Propagation Of Cacti By Lateral Cuttings And Tops

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

One of the easiest and fastest ways to propagate your favorite cacti is to grow plants from cuttings. He helps out in cases when especially valuable varieties or hybrids are propagated in order to get a copy without splitting the maternal traits. Also, this method is an option for those varieties that do not form seeds

Features of the selection and preparation of cuttings

Not every cactus stalk will be equally good for propagation. The most suitable are ripe lateral shoots, as well as tops. When the top of the plant is used as a cutting, then experts advise sharpening the lower cut like a pencil - this contributes to the formation of roots from the cambial ring.

You also need to be smart about determining the location of the cut of the cutting. It can be about 6 to 20 cm long, and it is recommended to cut it in the narrowest part of the shoot so that the wound is as small as possible. In leafy cacti, instead of whole shoots, a piece of a leaf is taken for reproduction.

You need to cut the stalk with a very sharp tool. A thin knife or a safety razor blade is suitable for this. The instrument must be disinfected. This can be done with alcohol. It is also easy to disinfect the blade by igniting it over a fire.

After the stalk is cut off, you need to process the edge of it. In this case, you need to have charcoal powder on hand. And for those specimens that secrete milky juice with cuts, blot the cut with paper.

Drying cuttings: which cacti can do without it?

Many cactus lovers know that before planting cuttings for rooting, they should be dried. However, this rule is not true for everyone. In particular, immediately after cutting, they start rooting cuttings of such domestic varieties as zygocactus, epiphyllum, ripsalis, peyrescia.

Other indoor cacti are left in the air for two or three days beforehand. During this time, a dry film should appear at the cut site. Then the drying process takes place. It lasts about 2 weeks. At the same time, it was noticed that rooting is more successful if, during drying, the cuttings were stored in an upright position. The fact that the drying process can be completed is indicated by the state of the cut of the cutting - its surface should become hard to the touch and glassy.

Planting a cutting for rooting

For rooting, the pot is filled with a mixture of sand and crushed coal. For the prepared cutting, make a small depression on the surface of the substrate and carefully install the planting material into it. You can also use expanded clay for rooting.

After that, the stalk is hidden under a glass jar. Once a day, this homemade greenhouse is ventilated. The fact that the stalk can be freed from shelter altogether will be signaled by the noticeable growth rate of the cactus.

Rooting takes different times for different species. For some varieties, this process lasts only one and a half to two weeks, while for others it takes up to a month or more.

Some rare specimens that are afraid of damage during transplantation after rooting can be planted immediately on a pillow with soil. For this, the bottom of the pot is first lined with drainage material and then filled with a suitable soil mixture. For the cutting, a hole is made in the soil about 3 cm deep, and about twice as wide as the diameter of the planting material. It is filled with coarse sand. Then a planting hole is made in the sand for the cutting. A peg is first stuck into it, and then a cactus is placed next to it and gently pressed with sand. The plant is tied to a support. If you do this in reverse order, the peg can scratch the cactus, and the plant will rot at the site of damage.