Gordita basically means small fat. It is a perfect name for this cactus. According to the tag, Gordita is supposed to be Mark Albert’s #10 x (SS02 x Berkely Botanical Gardens Pachanoi). That seed lot throws a tremendous amount of variation, but Gordita is so far outside the brackets morphologically that I suspect there may have been a mix up. It may very well be MA scop #9 x Juul’s or MA scop #10 x Juuls.
Gordita is extremely blocky, rarely varying from having flat sides. Typical growth is 6 ribbed and sometimes 7. The original seedling had 7 ribs and was still very blocky, which is what caught my eye in the first place. I point it out as interesting when very small still in one or two early videos. Flat sides in high rib count trichocereus is unusual. Typically, the fewer ribs the more they have goovy sides instead of flattened sides. The diameter of gordita is on the smaller side, thus the diminutive part of the name.
Gordita has some very real downsides One problem is that she is fairly prone to fungal rust. A related problem is cracking if given too much water. Blowing up is more like it sometimes. I’ve had pups blow all apart in the winter rains and just rot. sometimes they survive, but it is a real problem. I let one in a large pot get rained on in mid fall, then moved it inside. I didn’t water it anymore and it still busted open leaving large cracks. In the summer I can water it a lot because it is constantly loosing water. The way rust is related to that, is that the pups will get rust in the vertical grooves between ribs and in the grooves above the areoles which weakens them, making them crack even more easily.
Gordita is something else. My friend said he thought it might be the most beautiful cactus he’s seen. Chubby chasers aside, it is pretty impressive. I’m not one to pamper plants. I throw them into whatever regular conditions there are and hope they make it. My main interest in Gordita is as a breeding parent to work toward consistently flat sided clones. If grown in a pot, it is easy to control the cracking issue by just not over watering. Outside, I don’t think anyone will be happy with the results.
Availability is limited since I’m not growing a lot of it due to its premadonna nature.
I know right? So satisfyingly symmetric. Why do you have to be such a high maintenance premadonna Gordy? Maybe her offspring will be more tough and ready for outdoor life.
