Question about Optunia planting.

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 1:07 am

You can hardly make a mistake with Opuntias. I know of places where gardeners have dumped pruning cuttings and clippings. Over time, everything else is composted and gone except the opuntia pads, which grow, mutliply and become forests of plants with no help at all from man.

You must be talking about my yard

Buck has given advice that I'll agree with whole heartedly.
I usually pot my cuttings (pads) in a upright positon with about 1/3 to 1/2 of the pad in the soil medium so theres enough areoles in the soil to produce a good root system.
here's a few pictures of some new cuttings I'm rooting now to give an idea of the depth the pads are planted.

Legolas, I usually root single pads but have rooted up to 4 joined pads with no problems.

click it

hob · Post by **hob** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:15 pm

bill who's that at the end of the bench waiting for them to root

looks like he lost a lot of weight recently

legolas29 · Post by **legolas29** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:46 pm

Thank you both, Buck and Bill, for the great advice.

Today I was permitted to take these cuttings:

As you can see, the first pic has 3 joined pads, while the remainders are the more usual single pads.

I will let these dry a couple weeks and later plant them and then post a couple of pics. We will have long days and hot, sunny weather pretty much until mid-October / early November, so I don’t foresee any problems with these taking roots yet this season.

By the way, I read somewhere it is best to keep these cuttings vertical until they are planted. Any reason you guys know for that? In this particular case, with these long spines, it seems common sense to do so.

Thanks, again.

leg

Bill in SC · Post by **Bill in SC** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:53 pm

If you leave them horizontal, they will sprout roots from the areoles all the way up the pad. I guess that would be the main reasson to keep them vertical. You could just place them in a pot with no soil vertically, until they callous over for planting..
Bill in SC

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 2:16 am

Legolas,

I know of no logical reason to keep the pads vertical while letting the cuts callous over. your better judgemnt will deside how you want them

I usually let my cuttings heal anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks before planting. From your pictures you should have 4 nice Opuntia's before too long.

Do you have a positive ID for opuntia

Good luck and keep us posted.

legolas29 · Post by **legolas29** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:09 pm

ihc6480 wrote: Do you have a positive ID for opuntia

Good luck and keep us posted.

I am ID-ing these as Opuntia engelmannii.

I will keep these vertical for the time-being and am really looking forward to when I can pot these and watch 'em grow. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks, again.

Bill in SC · Post by **Bill in SC** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:21 pm

Bill, I was just saying you may want to leave them vertical if you were not planting within a week or two, as roots would form all the way up the pad if left horizontal. No other logical reason..

Bill in SC

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:34 am

Bill in SC wrote:Bill, I was just saying you may want to leave them vertical if you were not planting within a week or two, as roots would form all the way up the pad if left horizontal. No other logical reason..
Bill in SC

Yeah, I knew what you were implying

and I agree but I have found that unless you lay the pad on a moist surface it usually won't grow roots for awhile.
But I've been proven wrong before

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:03 am

hob wrote:bill who's that at the end of the bench waiting for them to root looks like he lost a lot of weight recently

Yep, lost a few pounds indeed without the help Jenny Craig

Thats part of another of my collectables (I like Skulls) and that fella is whats left of a llama.

legolas29 · Post by **legolas29** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:10 am

About a day and a half after I set these cutting aside still in the plastic buckets (see pictures above), I noticed that the 3-padded cutting was beginning to sag and bow out following the shape of the bucket.

I remembered Buck saying earlier in this thread that many pads fall off by the time they are ready to plant, so I thought I better add some support be they start separating:

(click for larger pic)

The pebbles in the bottom are to hold the little posts in place. The pads are just resting on top; not buried.

I’ll keep posting any further developments as I go.

Thanks, again.

leg

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:24 am

Looking good

legolas29 · Post by **legolas29** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 2:49 am

I was doing some repotting today and noticed that the opuntia cuttings I set aside 3 weeks ago have started sprouting roots:

So I decided to go ahead and pot the cuttings and here’s how they came out.

I think they are turning out great!

leg

Post by **daiv** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:24 pm

Yep, now just sit back and enjoy! Opuntia are one of the most rewarding to watch because they reliably put on new pads year after year.

hob · Post by **hob** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 7:44 pm

a question about rooting opuntia pads ??

in cactus of the month templegatejohn wrote

The plant can be grown from seed, but in practical terms is almost always propagated from cuttings of the pads (which should be at least one year old).

recently i was given a pad from Opuntia microdasys v. 'Angels Wings' ........but it looks very much like it's one from this years growth......does this mean it will not root ??

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 2:31 am

Hob wrote:

recently i was given a pad from Opuntia microdasys v. 'Angels Wings' ........but it looks very much like it's one from this years growth......does this mean it will not root ??

Hob, your pad will more than likely root without any problem. If it is a young pad the only thing you will notice is the pad will not grow in size. As a result the new growth (pads) will thus be larger than the original rooted cutting you started the plant with.