I have a few massive pieces I need to root and they're definitely too big for my standard method of throwing them in a pot with perlite until nubs pop out. I made the cuts a week ago and dusted them with honey bear rooting powder. I know I gotta give these a month or so to fully callous but I'm not sure what the plan is after that.
by ObligatoryMull
12 Comments
Big cuttings need to really dry out and often take a long time to root. After drying I put mine in a bucket of dry soil mix or pumice, place in full sun and tie it to the pillar of my patio.
Put in a pot with a stick for support and lean it up against something or tie that to something sturdy. I’d let root for at least a year before putting it in the ground.
Gotta leave them upright to have the plant learn its orientation!
I would cut them into smaller pieces and root them that way. you can easily quadruple your inventory that way.
I rooted a big cutting like that this year. I embedded the cutting deep in the pot and put a metal rod on each side to hold it upright. To avoid rot where the cutting was under the soil level the used my regular soil mix on the potting of the pot and very high pumice mix on the sides of the cutting. Pumice also adds weight to the pot to keep it from falling over.
The cutting rooted very fast and is ready for an up-pot now.
Same way as a small one lol but maybe use some bamboo sticks to hold them up.
If you don’t mind you can always cut them into 12” sections and just root that way.
Wen the Root that big you get flowers easy
Big stakes and lots of sun
I have had good luck putting them in dried out (dry after taking out of bags) soil in their container face up tied to a stake with garden tie and then just putting them in my tebt with all my other cacti. After about a month they shrivel a bit theb I hit them with tiny doses of water leading into normal watering ove like 5 weeks after the first month. I also use liquid kelp and quillaja powder which promote excellent root growth
Some fat ones
Planting in a pot or in the ground? If in ground, can always do log style.
san pedro mastery has these two vids with some good tips on bigger cuts
https://youtu.be/oWiMJma6X2o?si=dkOpEi_07ut6yjs7&t=304
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckby6k4oapk
TLDW: air pots, zip ties, stakes, and if burying deeper then make a mineral drainage barrier around the base which is also good advice for smaller cuttings tbh