If you want to get a new succulent quickly, there is no point in sowing seeds. There are other ways to propagate cacti at home: by children (shoots, cuttings) or by grafting. Of course, before planting a cactus stalk, you need to gain the necessary knowledge and first try to grow a specimen that has the ability to quickly root.
Cuttings of cacti: how to plant shoots
Seed propagation is not the only way to increase your succulent collection. It is also possible vegetative propagation of cacti by parts of the stem of the plant. However, before planting a cactus with a shoot, be aware that plants obtained by vegetative means are less complete than plants of seed origin.
Prolonged vegetative reproduction of one specimen can lead to the accumulation of negative qualities and to degeneration. Plants of vegetative origin later reach flowering age.
However, the method is widely used and can successfully propagate cacti that do not produce seeds, as well as save plants that have lost roots or the lower part of the stem. In this case, the stem can be divided into several parts, each of which takes root.
So, how to propagate cacti cuttings? As a material for reproduction, lateral processes are usually taken. If they are attached to the main stem with a small neck, then no additional preparation of the broken off process (children) is required.
It is simply dried for 2-3 days and put on rooting.
And how to plant a cactus shoot cut through the entire diameter of the plant? In this case, preparation is required in the form of sharpening the cut end to the diameter of the cambial ring. It is clearly visible on the cut. The cambial ring must not be damaged. Flat stems of epiphytes, such as epiphyllums, also require preparation before rooting. Sharpening of the stem is necessary for the formation of roots around the cambial ring. Without sharpening, the cut of the stem is pulled inward, and the roots form along its edges. Such roots are weaker and take a long time to form.
Like lateral processes, a sharpened stem necessarily needs drying of the damaged area in order to avoid fungal spores from getting onto a fresh, damp surface upon contact with the substrate. The dried layer of tissues is a barrier for them. To disinfect tissues and prevent their decay during rooting, sections can be sprinkled with sulfur powder or crushed charcoal. There is no consensus on the duration of drying. However, it is known that too long drying, with the formation of a thick crust, prevents the germination of roots. In some species of cacti, lateral processes form roots already on the mother stem. Such shoots can be immediately planted in a suitable pot. The shoots left on the stem take root over time.
Substrate for breeding cacti by children at home
Before rooting a cactus cutting, you need to prepare the right soil mixture. The substrate for propagation of cacti by shoots can be different. Sometimes very complex substrates are offered, including multi-layer ones using moss, peat chips and expanded clay (Udalova, Vyugina, 1983).
However, it is quite possible to limit yourself to simpler options. Wet cactus soil is poured into a wide but low container. From above it is sprinkled with a thin layer of coarse sand (boiled or calcined). Prepared cuttings are placed on the sand and everything is placed in a plastic bag, after which they are placed in a warm, bright place, but not in the sun.
In the process of rooting a cactus shoot, it is regularly sprayed. For spraying, you can use 0.3% hydrogen peroxide. After spraying, the cuttings are dried and placed back in the bag. You can also put the cuttings in a greenhouse with bottom heating. When propagating cacti by children, heating from below stimulates rooting.
Well-rooted cuttings are planted in pots prepared for them. Using the same technique, prepared cuttings can be rooted separately, directly into the pots intended for them. It is clear that in this case, a plant transplant is not required, and the emerging root system is not injured by the transplant.
In practice, there are cases when, when propagating cacti by cuttings, a significant part of the plant stem deteriorates, for example, with sunburn. In this case, the growth point may die, and the stem loses its ability to grow. Such a cactus does not decorate the collection with its appearance. In such situations, the upper part of the damaged stem can be cut off.
The lateral processes formed from the areoles of the cut stem, being rooted, will help not only to preserve this species, but also to increase the collection. Artificial removal of the growth point when planting cacti with shoots is also used to propagate species that do not produce lateral children and seeds on their own.
How to propagate cacti by cuttings: planting and rooting shoots
It is no secret that the rooting of cut cuttings does not always go quickly and successfully. In addition, there are species that are difficult to root, and it is not at all easy to get them to find new roots. For the successful rooting of cuttings of various plants, special stimulating substances have long been used.
Most often, natural growth hormone heteroauxin is used for cuttings of cacti. V.D. Lobko proposed a method using this stimulant for rooting cacti. For rooting cacti, actively growing cacti are selected and cuttings are cut from them.
