I have a newly repotted golden berral cactus about 3 or 4 inches across I was wondering if given good indoor grow lights in winter and a spot outside in a mini protected greenhouse in summer how big will it get and how fast will it grow year by year


Right now I've been feeding it cactus food and have it repotted in mircle grow cactus palm and cictris mix a claypot as it drains better

Its all in the puddin'.

I had a Golden Barrel (Echinocactus grusonii) planted in my garden in California that, in 30 years, grew to the size of a basketball. I saw Golden Barrels in Hawaii at Kapiolani College that had been planted 30 years ago and were 3 feet across.

My honest opinion is that you do not have optimal growing conditions for a Golden Barrel or even really good conditions. It could be the size it is for a lot of years.

Daisy

I thought it would do better under a light in winter in my zone and outside in a protected greenhouse in summer

I got a high output blue and red grow light I got off Amazon. Coming tomorrow so it's indoor lighting shoukd upgrade I'm not sure the name of the light but I will post it on here


It's from erligpowhrdirect on amazon

I agree with Daisy. It will be happiest to grow outdoors in ideal weather of course. It loves lots of direct sun and warmth. Growing it in a container further restricts its growth potential. It is different grown outdoors and inground. It would be very interesting to see how it grows in your set-up and area Alex.

It is such a pretty cacti though, always love seeing them in their preferred habitat, dry, warm and low humidity.

Winter is typically very slow time growing for most cacti, they resume more active growth when the warm and dry conditions return. But active growth does not mean fast growth for this cacti. It still grows very slow.

I saw them before at the Getty museum gardens in Los Angeles, really pretty, this was last 30Dec2011..very, very dry and warm at that time:

I can only do so much its in a pot thats 2 or so inches bigger than the cactus so hope it does okay

It will do okay but we can't assure you that it will do great. Sorry!

Daisy

Alex, with any of my cacti, I try to really make the media as gritty as possible, so aside from using cacti mix, I always add more pumice or perlite. Really rocky media to protect the base of the plant. It can easily go rotting, and I do not recommend fertilizer when cacti is dormant, no use for it. To be honest I do not feed my cacti, I would rather repot with some fresh media as needed when it is mid Spring.

Good luck on your plant! Please keep us posted how it goes!

Well I got the new light on it its shining something ferice

I see a difference in my peanut cactus will keep watchers posted

I have a golden Barrel Cactus that I would love to send to you! Lol It was a 2 inch ball rescued from Walmart 10 years ago, looking very pitiful sitting alone on a dark bottom shelf. I placed it inside, with light from a southwest facing window, here in Colorado. It is now 2 feet tall,18" wide and weighs a whole lot! Since it gets so much sun and is quite pot bound, it is watered once a week, but the soil is very sandy and drains well. Good light, desert like soil (not rich fluffy potting soil) never letting them freeze and not over watering or ever letting them stand in water are all I do. I have had them survive with poor light but all my cactus thrive in south or southwest windows. Lots of direct light is the most important aspect in growing them into monsters. I used to take my blooming cactus outside, to a southeast facing porch in summer, which encouraged blooming. A cactus body is mostly water so make sure it is well past the risk of freezing before you do.

to NGA!

That's great! I love it! Post a photo so we all can see the Monster Golden Barrel.

Daisy