Pruning San Pedro

[SayN]

My San Pedro (Trichocereus Pachanoi purchased from SAB in May 2006) has reached about 6ft and i'd like to prune it by about 3ft. I would like to use the top 30cm of the cutting to grow a new cactus.

What's the best tool to cut with? Is now a good time to do it? Do I simply need to leave the cutting to dry out before repotting? Anything else I should know?

[kenny]

To my understanding.

Use a sharp sterile blade and just leave it somewhere dry to harden off. Then when its calloused over, pot the cutting and let it form roots before you water it.

It would pay to cut it on a bit of an angle so if water or rain hits the top of the rooted half, it wont pool inside and rot out. I never did this to one of my cuttings and on a few occasions I have come outside after some rain to find the top all pooled with water and going soggy.

[paradox]

http://www.google.com.au/

[Chiral]

Any decent kitchen knife will suffice..a plant at 6 foot will hard to cut once you get to the core so use something pretty hefty...cut on a slight angle so the stump does not collect water where the cut has been made. Place the tip cutting on a shelf with a sock around the base and leave it callous over for about 3 weeks to a month then plant out in some of you're preferred cactus soil.

You bought the cactus in 2006 and now its 6 foot tall...how tall was it when you first purchased it...that's some serious growing in 3 years man...I'm assuming it was a rooted plant...?

any pics before you cut it...?.. and has it flowered yet...at 6 foot I'd imagine its flowered by now huh...?

H.

Edited April 16, 2009 by Hunab Ku

[TheFriendlyPlanter]

I like to use a samurai sword. Hidden dragon style...

[bit]

I recommend a pruning saw, if you have a clean one without any rust.

A drench in boiling water, or a wipe done with isopropal alcohol is also a good idea.

[SayN]

cool. i'll get out the katana.

Here's a pic for ya Hunab:

No flowers but there is a new pup just er... born?

[kenny]

Perdy

By the way, your avatar, i have seen that flying pig in a movie on sbs. What is the name of the film?

[Chiral]

Amazing growth rate...how big was the plant when you bought it...?

Also very healthy and I see a small pup at the base...I would have thought it would have pupped way before that height...cool and interesting.

[SayN]

it was only 15cm when purchased and was a gift from a friend of mine.

@Kenny: Porco Rosso

[cactophyle]

Yep, I was thinking it should have pupped long ago too. I can't believe it got that tall without pups! Maybe it didn't get enough sunlight until it got tall enough? Anyways, when the top is cut off it will pup like mad because it will have nowhere else to grow.

[Gunter]

A good machete should have little problem with a plant like that.

But if there is wood fiber in the core you need a saw for best results.

I cut a two foot sections of an RS0004 macrogonus down the other day, I used a nice hunting knife and bare hands, but I would not advise that, you can twist newspaper and put it around the plant and hold/carry the plant that way, a towel works too but being so limp it makes the cactus prone to swinging.

When I cut through the plant I had to exert a bit of extra pressure and draw the knife to slice through the fibers at the core, with a sharp well shaped knife, like a fillet knife, most pedro cores won't be hard to get through unless you are cutting into tissue several years old.

[Gunter]

after you have cut the plant, place the cutting to sit somewhere out of direct sun, wait until roots sprout out of the plant before you pot it up, if your cuts are clean it won't be more than a few weeks. If not it can take a couple months especially for large cuttings, but it still works and you don't have to do anything until you see roots.