Freaks, Cristates & Monstroses

Freaks, Cristates & Monstroses

On this page, I will show a whole lot of pics of interesting Mutants.

In front, you can see the Trichocereus Bridgesii Monstrosa. Or Penis plant. This type has a very weird growth habit and produces small, penis-like pups that self-terminate and pup again after a while. There are two different types. One that only grows little pups and another one that can grow like a larger column, without producing these little “sausages”.

Trichocereus Brigesii Monstrose Penis Plant TBM

This one was sold as Trichocereus Bridgesii Inermis. It is basically the same type as the TBM.

This was sold as Trichocereus Peruvianus Monstrosa. It is grown in black plastic particles, which might sound like a good idea, but I feel like it´s not really something you should do because it´s not able to store nutrients. And god knows what other chemicals are in that plastic.

This is a very nice Trichocereus Bridgesii Monstrosa. It is similar to a type that Sacred Succulents encountered on one of their Field Trips to Peru

The pics above were donated from Philocacti! It´s an amzing type and I am very happy to share those pics with you!

The following pics are from Philocacti too. I know it´s a monstrose Lophophora and is kinda off-topic but considering how rare and cool it is, I am happy to have it on the site. There are a couple more pics of this plant in the gallery below.

Trichocereus Pachanoi Monstrosa

Trichocereus Santiaguensis Monstrosa. Trichocereus Santiaguensis is a synonym for Trichocereus Spachianus.

Trichocereus Pachanoi Monstrosa – Could be the Altmans or the CCC clone but I am not sure.

This is an awesome Trichocereus Peruvianus Hybrid, variegated

This is a variegated Matucana. Just for the lulz.

This is a Trichocereus Spachianus or Grandiflorus Crest

Crested Trichocereus Terscheckii. Labeled Candicans.

Trichocereus Bridgesii – Melty Crest – Seems like Trichocereus Bridgesii produces some of the most amazing mutants. So it´s always worth the try mass sowing them in order to get interesting seedlings.

Sorry for the messed up watermark. Still havent found a decent watermark software.

 

Some more NON-Trichocereus Mutants & Monstroses

Mammillaria Bocasana CV Fred

Cultivation of Mutants: Most of these mutated or variegated cacti have very similar needs as their normal equivalents. Some of them might be more vulnerable to rot if the plant is a little bit weak. Especially with old seed or bad crosses, you can sometimes have plants that are genetically inferior to other cacti and tend to have all kinds of diseases. But apart from that, Crests, variegates or Monstrosas are usually not any worse than normal specimens. Because of that, it´s really sad to see that some growers tend to put them on the compost because they don´t want to have bad genetics in their collections. Not that this can´t also be the case, but I know plenty of collectors who pay a lot of money for mutants and appreciate them as much or even more as standard plants.

Now, some mutants tend to have trouble getting to flower, but that´s definitely not the case with every one of them. Maybe some of them are a little slower but you oftenly see crested plants in nature, that produce pretty normal flowers. I guess it always comes down to the genetic health of the plant. And that can be totally different from plant to plant. I guess we all know those variegated Gymnocalyciums that can´t survive if not grafted on something else. And personally, that´s where I draw the line because I don´t want to keep on grafting a plant that isn´t able to survive on it´s own. But yeah, everyone has his own likes and dislikes and if you have a cool mutant that you´d like to see on this page, please let me know or post it in our Trichocereus Facebook Group!

Freaks, Cristates & Monstroses