quick cuttings question

[mooms]

when buying cuttings, does it matter which part of the cactus you get. eg a root piece, middle, or tip. or are they all going to grow about the same once re-potted?

[noshiewa]

dosent really matter, a rooted peice will take off a bit quicker seeing as it has roots but seeing it will prob be pulled out of a pot / ground and repoted it will prob set back a bit. mid cuts r good as they usally have more pups quicker than a tip but on the other hand tip cuts look sweet straight from purchase.

[tipz]

Well the 'root piece' of the plant allready has roots so will establish quicker and will pup from one or more locations.

The mid section will throw pups in one or multiple locations, especially if you plant horizontally but will obviously take longer as it has to form roots.

A tip section will generally grow from the growing point and will also take longer as it too has to grow roots.

Edit : snap

Edited November 20, 2011 by tipz

[Sir Jeans]

A tip cut will sometimes etiolate as well. I.e., it will keep growing from the tip, but since it has no roots and is receiving much less energy, it will grow thinner. For this reason I prefer not to get tip cuts.

[faslimy]

in the long term a tip is much better as the entire central column swells to support the size of the plant

[Sir Jeans]

in the long term a tip is much better as the entire central column swells to support the size of the plant

 

Are you saying that mid-section cuttings won't do this? That mid-section cuttings are less able to support long term growth than tips?

[CβL]

What also matters with stem cuttings is that they are planted right-side up. Otherwise I believe they won't grow.

However I would suspect that a big stem cutting upside down may grow new xylem tissue all the way down to the new bottom (as the xylem grows optimized for flow in a certain direction) and then start to root. But I would estimate this would take around 6 months in growing season at least. I doubt a cactus could be so stupid as to not grow if it's upside down.

[noshiewa]

one of my first cuts was a yowie and i mananged to plant it upside down but it threw two base pups and they grew just as quick as the pc pach that was in the right way and planted at the same time :-) but wouldnt recomend it :-)

[CβL]

Oh wow, so they do grow upside down. Did it ever sprout pups from the top of the stem?

[noshiewa]

no not yet dosent look like its got any plans on pupin at the top in the near future either

[faslimy]

Are you saying that mid-section cuttings won't do this? That mid-section cuttings are less able to support long term growth than tips?

 

i was thinking in the very long term and it depends on the cactus, and it is more of a hunch sorry

[zelly]

A center cut planted upside down will produce roots & pup(s) will occur at the 'lowest' aeroles, or those closest to the real 'top' of the center cut. Although it's been my experience upside down cuts take much longer to root.

Personally I much prefer center cuts as they have the ability to grow multiple pups, and believe it or not the junction of the center cut & the offset pup can be just as strong as any columnar section, if not more so.

[Sir Jeans]

i was thinking in the very long term and it depends on the cactus, and it is more of a hunch sorry

 

No probs, just curious - I'd never though about long term differences of tip vs mid cuttings. Thanks for clarifying.

[Micromegas]

Yah personally i think tip cuttings are the ideal, between 60-90cm to plant straight in the ground and 30cm for a pot. Tips seems to overall grow about 25% quicker in the ground IMO and produce a more attractive and stable plant. That doesn't mean there are not often exceptions. Some mid-cuts planted straight in the ground have done better than tips, but not characteristically; my emphasis is always to get tip cuttings when possible.