This is another one that has done well. I acquired it in 2015. A photo of the day it got out of the nursery container into it's present abode.


I see from the DB that it can reach 2' and it's a bit more than halfway there. I'm wondering if I may need to stake it somehow considering my often windy conditions, but I'm reluctant to do that. Here's how it looks this week. It's hanging from a tree limb. Lots of morning sun and some afternoon sun hit it directly, but dappled light the rest of the time.


I'm sort of hoping it will grow it's own staking system, but the first of these three new little barrels aren't growing that fast. The one that's really hard to see just appeared a couple of months ago, but the two larger ones showed up last summer and this is as much growth as they've had in a year. Not much. Also, the babies are putting out by a spot where a hail stone struck it in early spring last year, so I hope it doesn't mean that the main barrel will collapse at that spot some time in the future.

We must have similar tastes because I also have this species. As far as I know, they always branch from the base so that is normal. The big clumps I've seen are all columnar-shaped, but close together which leads me to believe they all branched off each other's base. I personally wouldn't stake them because if they're getting enough light to grow strong and sturdy, they shouldn't topple over in the wind. If they do need staked, they're probably not being grown (or haven't been grown) with adequate light to be study enough. I go by that philosophy for most houseplants (except for herbaceous standards, where I do use stakes). Does this one come inside, or do you leave it outside all year in your climate? The answer to that might change the equation as to whether you need to use stakes.

Ive bought one this spring. Fast growing. It outgrew its other parodia cousins, even though they were bought at the same time, and it was smaller that them too...

@Jai_Ganesha
I figured the branching was normal, but the fact it started where the base was damaged by a hail stone made me wonder if that didn't trigger the offsets. There are no offsets around the perimeter where there isn't damage. In the beginning it got less light than where it's currently growing, but it seemed to grow relatively perpendicular so it appeared to be getting sufficient light. It leans away from the spot of the hail stone impact and rests lightly on the hanger cord. Prior to hail stone, it didn't lean. It's been a carefree plant to grow and spends most of its life outdoors. It has been exposed to light freezing temps a couple of times, but I generally bring it inside during the longest and/or coldest spells. I think you may not be nearly as windy as here in my part of Texas. A normal spring day can have gusts over 30mph. Now that fall is approaching, the windy days are putting in an appearance. If a weather forecaster would daily predict wind, no rain and bright sun, the accuracy of the forecasts would make them seem ultra able to predict the weather with a high percentage of accuracy .

Those little branches look great. Good things on the way. And I like the way you can actually resolve individual years of growth on the stem based on the density of the spines.

The clumping behavior varies quite a bit from plant to plant. Some of them clump right away and others take a while to get started. My plant took several years (8 inch pot size) before it started branching from the base.

I would be more concerned about the plant swinging from a branch in the wind than falling over because it needs staking. Maybe start by putting it on solid ground if you're worried about stability. That pot looks nice and heavy and should work well as an anchor.

I give my plant day-long sun (mild climate) and would imagine that the strongest light you can provide will also help promote compact, strong growth. Based on the looks of things, your plant is getting pretty strong light in its current location.

@Baja_Costero
I'm afraid the squirrels might chew on it if I set it on the ground. Cacti are not immune to their impulse to taste things. And this one isn't particularly spiny to discourage that.

It withstood some pretty high winds last year and this year, but as it grows taller that may make a difference. The pot is indeed heavy. I can't seem to pass up a good ceramic container when it's on sale at a low cost. It was here waiting for a plant! I think it's a 10" pot.

I think it receives enough sun. It's really hard for a plant to escape the sun here. My filtered shade is probably more light than locations in direct sun in the northern portion of the county. It's a big issue when moving plants back out after winter storage. When it's already getting very warm, but the trees aren't yet anywhere near full leaf and I have very limited places to condition the plants to the extra sunlight. Probably because I have too many plants .

Can you put it in a birdcage? That keep squirrels out here.

