Now what?

[floring]

So here are these chopped up brainy guys:





I let them dry out for about 10 days or so, then placed them on top of cacti soil mixed with a bit of gravel. Out of the sun, yet in a reasonably lit place. Regular room temperature.
Now what? Just wait? Wait for what? Growth to start happening? New shoots to spring out? How long do I withhold watering? Are there any signs I should be looking for (except from drying out and dying)?

[Rod Smith]

Your conditions should be ideal for rooting. Length of time taken depends on the species, but anything between say 4 weeks and 4 months is likely (maybe even longer). You could give tham an occasional light spray, which would probably help. As they root you will see new growth appearing and that is when you can pot them individually in your normal cactus compost mix (or it may be that your rooting mix is ok). It's probably a bit late in the season but you might just be in time before we get shorter days and cooler weather.

[floring]

Thing is, I'm weary of watering, because of the wideness of the cut area; a lot of flesh exposed. Dried out, but still.. The bigger fellow I'm not worried for, I'm sure it'll be fine.
On the other hand, the little guy, or what's left of it, looks pretty dried out and it looks unlikely it's going to make it in dry soil. But... what do I know..? Maybe it's more resilient than I give it credit to be. It would be fantastic if I could get an idea if or when it sprouts roots so I know when to splash some water. I guess I could visually check from time to time, but I don't want to disturb them.
You might be right, I should just wait for visible change above the surface.

[CactusFanDan]

The upper most one looks like it might be too small to have enough time to root, but the other larger cutting should root well. Sit it on top of soil mix in a warm, dry, bright place and wait. You can lift it up occasionally to check for roots. I'd suggest only watering when you see roots beginning to form.

[floring]

Will do! Thanks for the advice, guys!

[KittieKAT]

I agree with cactus fan Dan, I've jumped the gun and had to re cut a few cacti cause the littlest amount of water caused them to rot, don't water till u see viable roots, i killed too many jumping the gun, don't make the same mistake! Goodluck

[HP22B]

Conversely I've had cuttings only root when I gave them a bit of water. I had a Pilosocereus cutting sit in some dry medium for months but when I got impatient and gave it some water it shot out roots within the week.

[KittieKAT]

I must have bad luck, lol which isn't saying much..heehe
But it could be where i am that makes it hard with water since its cold and rainy most of the time

[snarfie]

I will start watering a little after two months, or in summer after a month, so there really is formed callous, and not just a dry wound surface, because in winter most cacti don't produce callous within two weeks, or even a month. Maybe that's why they almost always root if i water them, and if calloused good enough, rot probably doesn't even have a chance to get in the cactus.