Trichocereus lobivioides seedlings     4/22/22
This is a nice illustration of competition among plants, specifically cacti. When I transplanted them into these four pots, they were all about the same size, quite like the small plants in the foreground of the left front pot. What happened is that some of these plants actually have a more efficient root system than others. Typically, it can be something as simple as having many more roots than their seed batch mates. This means that they can take up water and nutrients more rapidly than the others, and they will get big faster, etc. This is probably not the end of the story. The big plants are the winners when being watered and fed by a loving cactus nut. Should the cactus nut die, it's quite possible that the now stunted plants will do better in neglect. Keeping cacti can cause the invention of all kinds of stories.   (31/40)   

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