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Freshly cut cacti and heavy rain

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A couple of days ago I took cuttings off two of my T. pachanio for propagation purposes. The cutting were taken at an angle - probably about 20 degrees off horizontal. I left them in a sunny position to heal.

Last night it rained pretty heavily for a few hours & these cacti got wet. I am wondering if this has the potential to harm them. No water has pooled on the stumps but they would have been exposed to lots of rain.

Thanks for any advice - I haven't been able to find any info via the search engine.

cheers,

Mick

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i always take my cacti cuttings inside, into a dry warm and dark place, for a few days to cure over. leave them in there too long and you will get a white growth which is best avoided so dont forget about them. great way to force pups tho, but one has to get the timing right and check for the pup growth constantly, it will happen fast.

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Don't worry, they will be fine. I in fact seem to have had more trouble in the past with fresh cuts if I left them in the sun as the fresh cut tissue seems to heat up and then the bacteria seem to get more active. I put them in strong diffused sunlight under cover of a porch, being sure they get good air circulation.

~Michael~

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Nice clean rainwater delivered gently and dried off the next morning hasn't caused too many dramas at all, for me and mine ... it would contain some level of spores n whatnot but then what doesn't. Probably not something to make a regular part of the regime but my cut stuff gets drizzled on once in a while, sometimes dilute fert splashover etc and never a problem, even on "pup cuts" with that little "cup' left after... if I see it happen I blow it out with a quick puff but yeah, theyre pretty tough and most water is pretty clean. Certainly not generally something u want, fert sitting around in cuts, but it didn't cause Echinogeddon here.

I'd second MS, I notice cuts that dry TOO fast or hot are much more prone to flaking and cracking and letting buggies in than those cured off say , on top of the fridge (nice spot, and a good use for the spare dishrack everyone seems to have), which dry off very smooth n soft. Possibly those that tend to cure off outdoors are more vigorously growing to start with, so once cut the top dries very rapidly, and there is a higher amount of juice pushing upwards etc from the faster growth conditions? Kinda like how graft stock gets the bulgies up top once the union heals and you boost feed etc.

Funny though how much a cactus patch can influence local weather patterns... great way to fuck with previously reliable winter tendencies thats for sure :lol:

VM

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When I take cuttings I put them straight into a bucket that has perlite in it and them leave them in my wardrobe. They seem to do really well when this is done. I have taken cuttings in winter and left them in the cubboard for a month or 2 and they heal up nicely, this also helps them to root quickly. Dont stress to much they will be fine. Perlite is good give it a try it will keep the cut end from rotting and stop bacterial infections.

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Cutting the root stock at a slant makes rain water run off, water dams on a flat cut. if you don't like the look of a slant you can bevel it by cutting some of the edges away as if you were going to graft.

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Thanks for the tips guys :)

I move dthe pots under an area covered by shadecloth, but unfortunately one of them was splashed by some rain. It appears to be rotting now - see below.

post-902-1221377756_thumb.jpg

Should I cut it again below the damage?

Any advise would be much appreciated.

cheers,

Mick

P6240128.JPG

P6240128.JPG

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whenever i make cuts, i dry out the ends a bit with a hair dryer.

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bump....so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

should I cut off the damaged area & try again?

any assistance is much appreciated......please......cheers

Edited by toast

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id put it out under DIRECT sunlight. direct sun is a great anti-fungal and will dry out the wound and callous ,which is what u want. dont stress, it will be fine. if after a couple of days things look really messy make a fresh cut and callous accordingly.

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bump....so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

should I cut off the damaged area & try again?

any assistance is much appreciated......please......cheers

I sometimes use an upside down pot pot over freshly cut plants while callousing but to mainly stop snail attack, 4-5 daze is usually enough time for the callousing after that you'd be pretty safe Id think...

It does looks like it has calloused so I wouldnt be to worried about rot, you will see some funky colours...on a disease resistant strain like 'Eileen' Ive seen all colours of the rainbow.

would also help if you cut the edges off the top, so as it callouses over it makes a bevel, then if it does rain, it will run off. Doing that you can pick where your pups will come from too (highest areole)

Good luck.

EDIT* WHOOPS disregard second paragraph :P just had a good luck at your pic...is that orange bit soft? cut and bevel like I said ;) and get rid of that top dressing ey.

Edited by Conan Troutman

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