Cactus cutting gone bad?

[Steve Johnson]

Ah, glad you're asking...

-I had put sulfur on 2 of the offsets where the cuts were made. Can they just be placed in the pot without removing the sulfur powder?

Make sure the freshly-exposed tissues have dried and formed a callus before you put your 3 offsets into their rooting pot. Keep the sulfur powder in place -- S is an important minor nutrient, and the S will be taken up by the roots when they start growing.

-Once in the pot, should they be kept out of direct sunlight?

Yes. Indoor cacti too close to a window + direct sunlight = sun scorch. You certainly don't want that.

-Is there any danger of the fungal infection that was on the original parent plant spreading to other plants in the house?

If you're talking about plants that aren't cacti, I'd say no. For more detailed information, see this:

https://shuncy.com/article/what-causes-fungus-on-cactus

[Chindit]

All sounds good!
And thanks for the link to that article--very interestng.

[ossy96]

Just one other thing--and this may be a stupid question--but when you say "lean out" soil mix do you mean remove some old soil and mix in the new stuff, or re-pot the entire plant in a new mix?

Not a stupid question, the terminology needs to be more precise:

• Lean = mostly mineral gravel, some soil with minimal organic material. The mineral component promotes free drainage and good aeration of the roots. The soil component is for moisture retention.

• Rich = soil with a significant amount of organic material (usually tree bark). Fine for leafy plants, not fine for cacti because a soil-heavy mix suffocates their roots.

There's nothing wrong with organic material per se, but too much of it can be a pathogen "trap" over time. If you repot your cactus with a 60% mineral/40% soil mix, it'll be lean enough to do the job. With that said, ideally you should repot with fresh mix every 3-4 years. By the way, never leave old soil in the pot, and clean it out of the roots as thoroughly as possible. You're contending with years of compacted soil, and water is the only way to loosen it. Swish the roots around in a container of water, then gently tease the soil out of the roots with a blunt instrument like a q-tip handle, knitting needle, etc. If roots come out in the process, chances are they're dead anyway. Don't worry about it -- your cactus will grow new roots in the lean mix.

The fertilizer i have been using are drops by Schultz 2-7-7 Cactus plus. I was originally using it every couple of weeks in Spring, Summer and Fall, but had cut back to once in Spring, once in Summer and once in early Fall. (I was adding 7 drops per quart of distilled water).

A couple of problems there. First, the Schultz 2-7-7 is horrible stuff -- not nearly enough nitrogen, way too much phosphorus. The basic "rule of thumb" we follow is "P lower than N, K higher than both". Unfortunately there's not one fertilizer "specially formulated for cacti and succulents" that gets it right. Oddly enough, we do have an orchid fert with the NPK balance more suitable for your cactus:

https://www.amazon.com/Fertilizer-13-3- ... 725&sr=8-5

Water-soluble granules, dilution is 1/4 cup per gallon of water. I only use liquid concentrates, so I don't know how long it'll take for the granules to dissolve. Shouldn't take long, though. The other problem -- you have your cactus on a starvation diet. If you water every 2 weeks during spring and summer (my recommendation based on using a lean mix), fertilize with every other watering.

While we're on the subject of watering...

There's only one way to water in the growing season -- deeply, as in water coming out of the pot's drain hole. Of course that'll mess up your floor, so you can avoid it by doing this:

• Put a pan down on the floor.

• Get a plastic grate cover like the one here:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/NDS-11-Plastic-R ... 207&sr=8-6
  
  Put it on the pan and put the pot on the grate cover. Besides keeping your floor dry, the grate cover will give the bottom of the pot some airflow.

In the fall and winter, you can give your cactus some occasional light watering (no fertilizer) -- just enough to moisten the mix without drenching it. By "occasional", I mean every 3-4 weeks.

And also in the second photo with the calluses you circled--should I perform "surgery" on that one also?

Not unless you see blackish areas on the callused rib. The biggest callus could be a trouble spot. I need to see the entire cactus, so please post a photo of it pot and all. A close-up of the potential trouble spot would also be helpful. From there we can determine the best course of action if you're dealing with a worst-case scenario. If it comes to pass, but the roots are healthy enough to grow under the better conditions I'm recommending, all is by no means lost.

Steve Johnson you wrote : "You're contending with years of compacted soil, and water is the only way to loosen it. Swish the roots around in a container of water, then gently tease the soil out of the roots with a blunt instrument like a q-tip handle, knitting needle, etc. If roots come out in the process, chances are they're dead anyway. Don't worry about it -- your cactus will grow new roots in the lean"
That being said..
If i want to loosen up the roots safely of a cactus that stayed for long time in a ceramic pot, it is okay to let it soak in water to be easier to get out from the pot, then wash it off and let it dry?

[jerrytheplater]

Steve Johnson you wrote : "You're contending with years of compacted soil, and water is the only way to loosen it. Swish the roots around in a container of water, then gently tease the soil out of the roots with a blunt instrument like a q-tip handle, knitting needle, etc. If roots come out in the process, chances are they're dead anyway. Don't worry about it -- your cactus will grow new roots in the lean"
That being said..
If i want to loosen up the roots safely of a cactus that stayed for long time in a ceramic pot, it is okay to let it soak in water to be easier to get out from the pot, then wash it off and let it dry?

If I can add my two cents before Steve's reply:

I've had plants growing in low fired clay pots where the roots were firmly gripping the pot walls and I could not get the root ball out. I was not able to run a knife around the edges of the root ball because the plant was overgrowing the pot and I could not get the knife into the pot without breaking off a lot of the plant. I ended up having to break the pot to get the plant out. That may not have been a cactus or succulent.

For a cactus where you can't get it out of the pot by pushing up from the center drain hole (or other drain holes), soaking the pot before you start won't hurt the plant because you will eventually be washing off all of the potting media and letting the roots dry a week or so. If you don't want to break your ceramic pot because of its value, you may have to dig the cactus out of the pot. That might be hard if the spines are growing over the edge of the pot. I've switched to plastic pots or sealed clay pots. The roots do not adhere to the pot walls and the root ball slides out easily.

[Steve Johnson]

For a cactus where you can't get it out of the pot by pushing up from the center drain hole (or other drain holes), soaking the pot before you start won't hurt the plant because you will eventually be washing off all of the potting media and letting the roots dry a week or so. If you don't want to break your ceramic pot because of its value, you may have to dig the cactus out of the pot. That might be hard if the spines are growing over the edge of the pot. I've switched to plastic pots or sealed clay pots. The roots do not adhere to the pot walls and the root ball slides out easily.

Totally agree. I'll just follow up with a couple of observations...

I grow 64 of my 68 cacti in a pumice and granite gravel mix, so pushing the plant up and out through the pot's drain hole is super-easy. This works for any type of soilless mix, doesn't matter if the mix is wet or dry. For mixes containing a soil component, the grower will have to completely saturate the mix first, then dig down along the sides of the pot with a knife or other flat object. If the plant won't come out of the pot when you tip it over, at that point you can push it up and out through the drain hole. Jerry made an important point here -- easy extraction is possible only with nonporous pots.

[ossy96]

Thank you Jerry Smith and Steve Johnson!

[Steve Johnson]

Thank you Jerry Smith and Steve Johnson!

My pleasure!

[jerrytheplater]

Glad to help.