Cerus peruvianus (?) is becoming invasive on my property

[Walt]

About 10 years ago I bought a small, single section Cerus peruvianus (I understand it's called something else now) from Home Depot and brought it home in the back seat of my car.

I planted the cerus next to my storage shed, on the south side. Over the years it grew and multiplied, flowering heavily 3-4 times a year, then developing lots of fruits.

About three years ago I started noticing small cerus plants coming up all about my property (5.60 acres), many of the plants 100s of feet away from the mother plant. At first I wasn't sure what species of cerus they were but after awhile concluded they were Cerus peruvianus.

No doubt, birds were eating on the fruit and then pooping out the seeds here and there. Almost invariably, new plants are sprouting and growing directly beneath a palm fronds, tree limb, etc.

Less than two years ago I noticed a cerus coming up next to an Adonidia merrillii palm planted at the corner of my house. I know this (time wise) due to date stamps on other photos I have taken. I have photos 22 months old and there's no cerus growing.

If the cerus come up in a location that is inconsequential, I will just let it grow. But the one coming up next to the house must now go. I'm almost sorry I have to cut down this particular cerus as it is so much more robust and fatter than all my other ones, including the mother plant.

Below are some photos I took of just some of them.

Above photo: New Cerus peruvianus that came up on own less than two years ago.

Above photo: Closer detail of new Cerus peruvianus. Note how small the base is compared to the rest of the plant. Surely, if left to grow the plant will topple from top heavieness.

[Walt]

Below are a few Cerus peruvianus growing farther away from my house.

Above photo: It remains to be seen how this plant will end up years down the road.

Above photo: This cerus is growing next to a queen palm. Again, note the small base.

Above photo: This one toppled over many months ago. Too much shade where this one is growing.

Above photo: Small Cerus peruvianus coming up next to a smale Livistona chinensis palm.

[Gonzer]

Walt, your plant is Cereus forbesii 'spiralis', sometimes known as C. peruvianus 'spiral form'. A collector's item for sure. I'd cut the house down before touching it. A truly superb specimen!

[Eric in Orlando]

I was going to say, save that spiral form, move it out to a nice sunny location !!!

[fastfeat]

That spiral one is only two years old?? Holy crap!

[Gonzer]

Holy crap

My sentiments exactly

Edited October 31, 2012 by Gonzer

[Mark lasvegas]

I would consider leaving the cactus in its current location, provided it doesn't hit the roof overhang. It might need a support,(prolly a stake) but as soon as it clears the foliage from the palm, it will have plenty of sunlight. The main reason to leave it in place is it seems to enjoy incredibly rapid growth there, and if it is moved, the growth may slow, and the beautiful spiral pattern may be lost/altered. That spiral pattern is absolutely incredible. Just leave it in place, and let the 'magic' continue uninterrupted. That is definitely a specimen plant, Iv'e never seen such a beautiful pattern. You may get extra lucky, in the event it branches, I suspect it will also have that spiral pattern as well.

[Mark lasvegas]

The more I look at your pic, it does need support help. If you use a stake, be careful when you attach it, you don't want to leave any bruising to the cactus flesh. This is a specimen plant, and as such care needs to be taken not to injure ANY plant tissue. As it nears the roofline, you may also be able to run some rubber attachment thingys directly from the roof edge. You sure got lucky with the random act of nature there. Beatiful plant. Just gorgeous.

[Walt]

Thanks, all, for the replies. Now I'm puzzled. The knowledge I have of the Cerus genus you could put in a thimble -- and still have lots of room left over!

If in fact the cerus that came up on its own at the S.E. corner of my house is Cereus forbesii 'spiralis' (as Gonzer said, and others confirmed), how did it obtain this variance if in fact the seed came from my mother plant (photo below) that doesn't exhibit the sprial characteristics of Cerus forbesii 'spiralis'? Is that a normal (although maybe rare) variance? Do some seeds carry the 'spiralis' gene, etc.?

