cactus re rooting

[Spikylover]

Hello everyone.
I got a bunch of cacti that i repotted from peat a couple of months ago and put in my hot well lit grow box. They haven't grown at all since i started watering more than a month ago. I removed them carefully from the soil and i was surprised that they are trying to reroot from the very top of the tap root and the not so small old roots are mostly dead. What can cause this? Are the old roots completely incapable of sucking any water from the mineral mix after being used to peat so they ditch them and produce new adequate roots?

Thanks.
Rachel

[hegar]

You are most likely correct with the assumption, that the old roots are dead and thus not able to transport either nutrients nor water.
Your plants are rooting from locations higher up the cactus stem. That is at least a good sign. Your cacti will start becoming plump and larger, as soon as the root growth is sufficient for this task.
It seems, your roots died off, because the plants were growing in a growing medium heavy with peat, which can lead to root decay and death, if it stays too moist. Fortunately, only the roots died and root rot has not set in. Then your plants would be difficult to save.

Harald

[Spikylover]

Thanks Haralad! I was delighted that at least they are rooting. I moved them from a single pot to each in a 2 inch pot to better control moisture.