How long should cuttings take to root?

[spacedracula]

Hi all,

just wondering if i could pick yuour collective brains. Picked up a few nice midsection cuts from an old pach a few weeks back, already calloused up. Not sure how soon roots should be dropping though, have had them planted for nearly three weeks now and theres no sign of 'em.

Ive got them in a nice shady spot, in nice dry soil, with a little rooting powder on the cut to stop mould.

any hints for me?

cheers!

[XipeTotec]

Hi all,

just wondering if i could pick yuour collective brains. Picked up a few nice midsection cuts from an old pach a few weeks back, already calloused up. Not sure how soon roots should be dropping though, have had them planted for nearly three weeks now and theres no sign of 'em.

Ive got them in a nice shady spot, in nice dry soil, with a little rooting powder on the cut to stop mould.

any hints for me?

cheers!

can vary....age and climate are major factors... for example... i got some cuttings early this year.. penis bridgsii pup rooted within a month, fat peru tip, only just showed roots a few days ago after 7 months or so... the mid section of same cutting not rooted yet, aswell as a mid section scop collected at some time.

[chilli]

If they are old, and from lower down on the plant I find they can take ages to put out roots... I hate to say it, but UTSE, as there are quite a few in-depth discussions and hints etc about rooting Pachanoi.

[Hellonasty]

Due to it being so hot and I see your in birssy I would give it some water !! Roots tend not to grow when the soil is bone dry. A "little" water every few days and apart from that forget about it, once you see new growth you have roots. Don't go checking for roots, the more you check the longer it takes.

I find it varys a fair bit but in this warm weather I would expect roots between 1 and 2 months.

[PD.]

If they are old, and from lower down on the plant I find they can take ages to put out roots...

IMO, the older the material the bigger the waste of time. Unless it is from a special plant i dont see the point in tryin with old material if you have access to the younger material from near the top of the plant. Yes it will grow but the time and effort you spend could be better used on other things. Most of the older cuts i have used for prop do eventually pup but ive had ALOT of problems with it, then again it could just be my methods lol. Go for the nice healthy green stuff from closer to the tip or young arms only a couple of years old.

[Ace]

IME it all comes down to the species and temps. Warmer feet = quick rooting. And like it was mentioned above, a bit of water during the rooting phase helps, just never let it sit wet (try to wet then dry as quick as possible - water then move to a warmer possie). The easiest way is to sit it in a partially sunny position (never leave unrooted cuts in the open midday sun!) and forget about it. The natural rain should be all that she needs to get started and is always the easiest way to do things, but if you want some fast growth and huge plants, regularly water (once or twice a fortnight, depending on climate and average temps) with some mild nutes.

The best way to deal with the impatience gained from gardening with cacti is to find a side hobby to take your mind off things for a couple weeks - and only occasionally check out the progress and you'll be suprised at how quickly they progress!

[chilli]

Okay, well as long as everyone is dishing out advice, let me say I agree that letting the log callous properly, then sticking it in dry soil and leaving it for a couple of weeks before giving it a light watering on the morning of a nice sunny day, then repeating this again in a week or two on a similarly warm day is probably the best way to get some quick rootage... the reason I said UTSE is because some people disagree that moisture encourages rooting, but personally I find it definitely does, but yeah like others have said a little bit of water in conditions where it will dry quickly (a terracotta pot that is not too big for the plant also helps with this).

[ENtiTY]

XipeTotec mentioned his TBM cut rooted quicker than his other Tricho cuts. I too have noticed this. 3 TBM cuts of mine rooted in a month or so while other Tricho cuts such as peru, pach, brig and cuoz just seemed to mold, all together in the same location.

Is this a well known fact and why is TBM more resistant to mold than other Trichs?

[Fenris]

I won a couple of bridgesii monstrose sections from a generous member here at the start of autumn. I put one outside over teh winter with all the cold and rain and left one inside on a windowsill I did the same with 2 macro cuttings as well.

Both the sections left outdoors over the winter had put down roots and the ones sitting on the windowsill were virtually rootless.

[Hellonasty]

Fenris thats pretty interesting.

Regarding the TBM rooting above. My large TBM does some strange things one of which is, any of the sections that are close (within 15cm) to the ground will sometimes sprout roots out of the lowerst areole ! I usually just cut it off and create another plant, no need to wait for rooting etc. After 2 weeks the root system is pretty much sorted.

[AndyAmine.]

I agree about the watering, this is one of the reasons I root into CSS in terracotta because it will dry out nice and quick.

IME when watering for root growth its much better to lightly bottom water to the point where you dont see any moisture reach the surface, so that the cut and roots reach down in search of it rather than it being easy to access like when you top water or heavily water.

Another thing I do is to just wet down the terracotta and not the CSS for a similar effect.

[KanJe]

Another thing I have also noticed with my tricho cuttings is that the larger the cutting is, the fast it will grow roots and offset.

A lot of my tricho stock are 1 ft or longer and when they were put into soil they seemed to have growth within two weeks.

Another thing I do is to just wet down the terracotta and not the CSS for a similar effect.

Thats a really interesting technique by the way Andy, I might have to try it some time...

Edited November 1, 2007 by KanJe

[apothecary]

Rev once said the longer you let it callous the longer it will take to root.

Makes sense to me because if you leave it too long the plant will go into at least semi dormant state and not put out new growth/roots/pups until it has depleted most of its moisture stocks.

One week callous then into a well aerated+draining medium of medium moisture to root.

If it has gone dormant then don't put it in the sun until it has fully set root otherwise it will probably burn and get stunted!

Realistically though, for all the advice in the world, as long as the exposed end(s) is properly calloused then it is practically impossible to mess up the root induction process!

++Andy when he says bottom watering, when it comes to cacti, bottom watering is key. I used to be skeptical about it but now I'm evangelical

One last good tip, if you are rooting a midsection, plant it on a slight angle so the flat top area doesn't pool water/rain.

Edited November 1, 2007 by apothecary

[kadakuda]

my bridge/pach/peruv usually put out root buds in a month or less here. i cut callous and put on some rooting hormone to help heal it (who woulda thunk it would actually help the roots lol!). my TBM have all taken over 2 months and i find highly susceptible to black rot (its a very wet/humid country here, likely the cause.).

[spacedracula]

wow, thanks guys, that a load off my mind. Im dealing with some old cuts off a roughly 6-7yr old tree, mid-section cuts too, and theyve olny been in the ground about 3 weeks, so i wont be holding my breath haha. Those are some real gems of advice guys, much appreciated.

[mark80]

wow, thanks guys, that a load off my mind. Im dealing with some old cuts off a roughly 6-7yr old tree, mid-section cuts too, and theyve olny been in the ground about 3 weeks, so i wont be holding my breath haha. Those are some real gems of advice guys, much appreciated.

I've found in summeri just cut em and stick'em in some css mix with some added quinician - healhy rooted plant in about 2 weeks. But in usmmer i never let it callous for more than a week in the semisun.

[DuG]

I've had some cuttings that have taken up to 2 years to send out roots. and other in exactly the smae condidtions take only a couple of weeks!

Actually I have some cuttings that have spent the past two years in the ground and haven't grown roots yet!