Trichocereus scopulicola ‘Kesey’ (Spineless San Pedro)
Lot ECHI-SCOP-KESEY-01 1 of 1 the exact plant pictured
$195.00
- Plant: Trichocereus scopulicola Kesey
- Cultivation: unrooted cutting, ungrafted
- Size: about 14 in (36 cm) long
- Also known as: spineless San Pedro
- Lineage: GeeBee’s Garden, GB11
- Listing: one-of-a-kind, the exact stem in the photograph
- Grown: our own mother plant, grown outdoors in Orange County
In stock
This is the exact stem pictured, cut from our own mother plant.
- Flat $12 shipping anywhere in the United States, for one plant or several.
- Ships within 1 to 3 business days and usually arrives 2 to 5 business days later.
- All sales are final. If a plant arrives dead, email photos of the plant and packaging within a couple of days. Shipping and returns
- 237 plants sold
- Grown in Orange County, California
- Artificially propagated, never wild-collected
Description
Type: Unrooted, callused cutting, ungrafted · Length: about 14 in · The exact stem pictured
Trichocereus scopulicola Kesey, catalogued as GB11 by GeeBee’s Garden, is a fat, nearly spineless scopulicola, and this listing is a single 14 inch cutting of it, for sale as the exact stem in the photograph. It is cut from our own mother plant and ships unrooted and ungrafted.
What makes Trichocereus scopulicola Kesey special
Look at the photo and the appeal is plain. The stem is thick and pudgy, a deep even green, and almost bare: tiny felted areoles sit in shallow notches down broad, rounded ribs, with no spines worth the name. That notched, nearly spineless build is what collectors look for in a scopulicola, and Kesey carries it on a stem that is unusually thick for the species.
GeeBee lists Kesey among her scopulicola selections. She names many of her clones after Grateful Dead songs and the culture around the band. Ripple is another of her scopulicola, while Sugaree, Dark Star and Stagger Lee belong to other species: Sugaree is a bridgesii, Dark Star a peruvianus and Stagger Lee a taquimbalensis. Kesey is named for Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Few cuttings of it circulate, which is why Kesey commands a premium among Trichocereus collectors.
A one-off stem this size is also a head start. At 14 inches and this thick, it carries enough stored water and energy to root quickly and put on new growth in its first warm season, so you are not waiting years for a small pup to become a plant worth looking at.
The species
Scopulicola comes from rocky slopes and mountain forest around Tapecua in Tarija, southern Bolivia, where Friedrich Ritter found it in 1959. Most plants carry four to six ribs, usually five, with dark green skin, and large adults often lose their spines altogether. Kew POWO treats it as a synonym of the Bolivian torch, as the Kew record for Echinopsis scopulicola shows, but growers keep it apart for its near-spineless adult stems and dark, slightly grainy skin, and our Echinopsis scopulicola species page explains the case.
How we grow it
At rarecactus.com we grow our Trichocereus mother plants outdoors in full sun in Orange County, California, in a 50/50 soil mix of organic and inorganic material. Scopulicola puts on girth quickly in those conditions, which is how a cutting reaches the thickness you see here. This is the only Kesey cutting we have, taken from our own plant of the clone, and it has never been grafted.
When your Trichocereus scopulicola Kesey cutting arrives
Look at the cut end. If it is dry and hard, it is ready to root. If it still looks fresh, stand it upright in bright shade for a few more days.
Then let it root in a dry area, standing upright and staked while it roots because a 14 inch stem this thick is top-heavy, in bright indirect light and without water until roots form. That usually takes a few weeks in warm weather. Once rooted, pot it in a 50/50 soil mix of organic and inorganic material, water lightly and bring it into full sun over two or three weeks; the green skin scorches if it moves too fast.
Rooted, it grows like any scopulicola: fast and thirsty in summer, dry in winter. Move it into a deep, heavy pot once the roots fill the first one.
Provenance and legality
Trichocereus, like most cacti, is listed on CITES Appendix II, and this is cultivated stock grown in the United States. San Pedro and its relatives are legal to own as ornamental plants in all fifty states, and our legality guide cites the statute for each. Browse the San Pedro cactus for sale collection for more clones, or the Echinopsis encyclopedia hub for the genus.
Questions before you buy
What exactly arrives?
The exact stem pictured, cut from our own mother plant and shipped unrooted, as cuttings are. The lot number under the title is its record.
How does it ship?
From our greenhouse in Orange County, California, within 1 to 3 business days, for a flat $12 anywhere in the United States. It usually arrives 2 to 5 business days later.
Is it legal to own?
Yes. Every plant we sell is artificially propagated, cut from our own mother plants, with no wild collection at any stage. CITES rules apply to international trade, and we sell within the United States only, so no export permit is involved.
What if it arrives dead?
All sales are final, because each plant is a living one of a kind. If it arrives dead, take clear photos of the plant and the packaging within a couple of days of delivery and tell us. If anything else about the order is not right, say so and we will help where we can.
Growing Echinopsis
Echinopsis are vigorous South American cacti, most of them Andean columns, and they want full sun, a free-draining 50/50 soil mix, generous summer water and a dry winter rest.
- Sun exposure
- Full sun, acclimatised
- Full sun, acclimatised gradually after winter, keeps growth firm. Light afternoon shade helps in the hottest climates, and E. pachanoi tolerates bright filtered light.
- Watering
- Generous, weekly in heat
- Water generously from spring to autumn, weekly in peak summer heat, letting the mix dry between soaks. Keep plants dry or nearly dry through winter, especially below 10°C.
- Soil
- 50/50 organic/mineral
- Half organic, half inorganic: cactus soil cut about 50/50 with pumice, granite grit or lava. That is richer than most succulents take, and it is how we grow our Trichocereus.
- Cold tolerance
- Cold hardy, no freezing
- Cold hardy, but cannot handle freezing temperatures. Protect plants before any frost, and keep them dry through cold spells, since wet cold does the most damage.
- Container
- Deep and stable
- Deep, stable pots for the big columnar species, whose root systems are extensive; repot yearly while young. Spreading E. chamaecereus suits a shallow pan or hanging basket.
- Growth rate
- Fast for cacti
- Fast for cacti. E. pachanoi adds 30 to 60 cm a year in good conditions, E. lageniformis 15 to 30 cm, and E. chamaecereus clumps up quickly.
Shipping & Returns
Shipping
Flat $12 shipping anywhere in the United States, for one plant or several. Orders ship within 1 to 3 business days and usually arrive 2 to 5 business days later. Every plant is packed by hand to travel safely.
Returns
Every plant we sell is alive, so all sales are final and we do not accept returns or exchanges. If a plant arrives dead, take clear photos of the plant and the packaging within a couple of days of delivery and email support@rarecactus.com. If anything else about your order is not right, tell us and we will help where we can.
