GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Resuscitating a neglected indoor cactus

David Hill · 06-03-2016, 05:08 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

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