I came back recently from south america with new friends and i'd like to make their life easy and happy. I have 2 cutting (~40cm) and a pup and i want to grow them.

All of them waiting for roots. 1 cutting, lets call him Umberto, is in clay beads, the other, called Katinka, and the pup, named Niño, are in perlite.

Niño, the pup, surprise me cause after less than 1 week, he grew roots. I guess he's ready and i can put him in ground or should i wait more ?

Niño



Katinka and Umberto had a rough trip, they spend 3 weeks in my luggage which is not a hard one, so they underwent lots of shocks (busses, planes and mototaxi). Katinka is the one who suffered the most and i worry a bit about rotten tips because they seems to be soft and i could see traces of leak in perlite. Until now, i don't see black spots so i wait. Is it ok, or sould i cut it shorter ?

Katinka


I guess the bright green shows Katinka is growing but no sign of roots growing yet. What do i do, put her outside progressivly to get used of the sun light or still keep her inside ?


About Umberto, he's in clay beads cause i got no more perlite. Is it ok for rooting or sould i change it as fast as possible ?

Umberto



Happy day folks


edit : humm... i don't understand why images don't show. Help !

Fixed up your images

Hi DansMaTete,

You're on the right track!

The one with roots, you could probably pot that one and give it a light watering. For soil, I use 50% potting soil and 50% pumice (or perilite though pumice is much better in my opinion). Sometimes I throw in a decent hand full of worm castings and/or burn egg shells (for calcium).

The tip of Katinka looks great. I would not cut it off. Does the cut end look fully dried and healthy? Are there brown, purple, or redish spots? If so then you may want to re-cut the end and dry it. Dusting cuts with sulfur powder greatly reduces the chances of infection.

For Umberto, the expanded clay should be a great rooting medium. It is biologically inert like perilite which greatly reduces the chances of rot.

Keep us posted with how they do!

And those are some beautiful cacti, excellent choices!


wap

Thanks Dreamer084/2, i understand now




When i said the tip i was thinking the cut end (me bad english ) and yes, i can see black spots soft and leaking so i gonna re-cut it but i don't think i can find sulfur powder on my island but iirc i read somewhere in nexus you can use cinnamon powder, is it true ?

Thanks for your advices wap !

hmmmm, I've heard that about cinnamon powder as well.

Are there any garden stores on your island? Sulfur powder is a very common plant chemical. It's commonly used to battle powdery mildews, fungus, and other infections.

If you can't find sulfur powder, and I'm assuming you're on a tropical island with high humidity, you might try putting the fresh cut under a fan. This can greatly speed up the drying process but you risk over-drying the cutting if it was originally cut a while ago.

I hope this helps,
wap

EDIT: also if you're on a tropical island, you might want to increase the drainage of your soil by using something like 60-70% pumice or perilite in your soil mix.

I did cut it (blade cleaned with ethanol) already and i did put it under a fan flow. It looks good now.
How long, do you think, should i wait before to put it in perlite to root ?

My soil mix is vermiculite-perlite-sand-soil 20-20-30-30% and some marble crushed.

You'r right, this is a tropical island and the garden stores are not well-stocked but i have to check again.

Thanks !

Well, I usually wait quite a while when potting cuttings, 3 weeks to a month.

It's more a matter of how dry and hard the scab feels to the touch. If your soil mixture is truly bone-dry you could put it in earlier though.

Your soil mix seems fine for a tropical island but I'm really not 100% sure. I live in a desert. I typically don't use vermiculite in Trich soil mixes so I'm not really sure about that. In my opinion, I'd replace the vermiculite with soil. You're probably going to have to fertilize quite often as Trichs really love higher Nitrogen content than most other cacti.

For the most part, as long as the cacti doesn't rot, you're in good shape. Preventing rot should be your #1 concern.

Also, if you're on a volcanic island, small cinders are a good replacement for pumice or perilite.


wap

After more than 2 month : all of them (Umberto, Katinka & niño) are well rooted and growing but i have questions (problems ?).

First, just contemplate (yes, i'm proud of them ) :


Ok, they are a bit etiolated but i'm still looking for the right spot for them = not too much direct tropical sun (i don't like the pale green color they get) but enough to avoid etiolation.

My main fear is a black spot on Umberto. First (10 days ago), i noticed a black round spot (5mm diametre) but i didn't freak out cause i read it can happen in tropical area (heat&humidity) and few days after i saw it was corking so i though he's healing by himself but, in fact, the black part progresses slowly and corking follows (now, 1cm diametre). I don't think it's mold because it's not soft and it seems to be on surface but is it dangerous and if so, what can i do ?


Could it be that I have too watered the last 2 weeks ?