Cactus Nursery
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Indian Comb Cacti Have Grown Into Cannons
The giant Indian comb cacti that I grew from seed germinated in summer of 2018 have grown into cannons. I just shipped out the largest one to a customer yesterday. Most are 40-44 inches tall and growing vigorously. Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum is one of the world’s largest species with the potential to reach 49ft in height and stems ten inches thick. I have sold all of the pupped stumps from which I cut these stems. https://cactusislandacres.com/product/pachycereus-pecten-aboriginum/ to purchase and see more. You’d think large, spiky cactus like these would be impossible to mail, but I do it with ease and also use Shippo for a decent discount price on fast and…
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Where Can You Find Your Own Mini-Saguaro?
It’s the perfect “mini-saguaro” for your Florida yard; the Myrtillocactus geometrizans has edible berry-sized fruit similar to plum and blueberry and can take 15f with frost covering in N. Florida, provided that you have a gritty, well-draining mix amended pit in the yard, or in a large pot. These are in 3gal pots, will grow taller, even thicker and produce many more arms as it becomes a stunning bush cactus. The fruit has powerful health benefits against cancer and inflammation. They are available at Cactus Island Nursery in North Central Florida just southwest of Gainesville in the north end of Williston, and they are also available on my website in…
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Little Florida Semaphore Cactus from Offset Sterile Fruit
These little guys are Consolea corallicola – the Florida semaphore cactus – sporting some new tiny pads growing out of sterile fruit that have flowered and dropped to the ground, thus having vegetatively propagated to become new plants. I picked each up with long pliers and rooted them by sticking the detached ends in potted mix; others I laid on their side to root from areoles. Planting vertically may yield more eventual plants to root into larger pots, as these guys sometimes have three or even four forming at the moment. The dried, spent red flowers shrivel and sometimes remain on the fruit for a few weeks; others come off…
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Stunning Blue Cacti in Bloom
It’s been a bloomy couple of weeks at Cactus Island here just southwest of Gainesville in Williston, FL. The classic wooly blue cacti plus it’s rare genusmate Pilosocereus aff. flexibilixpinus with tufts of gold wool, dark needles have been going nuts. Neither are self-fertile, and the genus almost never gets pollinated here naturally. I use a brush and mesh bag for controlled pollination when producing seeds. Both are available through the ecommerce page. Very large cacti are easy enough to ship but not cheap over 40 inches long, and 5-6 footers probably require freight. Last picture, since the Opuntia from the Keys was in bloom, is from the native Florida…
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Padhenge: Born Last Fall on a Trade and a Whim
Padhenge materialized last fall in an unexpected trade with highly knowlegeable friends and customers from way north Florida near the Georgia border. This blank part of the house lawn was screaming out for completion, vexing in its unrealized potential for six years. I specialize primarily in Columnar and native Florida cactus species, but after driving up to Monticello, FL to see their gorgeous food plant homestead and the stunningly large Opuntia pad varieties they had, I was instantly hooked. Some of the pads are almost two feet long! Turns out, they are also all extremely cold-hardy, drought-resistant hybrids that yield high-brix fruit. Developed at University of California at Davis and…
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Cactus Cannons and Candelabros for Sale
These things are getting huge! Lots of wooly blue torch Pilosocereus pachycladus, giant Indian comb Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum, Cuban organpipe Stenocereus fimbriatus, Pilosocereus pachycladus ssp. viridis, Mexican blueberry cactus Myrtillocactus geometrizans, and many more. $100-$300 for most really large plants depending on height and rarity. We’re open by appointment and just southwest of Gainesville, FL. We also ship large cactus regularly with ease and reliability, and are apparently one of the few in the country that will ship large, display garden-sized cacti. Can’t ship to California – sorry. Nematode compliance too costly between FL and CA. Most of these are for hardiness zone 10a or higher but can thrive in heated…
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Native Florida Cactus, Winter Highlights
Despite a horribly cold winter beyond what I hoped possible with weeks of nights at or below freezing as low as 17f, all of the greenhouse cacti made it through just fine with propane heat. And, the Florida and Caribbean cactus stone garden has been productive in fruit and bloom while covered in its phase as Museum Tent #13. The big, tasty red fruit on Harrisia fragrans showing behind the giant Key tree cactus pair could have been my holiday card for December. Many plants within have grown stem height, new pads and new arms. There is noticeable winter growth on the Key tree cacti – Pilosocereus robinii. Most of…
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Summer Cactus Promenade Walk plus the Three Florida Harrisia species – Three Videos
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Taller Cacti and More Pups
We’re enjoying the notable growth in height, thickness, pups and arms on the seed-stock plants in Cactus Island’s permanent collection this summer. The fastest growing of the Key tree cactus batch put growth into roots after I up-potted to 1gal pots, then resumed skyward growth. The rest of them are catching up since spring. The most vigorous of the Pilosocereus polygonus are going one-by-one into 7gal pots. The Cuban organpipe are blowing my mind with all of the arms and pups still forming as others from a year or two ago grow even bigger on their main stems. Specimen and project plants aside, most everything at Cactus Island Nursery is…
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Four Fruit on Pilosocereus aff. flexibilispinus CS140
Pilosocereus aff. flexibilispinus yielded four hard-won, controlled pollination fruit this spring. I’ve cleaned and dried the third out four fruit and waiting for the last one to pop. This is the second of four harvested yesterday afternoon. I almost missed seeing it, with all of the work I had for the day. This morning’s fruit, the third of four. Last nigh’s bloom closed now for a few hours. I’m letting the rest of the buds open without pollination to continually monitor frequency of accidental pollination. Only had one open-pollination fruit, which I excised and discarded before it could grow, out of maybe 50 blooms this year so far.
Cactus Island Nursery