Taking and Rooting Cuttings [San Pedro Cactus Wiki]

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====== Taking and Rooting Cuttings ======

Sometimes you may buy an unrooted cutting. You may also want to cut off a column to propagate, or need to take a cut due to rot, disease, instability, or wind.

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//Chamfers applied to stumps after cuts were taken//
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===== Taking a cut =====

If you can choose when to take a cut, try to do it when the column is healthy, well hydrated, fed, and the weather is nice - taking a cut during very wet or cold conditions can increase chances of infection. If you can, try to make as large of cuts as you can, which will reduce chances of [[:virology:e:etiolation|etiolation]] during the rooting phase. When cutting, sterilize the knife with alcohol before and after each cut to prevent spreading disease. If you're cutting rot away, inspect the inside of the cut and if there are dark or discolored parts of the inner flesh, resterilize and cut more. I recommend chamfering the top side of cuts or cutting at an angle - as it dries, the wet flesh will shrink in, and a flat cut will turn into a bowl shape that will hold water and lead to rot. Immediately after cutting while the ends are still wet you can optionally apply powdered sulfur to the cut end to protect from disease and rot, and/or apply powdered rooting hormone to the side that will be rooted which can greatly speed the rooting process. A "Powder Spray Bottle" is a very handy powder application tool that minimizes waste and excess sulfur application which can acidify soil and damage healthy plant skin. Note that you may occasionally see cinnamon recommended as an alternative to sulphur to apply to cut ends, but this is **not recommended** as it can cause more issues than it solves. Cinnamon traps in moisture while sulphur dries the ends out. Let cuttings callous by putting them somewhere in shade, dry, with good airflow. In front of a fan can do the job quickly. After about two weeks there should be a light tan scab over the cut, then it's ready to try to root. If you purchased a cutting, it should have arrived calloused and none of the above should apply.


===== Rooting a cutting =====

Rooting is tied both to growing temperature range and also to moisture exposure. The idea is to tease roots out with some very light water exposure but not to let the end sit soggy or damp for long which will rot it. There are a few ways to do it - you can put it cut end down in some porous inorganic, very lightly water it every so often. You can set the cut on top of some mixed substrate and stake the cut up - you wouldn't want to water it much using this method. Or you could just plant it in a permanent pot and soil mix and water it extremely sparingly for a long time. It's safe to withhold all water until you see the column start to shrivel or wrinkle, at which time it's fine to give it a little. If it's rooted you may see it plump a bit which would indicate its roots are taking up water. I don't recommend burying cuts too deeply because the more green flesh below the surface, the higher the chances of rot.

== Which end goes up? ==

Look for notches over areoles. Seagulls over growholes.

== Log style rooting ==

Its possible to root cuttings on their sides. These plants produce a rooting hormone internally that very slowly internally pools downward with gravity and eventually they will sprout roots out of whichever direction is down. For this reason its a good idea to try not to leave cuts stored on their sides long term before trying to root them. Pups and new growth out of existing tips will also always grow upward. Log style planting can take a long time to root, but once the cut gets pumping it will push a lot of total growth and be very stable.

== Watching them grow ==

After potting your cuts, do not pull them up to check on their rooting progress. This will disturb the rooting process and delay root growth, or if you do have new roots it will damage them. If you really must check, instead place a couple fingers near the tip and try to very gently wiggle it side to side. Resistance indicates new roots are grabbing the soil. Watch for signs of rooting. At first your cutting may continue to grow even though it does not have roots. If the total cut size is less than a few feet, it may etiolate as it pushes this new growth out without enough energy uptake to maintain the previous growths girth. At some point, you may see the column shrivel and look very thirsty. This typically happens right before it pushes out new roots. This is a good time to start watering very lightly - only so much as will dry within a day or less. Vertical growth may stall or stop for a few months as the plant directs all of its growth energy into developing a new root system.