Photography Class Saguaro Shoot

Our photography class drove about 50 minutes south of Payson to the Sonoran Desert/Four Peaks area to photograph cactus.

Saguaros are the largest cactus in the U.S. They are pretty amazing in that they live for 150-200 years.
In their first year they grow only about 1/2 "......we have some in our greenhouse. They reach about a foot in 15 years. Ten feet in 40-50 years and 12-20 feet in 75-100 years when the arm buds usually appear.

The desert was a comfortable 68 degrees and it was green due to recent precipitation....even some snow.

This is a Cholla (CHOY-uh) plant. Native Americans eat the flower buds after steaming them. There is a class at the Desert Botanical Gardens on harvesting and cooking Cholla buds...the ultimate experience in eating local!

Young saguaros cannot survive either the heat of the desert sun or trampling. They usually grow under a "nurse" plant, such as a creosote bush or a paloverde tree. Spines on the stems of the older plants provide shade to the trunk.

After a rain, the accordion-like pleats of a saguaro expand as it draws up water with its shallow roots, which often sprawl over a 50 foot radius. A mature plant may soak up to 200 gallons of water during a rainstorm. During droughts the saguaro becomes slim again.

Once saguaros reach a height of about 8 feet, the first flower buds appear. Flowers smell like ripe melon, and attract bees and other insects during the daytime, and bats and moths at night. Full-grown saguaros produce at least 100 fruits in a season. In July, when mature, the fruits split open, revealing their scarlet linings, deep red pulp, and up to 2,000 tiny, jet-black seeds.

Pulp and seeds provide food for birds, small rodents, harvester ants, and other insects. Fruit and seeds are used by Native Americans for food. The wooden ribs of dead plants are used for shelters, knick-knacks, hiking sticks, and corrals. Woodpeckers drill holes in saguaros for nest sites, where in summer the inside temperature is 30 degrees lower than the outside air. The injured saguaro lines the woodpecker hole with scar tissue, producing a boot-shaped structure. These "boots" are used by nesting elf owls and other birds.