Went to a local greenhouse today

[ohcactusisgood]

I went to a local greenhouse today and managed to get access to their back area with their stock plants they take cuttings from. Kind of neat. I notice they always cut a centimetre or so above the offset location. Does anyone know why that would be? Does it somehow create more offsets? Some of these really seem to have spread out horizontally because of it. Not sure if that's an advantage or not. Nice to see logging, which I haven't tried.

[djmattz0r]

That is what we usually do at work, it's supposed to increase the number of pups after cutting but I don't know exactly how true this is. I sometimes feel removing a pup from the part where it makes contact with the original cactus makes for a smaller wound on the cutting which in turns heals and roots faster. I need to do more experimentation, but I haven't really noticed a huge benefit and I don't think it looks very good.

[Philocacti]

Maybe to increase the number of areols on the stump, while taking pups off.

[djmattz0r]

That's basically it, since growth occurs at the apical meristem, the more aeroles at the top the more chance in theory for the cactus to pup from those aeroles since they'll have all the auxins etc. I feel like it has a lot to do with how developed the root system is and what part of the season the cut is taken.

I never really understood why people make cuts at a 45 degree other than to prevent water buildup on top since it limits the amount of aeroles closest to the top.