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Author Topic: Coppicing cacti, Torturing Trichocereus?  (Read 6114 times)

Auxin

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Coppicing cacti, Torturing Trichocereus?
« on: October 14, 2015, 04:50:37 AM »

[mundane background info]
So I'm up to my nipples in cacti. To the extent that in winter they have their own bedroom and still there wasnt enough room ;D
Problem was I had them all in pots. So last year I bare rooted a bunch of trich seedlings and mini-clones, planted them in the garden, and in fall I pulled them up and packed them into boxes for the winter, greatly reducing space. I put those ones back in the dirt this year. Well they grew like fucking mad. Those babies became fat juicy top heavy unwieldy things with lots of basal pups. Digging some up today the main stem on one that sextupled in size this year snapped off near its base. The base with four kiwi size pups in a circle gave me an idea.
[/mundane background info]

Can trichs be coppiced like some trees. Basically cut low to pup in a circle around the base and then repeat, and repeat, turning a tree into big honkin' branchy bush. Well I know they can, but will that treatment make them highly rot prone at the base? Thats the only danger I see, pups on pups on pups being more prone to rot.
I dont like these massive dangerous stems flopping all over me drawing blood. If I could just lift a massive base each year that would be cool.
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Bach

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Re: Coppicing cacti, Torturing Trichocereus?
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2015, 03:37:14 AM »

As long as the cut surfaces are well calloused I don't see how pups on pups would increase the likelihood of rot. Maybe experiment with one to begin with, and if successful do it with the rest..
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