It would take a lot of birdcages to protect the number of plants I have. Hanging or elevating containers helps. Sitting on the ground makes the plants vulnerable to other things in addition to the squirrels unless the container is really imposing! I do use old wire baskets as lids to cover some plants, but the ones I use don't seem t be sold anymore.

There's no shame in having a lot of bird cages. I probably have 20.

I've also seen people use chicken wire and it's not nearly as ugly as it sounds when it is done right.

Jai_Ganesha said:There's no shame in having a lot of bird cages. I probably have 20.

I was wondering about that suggestion but now it makes sense.

I've also seen people use chicken wire and it's not nearly as ugly as it sounds when it is done right.

I use chicken wire for some plants and I barely see it any more.

Here's a matching plant on the patio... and some out of focus branches starting at the bottom. The stem is all brown and scarred, but you can't really see that with all those golden spines catching the light.



The side facing the sun (I do not rotate) has buds all over it but I have only actually seen flowers a couple of times. Probably because I didn't look very often. Note 8-legged security presence.

For illustration purposes here is a caged aloe where the chicken wire goes up about 3 feet. It has rusted to dark brown so it sort of blends in with the background now. Not great, but the wire is the only reason that aloe is still alive.

That's interesting, Baja. The pups are on the side which gets the most hours of sun, but I do rotate the container from time to time. I've watched, but I've never seen buds on mine. Perhaps that would happen if it were in more sunlight.

That aloe is beautiful. Is that color year-round?

The Parodia here gets pretty much day-long sun (rooftop patio).

The color on the aloe comes from full sun and drought conditions. It will reverse with the first real rains of the fall to something like this:



which is actually seedling offspring of the red plant in the cage, growing in part sun/part filtered light. Here is the presumed father, caged in all his orangeness, photographed the same day as the mother plant. They were blooming side by side.



And here are seedlings from the orange plant, a little further along but similar to the ones from the red plant. These are larger because they germinated earlier. These look like two different hybrids, half-sisters as it were, same mother but different father.



There are a few blue tree aloes in the vicinity so it will be fun to figure out the paternity when they flower.

Just think: all this fun and games made possible through the magic of chicken wire.

Sometimes when I use chicken wire, I spray paint it black so it tends to disappear.

My "Golden Ball" really was a golden ball when I got it several years ago. Now it is 10 inches tall and, for the very first time, is growing pups. Sorry guys, on the shady side of the cactus, not the sunny side.

I don't rotate but this Parodia has enough mood swings for a whole bevvy of fussy females. If yours is like mine, staking would not work because this cactus really does MOVE.

I have noticed that a cactus with an injury grows.... pups? arms? I have an old Ferocactus whose center hallowed out years ago (thus losing its growth point) but, grew a brand new cactus off the edge of the hole.

I would post photos but, for some reason, I don't have internet on my "smart" computer.

More on my Parodia. The scar from the hail stone keeps growing larger. I think eventually it will probably be the cause for the demise of the plant. In the meantime, it is still growing but seems to be doing that at a slower pace. It got moved, so for a few months now it's been receiving sun from daybreak to sunset with only a very brief and light break from direct overhead sun. Their are more pups, but they are sure growing slowly. There are 5 pups - maybe 6, but I'm not sure on the 6th. One is odd-looking, not sure what's going on. I thought it was dying, but it's grown and still looks different than the others.


The center growth this spring is furry, brown bumps. They are young yet and tightly smushed together, so can't tell how many yet. I'm wondering if it's going to bloom? It's never had growth that looks like this before and it hasn't ever bloomed. It's hard to tell in the photo, but the brown area consists of raised bumps covered with the brown fuzz. I hope it does bloom.

Yes, the brown fuzz balls on the top are flower buds. The ones on my plant don't all turn into flowers, but a decent number do. Looking good!

I keep mine outside from sometime in April till sometime in October normally. I find that rotating does nothing as on sunny days the whole plant will lean from completely away to toward the sun in just one day. It's pretty funny actually.

Need rain I would t worry too much about that little scarring. Mines hot plenty of them over the years and it does t seem to care that much at all.