In order not to introduce an infection, the instrument is disinfected after each cut. They also make sure that the juice of one cactus does not fall on the cut surface of another plant. Even the apical parts of the stems with a large cut area are suitable for rooting.
The composition of the stimulant includes potassium salt of heteroauxin, vitamin B, and a fungicide (chinosol, TMTD or other drugs). In 1 liter of boiled water, dilute 1 tablet of heteroauxin, 2 tablets of vitamin and 1 g of fungicide. The solution is prepared immediately before use in the right amount and used once.
The spaced cuttings are poured with a solution so that it covers their sections and the lower part. A pallet with cuttings is placed in a greenhouse. It is better to do this at night. In the morning, the solution is drained. In the future, the cuttings are kept at a temperature of 26-30 ° C, high humidity and low light.
With this mode, the process of root formation becomes noticeable after 5-6 days, and on the 8-10th day, most plants form roots. The cuttings planted in the ground (preferably looser than usual) are watered for the first time with a fungicide solution with vitamin B1. In addition to these methods, it is possible to root cuttings by hanging them at a short distance above the water.
Reproduction of cacti by grafting at home
Grafting cacti is a way to keep them and vegetative propagation. The essence of grafting is the splicing of hard-to-cultivate cacti with more viable plants that can ensure their growth and development. After grafting, both plants represent a single organism.
A valuable collection plant can be saved by grafting if at least part of the stem or areola with a small amount of tissue has been preserved.
Grafted plants usually grow faster, bloom earlier and more abundantly. At the same time, vaccinations are short-lived, and after a while the grafted plants have to be re-grafted or rooted.
On a cross section of a cactus stem, a ring of vascular bundles is clearly visible. For grafting cacti at home, it is desirable that the ring of vascular bundles of the grafted cactus (scion) be approximately equal in size to the ring of vascular bundles of the cactus on which it is grafted (stock).
If this is not possible, they achieve maximum alignment of the vascular bundles of the scion and rootstock, so that after fusion they form a single system of vascular pathways.
Appropriate tools and supplies are needed for grafting: a thin, sharp stainless steel knife, rubber rings to tighten the stock and scion, clean wipes to wipe the knife, alcohol to disinfect the tool, and sulfur to powder the remaining open sections.
The grafting technique is reduced to a series of operations. At the rootstock, the upper part of the stem is cut off, preferably in the initial part of the growth of the current year.
The sharp edges of the stem are cut off, otherwise the cut surface will be pulled inward when dried, and the fusion of the scion with the stock will be impossible. After that, with one movement of the knife, a thin plate is cut off on the rootstock and quickly superimposed on its place.
This is necessary so that the cut is absolutely fresh. They also make a cut on the scion and quickly impose it on the stock, removing the previously cut plate. Several rotational movements are made with a graft to displace air bubbles between the slices and maximize the alignment of the conductive bundles.
After that, several rubber rings are put on through the bottom of the rootstock pot and the stock with the scion is tightly pulled together. Rings should provide maximum pressure on the scion without injuring it.
The bare tissues of the stock are sprinkled with sulfur. In addition to rubber bands, other devices for squeezing the stems are also used, it is only important to provide the necessary compression force for the stock and scion.
The grafted plant is placed in a greenhouse, a hotbed or a plastic bag, and after the cut has dried, it is watered abundantly. Spraying can be started only after the fusion of the rootstock and scion. This takes at least one week. Rubber rings or other devices are better to overexpose than to remove early.
The most favorable time for grafting is summer, when plants grow intensively.
In addition to the described method, for some species, mainly epiphytes, “wedge” (Aporocactus, Rhipsalis, Schlumbergera) and “split” (Rhipsalis, Schlumbergera) grafting is used. The best universal rootstocks are representatives of the genus Eriocereus, Echinocereus, Trichocereus, Selenicereus and some others. For seedlings, a good stock is Hylocereus triangularis, and for epiphytic cacti, Pereskia aculeata. Rootstock stems should be soft and juicy. Plants with hard woody stems are unsuitable for grafting.
Grafting certainly makes it easier to maintain difficult cactus species and can save a valuable plant from death. However, many years of experience in growing plants has shown that with proper care, almost any difficult species can be kept on their own roots, in conditions that differ little from the content of the entire collection.
Most likely, it will take much more time before they start flowering than grafted specimens, but it’s worth it. Grafted cacti, despite the difference of opinions, are hardly the decoration of the collection in the full sense and an indicator of the high level of cultivation of exotic plants.