Well, even though I had planned to remove this plant, I wasn't prepared to do it until it caused problems. Yesterday I decided to check it out better and see that with just some light pressure, I can push the cerus slightly south to that it will clear the roof overhang. All it will take is some soft twine, etc., to pull the cerus slightly and tie (secure) it to my adonidia palm's trunk.

Right now the top of the cerus is 2-3 inches below the roof soffit. It won't be long before point of impact. But I will monitor the cerus daily and then tie it to the adonidia palm when the cerus comes within 1/2" of the soffit.

As far as the cerus's fast growth, I can only surmise it is because it got good fertilization (8-4-12-2.5 mg.) palm special fertilizer from my adonidia palm, Ti plant, and ixora (all in the same bed), lots of water (rain shedding from roof, plus hand irrigation) and lots of full sun.

For some reason, of all the Cerus peruvianus volunteers that have been coming up on my property for years now, this particular one is the fastest, and also the most stout. In fact, I've been emailing every few months, photos of this cerus to a friend out of state, and she even commented about it's fast growth. My friend and her husband just recently visited me and my wife and she took a photo of it while here.

I'm going to go back through some of my older photos and see if I can find some showing this cerus when it was smaller, so as to better judge its growth rate. If I find some I will post them here for comparison purposes.

Ri

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.

That spiral cactus will probably retain that character in branches, and cuttings.

If so, maybe carefully remove and root branches. You'll have genuine disco cacti from the 1970s . . .

[Gonzer]

You'll have genuine disco cacti from the 1970s

Discocactus is a genus of tropical cactus. The name comes from the ancient Greek "diskos" (=disc) because of its shape. Discocactus plants are endemic to southern Brazil, eastern Bolivia, and northern Paraguay. These species are in the risk of extinction in the wild.

[Gonzer]

Dave, lest I forget......

[Walt]

Okay, I checked some of my property photos I took over the past two years. From the best I can tell, my cerus is less than two years old.

The time line for the below photos is a follows:

Photo #1: Taken on 10/17/2010 shows no cerus growing behind trunk of my adonidia palm.

Photo #2: Taken on 10/05/2011 shows emerging cerus behind adonidia palm. I estimate from this photo that cerus is approximately 12" tall.

Photo #3: Taken on 06/16/2012 shows cerus to be approximately 42" tall.

Photo #4: Taken on 10/30/2012. Cerus now measures 7'-1" and the top is 2" below roof soffit.

I conclude from th date stamped photos that my cerus grew about 12" during the first year (actually, less than a full year). It picked up the growth rate substantially the second year, growing about 6 feet more in height.

With winter coming on I expect the growth rate of my cerus to slow down. But I can now use my roof soffit as a growth baseline reference. I will update this posting when my cerus tops 8 feet and/or if it branches, etc..

Edited November 2, 2012 by Walt

[John Case]

That is one fast growin' cactus, amigo!

[Kim]

Very cool looking cactus.

[DoomsDave]

AND WE HAVE LIFTOFF!

Walt, that is a fast cactus. Sounds like an energy drink . . .

(picture of a Time Magazine shot of the crowd watching Apollo 11, in 1969)

[BigFrond]

Very nice specimen. If it's fast like that then chopping it down should be a non issue. Scraped up eves and injured cerus or chopped up cerus. Hmm... easy decision to me.

[Walt]

Well, until I started this posting thread I thought the cerus in question was just a plain Jane Cerus peruvianus. Now I'm curious to see just what this thing is going to do, if it branches, how tall it's going to grow, etc. Now I will let it grow and grow and see what happens.

I'm not concerned that it will damage my roof soffit, I just didn't relish a plant like this coming up so close to the house. That is, the cerus isn't in the spot I desire it to be growing in. Nevertheless, I plan on letting it stay where it is for the time being. At the very least, it can be kept in check (cut back as needed). A neighbor has a big Cerus peruvianus and he cuts his back every 2-3 years, and in no time it regrows right back.

