My sick saguaro!

[Deanavn]

Please help! I live in South Florida and my friend from Arizona gifted me a saguaro 23 years ago (Spike). I have taken pretty good care of him and he was getting tall. A few weeks ago, the cat knocked him off his windowsill. He cracked and dented and went on to get a black fungus. His lower body and roots were completely rotted. I was able to cut a healthy portion off the top and have dusted it with cinnamon. I know I have to watch him and let it callus for 10 days - 3 months depending on the source and at best he has a 50/50 chance of survival.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I am desperate to try and save him.

[Nino_G]

It would help if you can post pictures of the cross-cut before you applied cinnamon. It's important to see if the cutting is free of infection that can spread via vascular bundle (center of the stem) quite quickly.
Otherwise, three weeks is sufficient drying period after which you can place cutting on porous mineral substrate (I would recommend sterilized pumice or Turface, whichever is readily available in your area) and start bottom-watering (by immersing pot with a cutting in a dish with water no deeper than half the height of the pot for several minutes - let capillary action raise the water to the plant).
I have no personal experience with rooting saguaro cuttings, but from literature chances are about 50:50 - larger cuttings have better chances.

[Deanavn]

Thank you for the reply. I made sure to cut until all flesh was clean, white, and all edges were healthy green. I am watching it to make sure the edges do not turn soft/ brown or black and I am keeping him in a dry place with indirect sunlight.

How will I know when the callus is ready? Will it be firm to the touch?

Thank you for all answers and help.

[Steve Johnson]

Thank you for the reply. I made sure to cut until all flesh was clean, white, and all edges were healthy green. I am watching it to make sure the edges do not turn soft/ brown or black and I am keeping him in a dry place with indirect sunlight.

How will I know when the callus is ready? Will it be firm to the touch?

First of all, cinnamon hasn't proven to be an effective fungicide, but sulfur powder has. Remove the cinnamon and apply a liberal dusting of sulfur powder on the cut surface. This prevents the possibility of mold starting on that surface. It'll take a few weeks (maybe a month) for the callus to form. Shake off the excess sulfur powder. Desert cacti go through fall and winter dormancy, so your Saguaro won't start growing new roots until the next spring/summer growing season. Sorry, but Nino_G's watering advice is wrong -- cacti need a root system to take up water, and your Saguaro doesn't have one yet. His advice on mineral substrate (pumice or Turface) is correct although you'll want to put a 1"-2" layer of potting sand on top of it. You can find it on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Original-Ingredi ... 9hdGY&th=1

When you repot, put the cutting's bottom into the sand to stabilize it, but don't dig too deep. You can give it occasional misting to keep the skin hydrated, I'd say that once a month should be fine. The cutting will get shriveled over time, although this is not a "death sentence" as inexperienced growers believe. If the Saguaro does start growing new roots, you're looking at a year before they're grown in well enough for deep watering. The key here is patience. What you can do next summer is gently pull up on the cutting to see if new roots have grabbed into the pot. If they have, water just a little bit around the base every 2-3 weeks. No water in fall and winter. Then in spring 2025, unpot the plant, get rid of the potting sand, and repot in cactus mix. At that point, it should be ready for deep watering.

By the way, your Saguaro isn't getting enough light:

Resized_20221004_122347.jpg (35.89 KiB) Viewed 6241 times

If possible, keep it outdoors and give it plenty of light in the spring and summer.

[anttisepp]

It's a sin to live in South Fl and keep saguaro indoors IMHO

[Nino_G]

Sorry, but Nino_G's watering advice is wrong -- cacti need a root system to take up water, and your Saguaro doesn't have one yet.

That may be so, but there's also a theory that cuttings will root more readily if they "sense" the favorable conditions for growth. If cutting is well calloused and, especially, if treated with fungicide, I don't think contact with damp substrate will cause problems. Anyway, I use this method for degrafted scions with good success.

[zpeckler]

Will a Saguaro cutting root? I was under the impression that unlike other columnar cacti, Saguaros will rarely re-root--which explains why transplanting salvaged ones is so difficult.

[Steve Johnson]

Will a Saguaro cutting root? I was under the impression that unlike other columnar cacti, Saguaros will rarely re-root--which explains why transplanting salvaged ones is so difficult.

Unfortunately, what you just said is quite true, and a 50/50 chance of survival for rooting Deanavn's Saguaro is about right.

Deanavn -- one of our members in Australia is a professional horticulturalist, and he has been growing cacti for many years, so check this out:

I do use sulphur to dust large cuts. The trick is to properly season the cut. I normally sit the plant upside down in an airy shed until the wound is quite hard and the plant body dehydrated a bit then sit in a styrofoam cutting box on dry sand with a touch of humus in a warm slightly shaded spot. Lightly misting now and then seems to stimulate rooting, then when the roots have broken, a good soak followed by complete drying and repeat the cycle. I find it's good to let the plant root in the box for a whole season before lifting.

