42-year-old cactus finds new home with Seneca FFA

SENECA, Ill. — Seneca High School’s FFA has a new desert plant to care for after Joe and Judy Szafranski’s 43-year-old, nearly 9-foot-tall cactus outgrew their home.

They bought the cactus for $2 on their second date nearly 44 years ago at the former K-Mart in Ottawa.

At that time, the cactus was about an inch and a half tall. The last time the couple measured the cactus, it reached 8-feet, 11-inches tall.

The cactus is now where the Szafranskis’ grandchildren can interact with it.

The plant has survived four decades, including some inclement weather.

“One summer, the cactus got to be about 6 feet tall and we’d left it out on the porch,” the grandfather said.

“A really strong wind blew it over and broke it in half and we tried to save both halves, but the bottom half, for some reason, well, I guess you could say it bled to death. The water kept coming out and out and finally it just died.”

The top half of the cactus is the one that’s potted now and sitting in the ag shop at Seneca High School.

Szafranski said he thinks the cactus would have reached about 14 feet tall otherwise.

“It’s got this heavy pot, too,” said Seneca senior Bryce Roe. “The pot had to weigh like 200 pounds and the cactus is already pretty heavy as it is.”

While transferring it, Roe and fellow senior Zack Sulzberger wrapped the cactus in jackets and overalls to keep the cactus’s prickles from sticking them while loading it onto the back of a trailer.

On the trailer, the students built a cone-like structure to anchor the cactus in place before running three straps over the pot. They also used two-by-four pieces of wood to keep the cactus upright.

Sulzberger said once the cactus was on the trailer, it was up to them to get it across town to the high school without it toppling over.

He said he’d be surprised if the truck went faster than 15 mph on the trip. Any faster could have caused the plant to tip over.

Addysen Applebee, a Seneca freshman and the Szafranskis’ granddaughter, said this past summer the cactus grew so big it wouldn’t fit through the backdoor and they knew if the plant was left outdoors that frost would get to it.

“It’s special because their grandchildren will all go through the Seneca ag department and see the cactus over the next couple of years,” Applebee said.

Roe said taking care of a cactus is going to be a learning project for them because it’s not the same as the succulents people collect as a hobby. Caring for the senita cactus will take a bit of research.

Seneca agriculture teacher Cally Diss said she’ll be planning a miniature unit on cactus care for her classes to garner tips on how to keep it alive.

Szafranski said the difficult part about caring for the cactus is making sure it’s inside during the winter months and making sure it stays dry when it rains in the summer.

He said he and his wife have watered it once every two weeks and the cactus can live a long time.

They have another cactus purchased about 20 years ago that’s more wide than it is round. It’s a little bit larger than a beach ball.