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downtoearth

Can new Trich cuttings go straight into sun or require shade for a few weeks first?

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Hey all,

 

Got me a few cuttings to grow, the cuts are healed over nicely, just want to check whether the plants are best kept potted in the shade for a few weeks to grow roots before being put out in 6+ hrs direct sun where I'm planning to grow them.  Thanks:)

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I'm no expert but I'd say shade is better for at least 3 to 4 weeks. I have some cuttings in perlite that haven't rooted and it's been over 2 months. 

 

If you put them in the sun they can burn or become etiolated.

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It is advisable to cure the ends by leaving your cutting lying on its side in a dry, shady (but well lit) place for 2-3 weeks at least. Planting of the cutting is best done when they are actively growing - ie. not in winter. The most professional method is too root your cutting in perlite. This has the added advantage, that the cutting can be placed onto the dry perlite bed as soon as it is cut and can undergo the drying process there. Once the ends are well cured, the cutting can be partly submerged into the perlite in the position desired. Whether you choose to place your cutting sideways or upright is a matter of choice, but I have found that placing it sideways will generally produce a greater number of new shoots. A tip cutting if placed sideways will bend upwards at the tip and may also produce side-shoots. The reason why side rooting is preferable is the fact that more root fibres develop and the plant receives more nutrients in a shorter period of development, which in turn increases the amount of new growth. The cutting and the surrounding perlite should then be watered. Once watering is started the tray or pot should be placed in a full sun position.

 

My understanding is that in order to send forth roots the plant needs energy for apical cell multiplication. Their energy source is obviously photons, however I think they may be using stored energy for rooting? Someone please correct me on that.

 

I also recently read on here that keeping harvested columns in darkness for a matter of months can increase alkaloid content within the cactus by nearly double.

 

 

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I just root them in the cactus mix I make which is just potting mix, sand and perlite, I keep em under cover for a few weeks with prob a few hours direct sun a day, I don't know how much difference it really makes but the bottom half of soil in the pot I wet and top up with the dry mix for the cutting to sit in, I feel it might encourage the roots to develop faster having the moisture available to search out for ? 

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The best way to learn how much sun is to much sun is an experiment. If you spend a few seasons experimenting with your growing location youll soon work out which part of your garden receives the best sunlight for growing mature plants, for rooting cuttings, and for transitioning seedlings into mature plants. Then if the cactus bug bites you hard enough youll probably need to find the perfect spot for grafting and germination. Shade cloth can be very helpful.

 

Each to their own, but I don’t fancy rooting cutting sideways, it my experience it slows everything down. During plant embryo formation, the tip and base of the plant is established in an up and down fashion. Plants are constantly regulating their polarity, for example, if cactus tips are planted at a 45-degree angle, give it long enough and the new growth will return to straight (leaving you with a bend at the base). Why, because the plant can sense up from down, and it’s looking to grow up. If the plants polarity is changed, energy is going to be spent moving around internal organelles to the positions they need to be to function, rather they just continuing to function because everything is normal.

 

Plants are using photons CO2 and H2O to produce carbohydrates (photosynthesis), which they use as an energy source (glycolysis). After the cactus has been cut, the majority of its stored energy will be used to produce callus tissue and roots. While I don’t think the cactus needs to photosynthesize and produce energy to initiate rooting (cactus will root in a dark cupboard). I have noticed cactus root faster when exposed to moderate sunlight. This leads me to speculate that moderate sunlight may be increasing the speed of rooting through triggering light activated gene expression. Many important metabolic plant genes are regulated by light, so it makes sense that exposing them to some sun would help during rooting.

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Take it from my experience of frying cacti, get them used to the local conditions by having them in a semi shaded area for at least a week and then put them somewhere that gets a good few hours of sun for another week before smashing them with the full force of the sun.  That said I think cacti are a bit happier in filtered light anyway.  It seems to give them a break instead of fighting against the constant intensity of the sun and the bluer cacti end up much bluer for it too.

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15 hours ago, Ethnoob said:

Take it from my experience of frying cacti, get them used to the local conditions by having them in a semi shaded area for at least a week and then put them somewhere that gets a good few hours of sun for another week before smashing them with the full force of the sun.  That said I think cacti are a bit happier in filtered light anyway.  It seems to give them a break instead of fighting against the constant intensity of the sun and the bluer cacti end up much bluer for it too.

I'll second that mate. After alot of moving pots around my property i've found a semi shaded/filtered spot is best for colour and consistent growth rate. I have noticed that the afternoon sun is best to be avoided in my area over summer as it just cooks my stock. Would be interested to know if anyone else moves there cactus out of the afternoon sun over summer??

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