Cactaceae, Australia, Africa, Ornamental-flowering, Europe, Cactus, Cactaceae, Cacti, Houseplants, Perennials, Reproduction, Scattered Sunlight, Specialized Soil, Subtropical

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

If you want to get or propagate a certain type of cactus that cannot be grown from seeds, or quickly become the owner of an already mature rare plant, graft it.

As cuttings of cacti, lateral shoots, tops, cut into pieces the stalks of the cereus, individual papillae of mammillaria, unripe fruits of some prickly pears, peyresian leaves with pieces of areoles are used. The most suitable period for grafting is late spring or early summer. But if you wish and a stable temperature in the room, you can try to do this in winter. Indeed, sometimes (in particular with plant diseases) it is necessary to cut the cuttings at other times of the year.

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The cut must be made smooth. The cuttings should not be woody (except for peyresseys), green and healthy, showing signs of growth. Healthy, not wilted, take root faster and better.

The place of cut of cuttings in cacti is chosen depending on the species. But there is a general rule - to injure the plant as little as possible. Therefore, it is better to cut the stalk at the place of greatest narrowing, where it is attached to the mother plant (like in Cereus, Echinocactus, prickly pears).

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Places of cuts are dried with filter paper (which is especially important for mammillaria that produce sticky milk juice) and sprinkled with sulfur or charcoal powder. After cutting, the mother plant is turned with a wound to the sun, and the cuttings are placed vertically in a dry, ventilated and shaded place for 5-7 days.

When a glassy film appears on the cuttings, they start rooting. The soil must be disinfected before planting or transplanting indoor plants. It is advisable to use the following method: place an open container with damp earth in a larger container filled with hot water. Close the lid tightly and put on fire. Boil water for 10 minutes, then remove from heat. After 15-20 minutes, remove the smaller container with earth. Thus, the soil mixture is well disinfected. The cuttings are placed in a box with a glass lid or in a clay pot, which is covered with a glass jar on top.

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Before planting the cuttings, the hole in the bottom of the box or pot is covered with a shard, drainage is placed, then a layer (about 2 cm) of sandy-leafy-peat soil is poured, and on top is well-fried sand with small pieces of charcoal. All this is lightly tamped and moisturized. Cuttings are dropped into the sand by 0.5-1 cm (with the exception of prickly pears, in which the roots are formed from the lateral areoles). Tall thin or heavy cuttings, for example, cereus, epiphyllums are tied to pegs.

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After planting the cuttings, the sand is slightly moistened. For successful rooting of cuttings, warm, dry air and, if possible, heating from below are needed. After 7-10 days, that is, at the beginning of rooting, you can start watering and spraying.

In autumn and winter, cacti should be checked more often than in summer and spring for rot. When the lower part of the cactus is affected by cactus late blight (putrefactive fungus), the upper healthy part is cut off and rooted or grafted. If rot appears at the top, it is cut off, and the lower part of the plant, giving shoots, is used as a mother plant.

Lateral rot is cut out to healthy tissue with a surgical spoon so that the slope of the cut is directed downward and outward.

© JRErickson