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Author Topic: bridgesii cutting questions  (Read 4669 times)

HortyCulture

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bridgesii cutting questions
« on: August 04, 2022, 10:00:22 AM »

i have had a load of life things to deal with recently and i have missed most of the growing season. i am getting myself back together now and i actually have a bigger space to use for a garden :) and i did not lose too many plants in the process, but it does mean i missed my window of opportunity for certain jobs in the garden, one of which was cutting my roughly 3ft bridgesii into stock, log and tip.
i cut the bridgesii anyway in the beginning of july and i am hoping they will root okay or survive until next season. this is the first time i have taken cuttings this way from a cactus (i have only rooted picked leaves from prickly pear), but they have calloused beautifully and look ready to go to me.
yesterday (one month after cutting) i propped the tip up in some dry perlite so i can check the roots, but the log is still laying in a piece of cardboard waiting for me to do something.

so there is the back story, now the questions. i am in UK btw. also, in case it matters, the middle of the cactus was slightly etiolated, which is the part i am going to use as a log. it was not extreme, but there was a noticeable thinning in the middle.


1. i have no space to root the log indoors, but i do have a greenhouse that i keep cacti in over winter to go dormant. would it be better for me to keep the log wrapped in cardboard indoors until next season, or will it have time in UK to root before going dormant?
or maybe it is even safe to leave it outside even if it does not root in time?

2. how would you recommend rooting the log? is it better to root in perlite similar to how i have with the tip, but laying down, or should i go straight into the final soil with this?

3. how long can i expect to wait for new branches to start growing on the stock? i keep looking for them but i think i may not see anything until next year now.


any ideas, experience, etc? thank you  :-*
« Last Edit: August 04, 2022, 10:05:03 AM by HortyCulture »
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modern

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Re: bridgesii cutting questions
« Reply #1 on: August 04, 2022, 04:44:55 PM »

If you get frost in winter can't leave it outside...

Rooting it upright will result in faster rooting since the auxins normally travel that way. You can root laying down but there is no real benefit to that if anything its a down side more material touching the soil which can increase risk of rot... this is just my opinion.

I would root it in the final soil rather than in perlite but it is your choice. You can place it in the soil and just forget about the cutting until mid spring/summer. Then give it a light pull or just water since it should have roots by that time.

new branches tend to appear only after roots but not always usually takes a few months for the pup to emerge so most likely next year only since temps are gonna start getting cooler for you.
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HortyCulture

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Re: bridgesii cutting questions
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2022, 09:56:38 AM »

thank you very much for your help.
i mostly wanted to root the log horizontal for the sake of doing it, just for the fun of it and to learn a little etc. i was going to do it anyway but, since rooting outside is a bad idea and looking at my only south facing window it doesn't really look like i have much choice but to root it vertically. 7.5" footprint vs about 2" will save a lot of space. maybe i will try a log next time, and there WILL be a next time :)

thank you  :-*
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