Golden Barrel

A neighbor just gave us a golden barrel cactus that he no longer wanted. That baby is 22 inches across and was a bit difficult to get it home and set. Cool, though.

That does really sound cool. If it is 22 inches across now, how big does it get? And how did you get it home?

I'm not sure how big they can get. This is the biggest I've seen. My neighbor had it growing in a half-barrel. The barrel was rotting away, so the guys pried it off and took the dirt off the roots. Then we rolled it onto a large rug, pulled the rug into a wheel barrow laid on its side and then pushed the wheel barrow upright. Luckily he doesn't live far away so my husband wheeled it home, we dug a hole, laid the wheelbarrow down again and dragged the rug out then rolled the cactus into the hole. Of course we got the cactus turned the wrong way so we covered it with the rug and, with a lot of strain, turned it in the hole. Did I mention that the spines are really sharp? And there's LOTS of them on a cactus that size.

We hadn't realized we were going to be moving it right then and we both had on sandals. I had visions of that thing rolling right across a sandaled foot. Owwweee, luckily we kept our feet out of the way but even leather gloves don't keep the stickers out.

I found some info on this cactus. This is from the page at Arizona State University's website: "Large cylindrical cacti with prominent ribs and thorns. Grows very slowly to a height of 2-4 ft. and to 2-1/2 ft. wide. Golden yellow 7" spines on ribs. Yellow flowers in spring followed by small rounded to oblong yellow fruits."

Go here to see the rest of the info :

http://www.fm.asu.edu/plantlist/goldenbarrel.htm

Judy, I envy your new cactus. My neighbor started some regular barrel cactus from seed and gave me one...it is only about as big as your fist...and will take years to reach the size of yours. Jo

roadrunner,

My husband had been down the street helping Jack, our neighbor, and when he came back he told me about this cactus. He mentioned to Jack that I wanted to come and see it, and Jack said "Do you want it? I need to get it out of here". That was a surprise. Those things get expensive. We had just bought a small one for $15. This big one had a pup that we removed before we moved the big one. I've planted it beside the big one. There was also a tiny one that had started from seed, I don't know if it's a barrel or not. It's hard to tell when they are so little.

I think your fist-sized one will be big before you know it. Those guys really take off when they get some water.

The spines look extremely trecherous! What a really cool plant though.

Judy....I made a mistake in posting that it was a barrel...it is a fish hook! I plead old age! LOL Would still love to meet you some time...I'm only in Phoenix if we have to meet someone there at the airport....but come down sometime...I'll get sqwidgetz and farizona together and we'll have a good time. Jo

roadrunner, Thanks for the invite, though I probably won't be down your way.

Another thing, roadrunner, there is a fish hook barrel cactus. That's probably what you have. Does it have large red hooks on it?

Yes, Judy...ratehr it wil have when it grows a little. Thanks. JO