then grafted another one to it? You can plant them upside down?!

Believe it or not, yes you can. It’s a fun little side project I tried and it worked.

In the videos I’m about to post, I was a bit annoyed with some of the pm’s was getting on YouTube being assholes and the comment section turning into a toxic pool of people slamming on the channel for being “unofficial”. Like what’s “official”? Is that where I go and buy all their cacti and screw around with what I don’t want? I want to get real cacti going, not cacti to get me high. A lot of people hate on people who make cacti which started as high mescaline content that were bred to be low to no alkaloid profile.(aka no mescaline nor things that can make you high).
I’m not saying anyone here is rude, people here are supportive and positive with anything they see that could be useful for general cacti growing and may increase my garden and cacti size.

I have cacti with high alkaloid content (including mescaline) but what’s the use? You’ll need like a METER of cacti at about 10-20KILOS total then spend 16 hours boiling and reboiling and reboiling just to get a toxic looking sludge that will make anyone gag and puke instantly. Trust me, I tried it and all I did was puke for 12-18 hours. Not fun!

I appreciate your comment, and it’s crazy you can plant them upside down, the one with the column and the one with a small pup on the top is planted upside down, I had no roots coming out so I just shoved it in the soil after taking it out to check for roots. It rooted right after I did that.

It’s pretty crazy what these specific cacti will do. The mix of bridgesii and patchoni really gets these things going. There’s a few I would love to enter into a fair. In a few years I plan to do that as I get a few good ones that don’t have blemishes or just a couple for submission. At a fair (largest in a few states around the us), there were only 2 entries and none for the category I’d be in. So unless someone wants to go for broke, I’ll at least get third place. Now that’s not an invite to enter the fair unless you want to go against a few amazing cacti from a cacti gardener who is in their 80’s and has had the cacti growing all their lives.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text but I love cacti!
Please keep up the messages everyone! And the likes on Facebook really help and the subscriptions get me higher up in the algorithm. It appears shorts do the best but long form videos are catching up. People seem to like the 4k content more than the straight 1080p but I don’t have the bandwidth on my connection to upload them every day so I do it Sunday and post Sunday night in to Monday afternoon.

Have a great day! Videos will be posted shortly!