I was told by a friend that he has seen some internet content where a guy was cutting his cacti after a certain height every time a new pup is formed. Apparently the mother cacti was pupping quite symmetrically and thus he achieved a pretty funny structure of its plant.

Actually besides looking funny, I could imagine that would be a pretty nice plant to harvest cuttings, as it is simply all generated from 1 single origin plant.

Here is a link to a video:

https://reddit.com/r/sanpedrocactus/s/5ybixF25zS

Picture is attached. Have you seen something like this? It looks totally awkward while fascinating and funny at the same time.

I have read in the small/old san pedro cultivation book by patrick noll (here on nexus as a download I think?) that you can add certain ground plant powder (dont remember actual plant) to your cacti and it will start pupping more frequently due to some hormones or similar in this other plants powder. But it was told that it could backfire and new pups being fairly etiolated (not sure if it then would be the correct term) or in other words 10 pups instead of 1, but also with only 1/10 of the mass, which would result in a pretty bad growth. Apparently it is not happening with this particular examle or the owner does not even use this powder, which would question me if that growth would be normal?

Cheers and happy friday evening

The hormone you are looking is B.A.P which meana benzylaminopurine, an auxine that increases branching in plants. It is applied in mixed with lanolin as a paste. You can buy it or prepare for yourself..B.A.P also is in minimun quantity..like 1% of the paste or less.

Other easy way to induce pupping is using human urine..but reduced with some water around 1/3 urine or less. This way is less exact cause pups will appear in random lplaces...with BAP you select the areoles and then apply the paste in them.

Is true that an exceass of BAP is bad cause two much pups mean less size for them...same as happens with cannabis if you use BAP to promote branching.

I have seen that candelabra cactus in reddit sometimes..that grower did a great job..maybe the cactus developed the pups in the correct places , or he used BAP in a very efficient way. Anyway this result can be obtained without hormones for sure

Nachooo; the pupping with diluted urine - is that applied to a specific area of the plant, drenched onto the whole stem, or used for watering the pot? One of my specimens pups from the roots fairly readily but I have not identified the specific triggering factor since not all cuttings of it have pupped. They all get fed with undiluted urine in roughly equal measure.

I've seen coconut water mentioned in this context too; again trials were inconclusive.

One more thing I'll do is check my records for the length of buried stem as this the other main factor that springs to mind.

The diluted urine is used for watering the pot. I have used it with some TBMs ahort and long, the both. I did about 3 waterings and it worked..after months the TBM long finally got a new pup and the short ones did it quicker than usual. Seems that ammonia in the urine is what induce the pups.

Planted some Eileen x SS02 seeds a year ago and about 30% of them started to put from the base when half year old.. Some even with 5 pups at the same time...I wonder why...the rest that never produced pups were growing in the same conditions...probably natural auxines play a role..but I dont know how they work in this case..

Maybe as you said pups develop better if the stem and areoles are buried...could be..

Fertilizers with kelp have lot of natural auxines so probably using them will promote pups a lot.

Great thanks - I'll try chucking a bit of kelp on too!

I swear by urine fertilizer. For a longtime i have not diluted it and have never harmed an established cactus. I've said this before but do it at your plants risk. Cheap way to keep them growing strong.

Aaah thanks yes this was the stuff from the book that i read.

Also on the urine fertilization: It sounds not very logical as cacti fertilizer is always low on nitrogen, but also I heard from a friend who used bat shit (easily collected where bats live) and it was crazily effective. So this one would be also super high on N I guess?


Can a mod please migrate this thread over to cactus cultivation? I was not too sober and placed it in cannabis instead.

I do some weird shit to my cacti that's for sure however if my significant other came home to me pissing on my plants she would most certainly pull me up on it!

Yeah, best if you keep the pee-treated plants outdoors - my greenhouse stinks a bit atm!


Pro tip - pee in a watering can for discretion.