bongoman

I have a bunch of psychotria viridis leaf cuttings that are well rooted but yet to send up new growth. I'm a little concerned about my ability to get them through a northern NSW (coastal) winter. Maybe a small greenhouse is needed? Bunnings sell small plastic - enclosed greenhouses that might keep humidity up sufficiently?

Thanks for the responses. Following M.S.Smith's advice re the relative thickness of the vascular core, it's really clear now which is the right way up to plant these cuttings. My initial hunch was correct, but looking at the core at each end makes it foolproof. In the attached image, all three cuttings have the end with the thicker core at the bottom of the pic.

If I have some long (45cm) cuttings of trich. bridgesii, I understand I need to plant them the correct way up. I'm having a little trouble determining which way is up, but if I am correct, the primary spine in each cluster tends to point downwards in a bridge? That is, the larger spines tend to point to the ground rather than up?

Thanks! I might try both ways, I have enough pieces to experiment a little here. I realise that if going vertical, the cutting needs to be planted the right way up and I found this guide to pachanoi's here: http://www.sacredcactus.com/logbuds/index16.htm and guess I can figure it out with a bridgesii.

I have a few central cuts from some bridgesii—they are not growing tips, and aren't huge, about 10-15cm long and and half that in diameter. I'm wanting to propagate them this coming growing season and am wondering if it is best to do by planting vertically or horizontally? Many thanks

Yes, great advice, thanks the joy of gardening for me is the process you describe. I just feel lost at sea with cactus but am enjoying the learning.

I've wondered if there's roots there and assumed there must be because of the green tip that's fattening up past the etiolated portion. They are bone dry at present. So hold off watering for another month or so?

So cut off the etiolated tips and propagate them? And the base will then pup?

I've got a couple of cuttings that I'm trying to propagate. After they calloused over I placed them in cactus mix, supported. I'm noticing they are "pinched" at the growing tip and not sure how to interpret this or the way forward with these specimens. I'm on the NSW north coast and am wondering how much water they should get, how much sun etc and how to manage them going forward as spring comes and the weather warms up. I know these are basic questions and hope it's OK to ask such questions here.

Thanks for the replies. I've cut them below the lowest point of damage on each column and have kept aside some nice damage free segments to propagate. I'm letting them callous over in a shady, drafty location. I've pulled the rooted bases out of the sun for now too and will keep them dry until they heal over and the weather gets warmer here. Thanks for the advice.

My neighbour's daughter got into my cactus collection with a pair of secateurs and chopped the tips of the five cactus I had growing. I was pretty upset about but now need to decide how to deal with it. A couple are already looking pretty soft — it had been raining here (nsw nth coast) before I even noticed the damage and so they got wet on the open cuts and are looking soft and mushy, not good. I'm thinking of maybe harvesting them all — I've had these for a few years and maybe it is time to chop to salvage them. But I wanted to ask about other possible options. Even if I do chop them, can I keep the bases growing? Any clues on this would be appreciated.

OK, I realise my initial question was inappropriate. I'm more than happy for the thread to be deleted and in fact hope the mods do so. I have a lot of respect for the forum and members here and really don't want to create waves.

Yeah, I suppose it's a dumb question. I think I was hoping that there might have been some sort of grey zone around the issue.

Does anyone have a clear idea on the legality of importing dried cactus tissue that would contain alkaloids that in their pure form, would be scheduled substances?

Thanks. So I've just cut the scaled top of the sick cactus, left the pups in place for now and will try and root the cut top vertically.