Trichocereus taquimbalensis (Echinopsis taquimbalensis) Seeds

Authentic Trichocereus taquimbalensis has a bright green waxy epidermis and a number of rounded spines with a swollen base. They grow up to 2,50 meters tall and reach a diameter of 15 centimeters. Mature specimens have 8-9 Ribs with Areoles that are 1,5 centimeters apart. Areoles are Round to elliptic in shape and stand out up to 1 centimeter. Areoles are also white felted with 8-13 radial spines and up to 2 centimeters tall. One downward pointing middle spine that is up to 7 centimeters long and with thickening knobs at the base. Spines at first bright brown and later gray.

Flower: The flower is up to 23 centimeters long, ovaries 2,2 centimeters in diameter, with white and brown hairs and brown sepals that are up to 10 centimeters long. The Flowers are white. Trichocereus taquimbalensis is a day-flowering species.

Germination

The gold standard of seed germination would be the takeaway tek, it’s easy and relatively foolproof as long as you sterilise the tub and don’t drown your seeds.

Here is a link to the most up-to-date Takeaway Tek: Takeaway Tek

It is always recommended to clean the seeds before sowing as bacteria and/or mold could attach to the seeds in transit. What I do is wash the seeds in h2o2 for 20 seconds and then sow, you can use a coffee filter to hold the seeds.

Another way would be to soak the seeds for 24 hours in spring water with a splash of h2o2 3%, this is supposed to increase the germination rate but I have not tried this method before.

NOTE: The addon substrate option is quite expensive, the reason I do this is that I have to send the order as a small parcel instead of a large letter.

Origin

Found on dry slopes between 2800 to 3100 meters in Taquimbala province, Bolivia, and Cochabamba.

Synonyms

• Echinopsis tacaquirensis subs. taquimbalensis
• Echinopsis taquimbalensis
• Trichocereus taquimbalensis