You don't need a styrofoam cutting box, just a pot, although it'll have to be bigger than the one in your photo. However, I wouldn't use humus as the substrate, so go with Nino_G's recommendation for pumice or Turface. My recommendation for putting a 1"-2" layer of potting sand on top follows what Mike does. As he said, lightly misting now and then seems to stimulate rooting. Given the difficulty of rooting Saguaro cuttings, I agree with him -- let the plant at least try to root in the pot and don't even think about lifting it out until late spring/early summer 2025.

[zpeckler]

Unfortunately, what you just said is quite true, and a 50/50 chance of survival for rooting Deanavn's Saguaro is about right.

Oh geeze... Sorry to hear that Deanavn. Don't give up, though. A plant's not a gonner until it's all the way dead. Crossing my fingers and wishing you luck!

[Deanavn]

Thank you everyone for your support! I am not giving up. I am working on getting the sulfur powder now.

Should I cut the end off where the cinnamon was to get to a 'clean start' or wash it off.

Also, I see a few dark areas I am worried about. Should I cut them out while they are small and put sulfur powder there too. (Pic still shows cinnamon on him)

I will do almost anything to try and save Spike!

Also also: I never put him outside because it is very humid / rainy here and I know too much water will kill him. Is there a happy medium?

[Steve Johnson]

The dark spots indicate a fungal infection, so you'll have to cut all the way through above the spots. If the tissue has a healthy green color with no dark spots (example on the left), apply sulfur powder on the exposed cut like this:

Echinocereus_pectinatus_'Coahuila'02062015_06.JPG (95.14 KiB) Viewed 6147 times

I grew up in the "olden times" when all indoor lighting was incandescent or fluorescent -- horrible conditions for growing cacti as houseplants. LED technology has been a real game-changer, so check out the selection of LED grow lights on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=grow+lights+ ... -doa-p_2_4

The key here is full-spectrum lighting. If you can find a grow light setup that works for you, your Saguaro should start growing normally if and when it roots. In the meantime, your best hope right now is to completely cut out the diseased portions, giving you enough healthy plant tissue to work with for rooting. And in case you're not already doing this -- use a sharp knife and sterilize it with alcohol each time you make a cut.

[Deanavn]

Is there a minimum height the cutting needs to be? I worry I am cutting him "too small". How long/tall should the cutting be? I just read 1-2 inches tall is sufficient but I want to make sure that is accurate?

If possible, can I cut him into multiple "slices" for more chance of survival or do the smaller cuttings make him less likely to survive?

Thank you again for all the information!

[keith]

His lower body and roots were completely rotted." your potting mix might be wrong . I root cuttings on course sand with my regular potting mix below and do water the cutting even if they don't have roots . I use roottone powder or nothing on the cuttings. And Spike needs more light .

If possible, can I cut him into multiple "slices" for more chance of survival or do the smaller cuttings make him less likely to survive?"

only if you need to cut rot away would you make more slices.


Good luck

[Steve Johnson]

Is there a minimum height the cutting needs to be? I worry I am cutting him "too small". How long/tall should the cutting be? I just read 1-2 inches tall is sufficient but I want to make sure that is accurate?

Start cutting right above the dark spots. If you still see dark spots in the flesh, continue cutting a small amount at a time until you see nothing but healthy green tissue. If you can save at least 1/3 of the stem, you have a good shot at rooting. Given how tall your Saguaro is (and Saguaro cuttings are difficult to root anyway), I don't think 1 or 2 inches will be sufficient. You can try anyway.

If possible, can I cut him into multiple "slices" for more chance of survival or do the smaller cuttings make him less likely to survive?

No -- you absolutely need a growth point, and the only slice that counts is the one with a growth point on the tippy-top. The slices below it won't grow anything except mold, so throw them away and save the biggest chunk with the growth point.

I keep my collection outdoors 24/7/365, and overnight lows below 50 tell me that fall/winter dormancy has started. You have an advantage assuming that overnight lows are above 55 and daytime highs are above the low 70s in your house during fall and winter. If that's the case, it may give the Saguaro a head start on rooting. Let the cutting "season" for 2-3 months, shake off the excess sulfur powder, then repot it per the instructions I gave you. In terms of occasional misting and when you can lift the cutting out of its "rooting pot", follow the procedures Mike and I described in yesterday's post.

...and do water the cutting even if they don't have roots .

Maybe okay for some species, but I wouldn't do it with a Saguaro cutting.

[Deanavn]

Hello! I have (hopefully) done this properly. I used a alcohol sterilized knife to cut above the topmost black spot.
I then placed him grow point down in a pot I just bought and supported him with little stones.

I applied the sulfur across the cut.

I will now put him back on the windowsill (indirect light no water or liquids until he has calloused, protected from the cats) and I will watch the edges to make sure they do not turn black.

As you can see, he is very short now. I don't know if there will be enough for another attempt if this doesn't work.

Please let me know if there is anything I need to do or redo.

Should I brush/blow off the excess sulfur powder or leave it there?

Any other tips?

THANK YOU!!!