I have purchased some San Pedro cactus cuttings, and planted them in half perlyte half cactus soil. I planted them indoors next to the sun about two monthes ago. Half way through I decided to move them outside to get the warm Texas sun. The cuttings were very scabbed over when I received them in February. We just experienced a bit of a rain down here and my cuttings have gotten wet a couple of times. No roots have started to come in, the couple of times I have checked. Can anyone judge from the pictures and I wasting my time, have the cuttings gone bad? I followed the instructions that came with the cuttings from California. They weren't prime looking cuts to begin with. Please, any advise helps. As you can tell, in one pic it looks like mold is growing. Is this deadly to the cuttings now? They looked sickly from the beggining from the seller. Thanks
I just updated the title of this discussion so that it is more descriptive, increasing the chances that it will receive a response. A descriptive title will attract answers better than a vague title that does not describe what the topic is about.
I have about 50 San Pedros from cuttings they are hard to grow. San Pedros do not like direct sun, too much sun will make San Pedros turn yellow. I learned to plant my San Pedros on the north side of a shed and north side of house and north side of a brick fence they are doing great there they get shade almost all day. Too much rain or too much moisture in the soil will cause San Pedro to rot off at the ground and fall over. Soil needs to be 90% sand and a small amount of organic material. Plant your San Pedros a little bit high up, not a raised bed just a 3" hill. San Pedros are almost impossible to root in pots the soil moisture is too uneven. San Pedros like a very very well drained soil steady even moist all the time. San Pedros are extremely slow to root, some may die before they root. I have much better luck using rooting powder. You have almost missed your window of opportunity to root your San Pedros they do best in 70 degree weather out side in a shady place in sandy well drained soil that stays moist.
Some of my San Pedros have rooted in 1 month and some take 3 months. Sometimes the San Pedros look like they are almost dead then I notice they are starting to have 2 or 3 buds grow out the sides.
First year I tried to grow San Pedros I lost about 90% of my plants. It took 3 years of experementing to learn what works best. I have a house in Arizona and Tennessee I have about 50 San Pedros in the AZ back yard. I use to have a much better cactus crop in TN but I got rid of all my TN cactus last summer.
Cactus is a crazy plant it can grow it the worse conditions and survive but you give it good growing conditions it grows faster than weeds. My Tennessee cactus totally took over the whole 3/4 acres yard it was everywhere and 6 feet tall. It turned into such a nightmare to keep up with I had to get rid of it.
I had no San Pedros in TN. All of my TN cactus was planted in hills of sand/poting soil 50/50 mix. The guy that runs the cactus garden in Phoenix says, San Pedros is not a cactus. I forgot what he called it.
By the way, full direct sun in AZ is not the same as full direct sun back east like in TN and other states. AZ is big sky country, no trees and no clouds. Full direct sun is 14 hours ALL day. TN trees block the sun no direct sun until 9 am and nothing after 6 pm and lots of clouds that equals 9 hours of 50% direct sun = about 4.5 hrs of direct sun that is about 1/4 what we get in AZ.
Put rooting powder on the whole bottom half of your cactus cutting then plant the bottom half. Water your San Pedros with ice cubes it melts slow and keeps them moist. If nothing seems to be happening after a month remove the soil look see if it is starting to root. No roots add more rooting powder and keep trying. Once they start to root the roots will grow very fast about 1" a week.
Suggestion. Photo looks like you have some short pieces. Put rooting powder on the whole cactus plant the whole thing so only the top tip end about 1" stick out of the soil. The more soil contact you have the better your chances of getting it to root.
It makes no difference if you plant San Pedros right side up or upside down or on their side they don't care they still grow. Often I take small pieces put rooting powder on the whole cutting then lay the cutting on its side and cover the whole thing with soil. Cover it so there is about 1/4" soil over the cutting. When it starts to grow you will see tiny little cactus coming up through the soil.