[Cedric]

Wow that C forbesii "spiralis" is nice, its also a nice form of spiralis not too congested, Im looking out for one or three of these most definitely. Do they prefer a bit of shade to grow like this I wonder, the more compressed ones are a bit ugry?

[Walt]

Update: Since my last post my Cerus peruvianus has grown about one inch above the lower face of my roof soffit overhang and is inching up along the fascia. I don't think now I will need to pull my cerus away from the soffit and tie it to my adonidia palm. I believe it will now grow straight up and over the roof overhang.

I'm sure the growth rate must be slowing down compared to last summer, but it is still growing. WIll post another update once my cerus clears the roof soffit.

[Darold Petty]

I'm glad that you can allow it to remain. That's an interesting plant!

[Walt]

Today, in preparation of a possible freeze for both February 17th and 18th, I was bundling and wrapping my adonidia palm (using a step ladder), and noticed that my Cerus peruvianus 'spiralis' has grown even with my roof overhang. This will become the new baseline that I can measure its growth from.

I'm going to take a WAG and say my cerus will grow at least two feet above the roof line by year's end.

[Gonzer]

That last photo is impressive Walt.

[Walt]

That last photo is impressive Walt.

Well, I was on the ladder looking down and said why not take a photo from that perspective!

[PalmatierMeg]

Beautiful.

[Jose Maria]

A very nice specimen , keep it growing.

[Mark lasvegas]

It's kinda like 'Jack and the beanstalk'

[KrisKupsch]

A couple of Cerus species are self recruiting throughout Queensland but localised areas, nothing like Opuntia stricta and O.tomentosa.

[Cindy Adair]

Very interesting plant. I'm so glad that it can remain for now where it's thriving.

[Walt]

It continues to grow through the winter. It's now slightly above the roofline since my February 16th photo posted above.

[Walt]

My cerus is now starting to pick up speed in growth and is well abover the roof drip edge.

I'm posting the below photo (taken yesterday) and will post back again in about a month, or maybe June 1st, to see how much it grows.

[PalmatierMeg]

Beautiful cactus. On eBay small spiraling plants get $130-170. Insane.

[Walt]

Beautiful cactus. On eBay small spiraling plants get $130-170. Insane.

I concur. The price is insane.

[Walt]

Update: My Cereus peruvianus 'spiralis' is now approximately 15 inches above the roof drip edge (as of June 10, 2013) and is growing into my adonidia palm's fronds. I will update this thread again in about one month. Below is a grainy video I took yesterday (6/10/13). Just click on the image to go to open up the Photobucket video:

[Walt]

Three months has elapsed since my last update. I estimate (need to physically measure it) my Cerus is now close to four feet above my roof drip edge. So far, so good. My cerus seems sturdy enough. I'm going to continue to let it grow and let nature take its course. So far no flowering. All my other Cerus peruvianus plants in years past always flowered (at least one or two flowers) when they were about four feet tall.

I estimate my cerus will add at least one more foot to its height before winter arrives. I will update this post then.

[Astrophoenix]

They seem to love each others company,they almost hug each other.

If you are really lucky you may be the first to have baby Ceradonidias in your garden

[Walt]

This will be the final update of the year on my Cerus peruvianus 'spiralis'. My cerus seems to have slowed in growth in 2013 compared to 2012, but I don't find that unexpected. In any event, my cerus is almost as tall as the highest frond on my adjacent adonidia palm. Little doubt next year my cerus will surpass the adonidia in height. So far no branching of main stem nor any flowers. Maybe next year!

Below are two photo views I took today, December 31, 2013:

[palmsnbananas]

This plant is a freak!

[Walt]

My Cererus peruvianus has finally grown taller than my adonidia palm beside it. I measured the cereus and it's exactly 15 feet tall. It's also starting to lean somewhat towards the roof of my house, most likely due to tropisim, sensing the adonidia palm next to it. I'm just surprised that it's reached 15 feet in height, yet it's never flowered. I look forward to see if it does flower or branch over the coming growing season.

[Pando]

To infinity and beyond!

Wondering how high it decides to go. Man, it sure came out of the ground in a big hurry.