Hi all, this could also be called "The Day Eileen Came To Stay!"

I have a Trichocereus Bridgesii - I've named her "Eileen."

Problem is that she has no roots - so how do I encourage her to grow some?

Do I :
- just place her in potting mix and water her, keeping her in a warm spot...
- don't plant her until she roots and then plant her...
- pot her up and put her in my heat tray arrangement...

The list of questions could go on - but simply the question for now is - how do I get her moving on?

Yes I am after her sister Roseii and her brother Bruce too - and this info will be just as pertinent for them. In fact one member of the family is a little Psycho0 and he has the same problem.

Actually, I'm trying to root them all. Any help appreciated.

Calycium

Hey mate.

I have used heaps of different methods for rooting and find the following the simplest and easiest.

1. Take a pot, the size you want the plant to grow in for the first year.
2. Fill it to 3/4 full with cacti mix.
3. Pour in small rocks (1 - 4mm) to a depth half as deep as the cuting is wide.
4. Push cutting into the rocks only and put it in a warm semi shade spot.
5. Check for roots in one month.

Very easy and you don't have to re-pot once the roots grow.

HN beat me to it

I just use crapola potting mix with sand (bout 50/50) for rooting cuts and tips, not a good mix if you want them to live in the container for more than one season but soil mixes are covered elsewhere on the forum i think. In a smallish pot (up to you really)for the first coupla months, they will fill that with roots quickly, then they are ready for planting out OR if you have a dozen or so cuts just fill a styro box and use that.
If the cuts are well calloused i give them a good water as soon as i put them in and then give them a semi shaded position, they shoot roots in no time whereas cuts i just sit in a dry mix seem to take a lot longer to throw roots. The moisture stimulates rooting imo. Let the cutting get a good root mass before planting out or potting on, fairly easy to tell by the stability of the cut or when you see the roots coming out the drainage holes . A good indicator is if i can pick up the cut by the tip and the pot doesn't fall off. Tight root ball
Rooting lots of cuts in a styro box is a good way to create a fence in no time. Lots of boxes of cuts all in a row, just cut away the sides and slide out the bottom of the box then give them a little more room each, back fill, water and feed, TOO EASY


Some cuts take a long time to shoot out roots, others seem to form them in days even cuts from the same log. Patience as always

PD,
great bit of extra info - in particular I picked up that they like to be watered too. Will set about potting her up and watering her , armed with the above info.

cheers - and thanks.

why do Trichocereus have such weird names

Yeah I agree with what PD said. I'm not sure why but most trichos, and other cacti too, root faster when the soil below is moist. The plant seems to know where the water is and it sends out roots to find it

By some weird coincidence, a couple of weeks backI got hold of some TB cuts of the very exact same variety!

Normally Im pretty slack with cactus cuttings and just stick them in a pot of potting mix out in the backyard. Seems to work...

Anyway ive read that perlite is good for striking cacti so Id give it a go. I have 3 tip cuttings: put one into straight perlite, another into 50/50 cactus mix/perlite, and the last one into straight cactus mix. (Cactus mix= debco cactus potting mix).

They go outside during the day (well lit but no direct sun yet). And at nite I bring em inside and leave them where the soil is kept slightly warm (25-30C). I have heard that heat can stimulate root production. Gave them a light watering at the outset and another when they felt dry a couple of days back.

I started them about 13 days ago but last nite there were no roots.

Also I read about someone who got a cactus cut to produce roots quickly by using a sock over the end of a cutting, (I couldn't tell whether the sock they used was dry or damp or whatever). So about 2 days ago i put a sock (dry) over the end of a cereus cutting.. Ill let you know how it works out.

Hi Charlie, how did your experiment go?