I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it
still has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant
and two branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would
this be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit
you want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and
then plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

--
Chris Green
·

On Sat, 05 Mar 2016 16:55:17 +0000, cl wrote:

I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it still
has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant and two
branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would this
be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit you
want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and then
plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

Depends, but I've had reasonable success breaking off the side bits,
letting them dry for a bit (days not weeks), then potting them up.

I haven't used any special compost, and our cacti are living outside in
pots all year and generally being brutally mistreated.

If the main plant has gone brown at the bottom it may be on the way out,
but then again it might just have a brown bottom.

Let it be, give it a bit of water, see how it goes.

Allegedly if the top is alive and the bottom is dead you can cut the top
off and propagate that.
I've never tried this, however.

Cheers

Dave R

--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

On 05/03/16 16:55, wrote:
I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it
still has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant
and two branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would
this be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit
you want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and
then plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

As a rule, most cacti will readily root from a cutting where the end has
been allowed to callous. However, when you "plant" the calloused end it
should be in dry sand, not ordinary compost. When roots have formed,
which can take several weeks, the cactus can be removed from the sand
and planted in dry cactus compost. Leave it to settle down for a few
days and then water - sparingly at first.

--

Jeff

wrote in message ...

I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it
still has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant
and two branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would
this be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit
you want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and
then plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.


The old cactus I was given rotted off at the base a couple of decades ago. I
washed and scrubbed out all the rot, dried it carefully, and left it to
callous over for a couple of weeks then potted it into dry sandy compost.
Didn't water for a month or so then gradually introduced moisture and when
it had obviously rooted started the usual watering system. It has flowered
every year for some years now.

ps. I don't water mine in the winter at all, only start when the weather
starts to warm up a bit and it immediately comes into flower.

--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

David wrote:
On Sat, 05 Mar 2016 16:55:17 +0000, cl wrote:

I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it still
has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant and two
branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would this
be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit you
want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and then
plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

Depends, but I've had reasonable success breaking off the side bits,
letting them dry for a bit (days not weeks), then potting them up.

I haven't used any special compost, and our cacti are living outside in
pots all year and generally being brutally mistreated.

If the main plant has gone brown at the bottom it may be on the way out,
but then again it might just have a brown bottom.

Let it be, give it a bit of water, see how it goes.

Allegedly if the top is alive and the bottom is dead you can cut the top
off and propagate that.
I've never tried this, however.

Yes, that last is what I was going to try.

--
Chris Green
·

Jeff Layman wrote:
On 05/03/16 16:55, wrote:
I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it
still has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant
and two branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would
this be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit
you want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and
then plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

As a rule, most cacti will readily root from a cutting where the end has
been allowed to callous. However, when you "plant" the calloused end it
should be in dry sand, not ordinary compost. When roots have formed,
which can take several weeks, the cactus can be removed from the sand
and planted in dry cactus compost. Leave it to settle down for a few
days and then water - sparingly at first.

Sounds hopeful, OK, thanks.

--
Chris Green
·

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 5 Mar 2016 16:55:17 +0000, wrote:

I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it
still has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant
and two branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would
this be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit
you want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and
then plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

As others have said, it's relatively easy if you let the cut surface
dry and callous for a couple of days before setting it in sand (I tend
to keep my sand very slightly damp, but I emphasise 'very slightly').

However, if the lower part of the cactus has actually rotted and the
flesh has gone brown and squashy inside, when you cut off the upper
part, make sure there's no sign of any brown flesh still present, as
that will just continue the rotting process up through the remainder.
Keep cutting slices off the bottom of your 'cutting' until you reach
clean flesh, and then cut off a bit more just to be sure. Wash the
knife in very dilute bleach to sterilise it between cuts otherwise you
risk perpetuating the infection.

I think it's brown from dryness rather than rotted but I will check.
Neglected in this case means "hasn't been watered for years".

Thanks all.

--
Chris Green
·

On 06/03/2016 13:11, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 6 Mar 2016 10:13:30 +0000, wrote:

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 5 Mar 2016 16:55:17 +0000, wrote:

I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it
still has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant
and two branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would
this be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit
you want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and
then plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

As others have said, it's relatively easy if you let the cut surface
dry and callous for a couple of days before setting it in sand (I tend
to keep my sand very slightly damp, but I emphasise 'very slightly').

However, if the lower part of the cactus has actually rotted and the
flesh has gone brown and squashy inside, when you cut off the upper
part, make sure there's no sign of any brown flesh still present, as
that will just continue the rotting process up through the remainder.
Keep cutting slices off the bottom of your 'cutting' until you reach
clean flesh, and then cut off a bit more just to be sure. Wash the
knife in very dilute bleach to sterilise it between cuts otherwise you
risk perpetuating the infection.

I think it's brown from dryness rather than rotted but I will check.
Neglected in this case means "hasn't been watered for years".

Thanks all.

Some cacti develop a sort of light brown crust that covers lower parts
of the 'stem'. Not sure why, but it's harmless if a little unsightly
IME, and nothing like rot, which is pretty easy to identify. For a
start, if the cactus is/was upright and cylindrical, it will almost
certainly start to sag over because the rotted bit has no strength or
rigidity.

I'd have thought that by now someone would have asked for a pic of the
offending cactus

On 06/03/2016 10:11, wrote:
David wrote:
On Sat, 05 Mar 2016 16:55:17 +0000, cl wrote:

I have a very neglected indoor cactus, the cylindrical type I suppose
you'd call it. The 'root end' looks very dead and brown but it still
has three fairly healthy looking green ends, one the main plant and two
branches.

It seems that cacti are fairly easy to propagate as cuttings, would this
be likely to work with this one? I gather one has to cut the bit you
want to propagate off, leave it to form a callous over the cut and then
plant the calloused end.

Any/all advice welcome.

Depends, but I've had reasonable success breaking off the side bits,
letting them dry for a bit (days not weeks), then potting them up.

I haven't used any special compost, and our cacti are living outside in
pots all year and generally being brutally mistreated.

If the main plant has gone brown at the bottom it may be on the way out,
but then again it might just have a brown bottom.

Let it be, give it a bit of water, see how it goes.

Allegedly if the top is alive and the bottom is dead you can cut the top
off and propagate that.
I've never tried this, however.

Yes, that last is what I was going to try.

A picture is worth a thousand words here. Some cylindrical cacti do go
corky and brown at the base since their ultimate form is tree like.

I have had to chop the top off some of mine that exceeded greenhouse
height after about 40 years of growth. A good clean cut and enough time
for the wound to callous and at this time of year they should root OK -
box cutter knives or unsafe razor blades are ideal for this.

If the base is healthy then new shoots will emerge from the cut end.
Indeed one way to force rare species to throw pups is to drill out the
growing point after grafting onto a specialist fast root stock!

I recommend John Innes No2 cut with equal parts of 3-5mm grit for
drainage. That way the plant gets a nice free draining airy compost.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown