I am trying to grow San Pedro cactus from cutting but so far no luck. I have some in pots, some in Arizona soil, some in potting soil, some in 50/50 sand/potting soil mix, small cuttings, medium cuttings and large cuttings.
Small cuttings. 40 in small pots watered often rotted and died in 1 week. 36 in small pots no water dried up and died. 20 in small pots water 1 time a week dried up and died.
15 cuttings 3" diameter, 12" long planted in Arizona for a month, no roots, no growth.
16 cuttings 3" diameter, 4" to 7" long with rooting powder in pots 50/50 sand/potting soil mix, no roots, no growth.
Instructions online says, San Pedro cactus should not be planted deeper than 1/32" deep. That is basically just setting the cactus on the soil. Nothing happening after a month.
Another place online says, roots only grow from where the needles are. It is logical this means the cuttings need to be planted deep enough so the soil covers several of the needles. Been planted like this for a month nothing happening yet.
Cactus is usually the easiest plant in the world to grow. I can put any other type cactus in 50/50 sand/potting soil water it every day and it will have roots 1/2" long a week later. I can throw a piece of some other type cactus on the cement driveway water it every day and a week later it will have roots 1/2" long. Cactus will grow upside down, right side up, or laying on its side. Never had a problem growing cactus before.
San Pedro is NOT a desert cactus. It grows in the Andes mountains at high elevation in fertile soil where they get lots of rain, snow, ice and blizzards in the winter.
Has anyone grown San Pedro cactus from cuttings?
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Gary350
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Trying to grow San Pedro from cuttings?
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Or maybe they need more time to root? That's all I can think of at this time. A month is a long time but maybe they need 2? I would think you would have roots in a months time though. Are these properly calloused? If not, that may be the reason for no roots. You need to let them callous for AT LEAST 2 weeks after you cut them before planting them.
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Gary350
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The cold weather has been the problem getting cactus to root. Now that the temperature is in the 80s every day cactus is easy to root and grow.
Soil MUST be 50/50 sand and potting soil mix for excellent drainage. Be sure to use good potting soil that junk that looks like chopped sticks SUCKS. Miracle grow works good.
Fill flower pots with the sand/potting soil mix. Put the cactus in the soil about 1" to 3" deep depending on how large your cactus cuttings are.
The larger the cuttings the better success you will have getting them to grow roots. Very small cuttings may dry out and die before they grow roots.
I planted 2" long cutting, 4", 6", 8", 10" 12" and 1". The 1" cuttings dried up and died. The 6" and larger have roots and are all growing new tops.
Cuttings are working the best. Cut to length let them dry for a week before planting. Put cuttings in flower pot water every even. They will grow roots pretty quick, some cuttings grow roots faster than others. Not sure why. Most cutting grow roots within 2 weeks and new tops within a month.
I put a new cutting in the soil and watered it. 2 days later I decided to move it to a different flower pot it has 3/4" long roots already. Wow that was quick.
I have some cactus in full sun, some in partial sun, and some in the shade. It seems like the cactus in the shade roots the quickest but once it has rooted partial sun is best until the new tops start to grow then move the flower pots to full sun. Water every day and fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer cactus will grow 1/2" per week.
Soil MUST be 50/50 sand and potting soil mix for excellent drainage. Be sure to use good potting soil that junk that looks like chopped sticks SUCKS. Miracle grow works good.
Fill flower pots with the sand/potting soil mix. Put the cactus in the soil about 1" to 3" deep depending on how large your cactus cuttings are.
The larger the cuttings the better success you will have getting them to grow roots. Very small cuttings may dry out and die before they grow roots.
I planted 2" long cutting, 4", 6", 8", 10" 12" and 1". The 1" cuttings dried up and died. The 6" and larger have roots and are all growing new tops.
Cuttings are working the best. Cut to length let them dry for a week before planting. Put cuttings in flower pot water every even. They will grow roots pretty quick, some cuttings grow roots faster than others. Not sure why. Most cutting grow roots within 2 weeks and new tops within a month.
I put a new cutting in the soil and watered it. 2 days later I decided to move it to a different flower pot it has 3/4" long roots already. Wow that was quick.
I have some cactus in full sun, some in partial sun, and some in the shade. It seems like the cactus in the shade roots the quickest but once it has rooted partial sun is best until the new tops start to grow then move the flower pots to full sun. Water every day and fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer cactus will grow 1/2" per week.
That's awesome Gary. I'm glad they started rooting for you. Now, all you have to do is see how many you can get going. The more the merrier! Congratulations, and thanks for the tips you threw in there as well. All I know is that if I lived out west, I'd build a huge greenhouse, and grow as many cacti and succulents as possible. I'm not sure I could do it here. I mean, it would have to be heated....$$$$$$$
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Gary350
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I am from Tennessee my yard there is 3/4 acre and I have more cactus growing in TN than I do in AZ. There is no reason you can not be growing cactus too. Cactus is very winter hardy it grows in the mountains where they get blizzards some times it snows 3 feet over night. There is different cactus at every elevation of the mountain. Some cactus do good at 2000 ft and some do good at 8000 ft. San Pedro grows best at 5000 ft in Peru where they get rain every day and the soil is fertile, it does good in TN and AZ too. My TN yard has 100s of cactus every where it all does fine. We get cold weather and snow but its not too bad, sometimes 3 weeks of 17 degree weather with snow at night then 40 during the day. I have about 1/2 my cactus in pots so I can move them to mow grass it sure beats trying to weed around a cactus and getting my fingers full of needles. Pots can be moved inside during bad weather or plants can be covered up. I don't baby my plants if they die I don't care its just too much work to baby the plants all the time. I still own the TN house my son lives there now and the yard is full of cactus, more cactus than AZ. Cactus is harder to grow in AZ it is too dry it will die if I don't water it. We don't get enough rain in the desert to keep cactus alive so I have to water it. The trick to growing cactus is 50/50 sand/potting soil mix = well drained soil. Cactus grows under the worse possible conditions, desert sand or rock that has NO food value and very little water. If you feed and water a cactus it will grow faster than a weed. You do not need a green house to grow cactus in cold weather and snow.baileysup wrote:That's awesome Gary. I'm glad they started rooting for you. Now, all you have to do is see how many you can get going. The more the merrier! Congratulations, and thanks for the tips you threw in there as well. All I know is that if I lived out west, I'd build a huge greenhouse, and grow as many cacti and succulents as possible. I'm not sure I could do it here. I mean, it would have to be heated....$$$$$$$
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dizzylizzy
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grrlgeek
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Hi Everyone,
Being new here, I'm thrilled to find a topic that I actually know a teeny bit about. This post is a little old, but thought I'd share some Pedro wisdom that I've collected over the last 30 years that I've been growing him.
First, don't be nice to him. San Pedro cactus is extremely forgiving; rather, rewarding is more like it, to those who don't make a fuss. I've had cuttings grow 5 inches over 4 months while leaning up against the books in a bookshelf. No dirt, no water, no sunlight. They just start growing. In fact, the more stressed they are, the more blooms you will get shortly after doing something nice for them.
Leave a cut piece out for a couple days (kinda like folks do with seed potatoes when you cut them before planting.) Once the wound has healed to be dry to the touch, stick it in the dirt. I've usually put 3-4" or so underground, less with little skinny babies, but much more, up to 12" if it's a heavy stalk (5+ feet) otherwise, they'll just fall over. I've also planted without healing the cut end. I don't think it cares either way. But with very deep plantings, it's probably a safer bet to let it heal.
You can also cut the tip off (or at any point along the stalk). Little baby cactus will sprout from a spine on the side of the stalk. You could cut a 16" stalk into 3 or 4 chunks, and end up with lots of little baby cactuses. Really, Pedro is amazing at propagating himself. Just be patient. Or at least try not to think about it because he will do things in his own time.
You can lay a cutting that you think has shriveled and died on its side on the ground and sprinkle lightly with a spade of dirt. And by dirt, I mean dirt. It doesn't even have to be very good dirt. It will produce little baby cactuses along the length that will grow up into a nice little stand.
I've got a little stand in a terra cotta pot of dirt - not soil, just "dirt" that's been in the pot easily 15 years. It's in the back yard where it may or may not get some sprinkler spray. I don't even check. Sometimes I remove the clutter of pine needles that overflow the pot. I've never fed it. It grows a couple inches a year. Occasionally it flowers. They started out at about 6-10" pieces above ground. The stalks are between 3-4' high now.
I carried 30 or so potted stands of cactus from rental to rental until I bought my first house in 1994. There, they all went into the dirt. The ex-hubby still lives in the house, and from time to time, he texts me that they're growing up into the eaves again and I should come get some cuttings before he takes a chainsaw to them. The stand grows vertically about a foot a year. My current house got a little stand from these cuttings installed in 2008. The cuttings sat in my trunk for a couple weeks, then in the garage on the floor for another month or more. I jackhammered the cement dirt in the front yard and poked them all in the ground on Memorial Day weekend 2008.
They can grow quite rapidly, but I've observed that is more the case when stressed. If they're happy, they get fatter instead, and the vertical growth is more gradual. If you're getting slender light green growth at the tip, it's under stress, but that will eventually fill out once established, sometimes leaving behind an "hourglass" shape at that point in the stalk. Even withered and scarred, they are not necessarily dead. But don't over-water. I lost a stand this year. We converted a lot of front yard to rock garden with drip irrigation and I gave the cactus it's own drippers. I think it was way too wet in poor-draining soil, and we had a wicked freezing time this past winter. Most of the stalks rotted at the ground level. They turned yellowish black and fell over. Time to pay a visit to the ex and get more cuttings.
Hope you find some or any of that info useful, and good luck with your garden!
Greetings,
Devon
Being new here, I'm thrilled to find a topic that I actually know a teeny bit about. This post is a little old, but thought I'd share some Pedro wisdom that I've collected over the last 30 years that I've been growing him.
First, don't be nice to him. San Pedro cactus is extremely forgiving; rather, rewarding is more like it, to those who don't make a fuss. I've had cuttings grow 5 inches over 4 months while leaning up against the books in a bookshelf. No dirt, no water, no sunlight. They just start growing. In fact, the more stressed they are, the more blooms you will get shortly after doing something nice for them.
Leave a cut piece out for a couple days (kinda like folks do with seed potatoes when you cut them before planting.) Once the wound has healed to be dry to the touch, stick it in the dirt. I've usually put 3-4" or so underground, less with little skinny babies, but much more, up to 12" if it's a heavy stalk (5+ feet) otherwise, they'll just fall over. I've also planted without healing the cut end. I don't think it cares either way. But with very deep plantings, it's probably a safer bet to let it heal.
You can also cut the tip off (or at any point along the stalk). Little baby cactus will sprout from a spine on the side of the stalk. You could cut a 16" stalk into 3 or 4 chunks, and end up with lots of little baby cactuses. Really, Pedro is amazing at propagating himself. Just be patient. Or at least try not to think about it because he will do things in his own time.
You can lay a cutting that you think has shriveled and died on its side on the ground and sprinkle lightly with a spade of dirt. And by dirt, I mean dirt. It doesn't even have to be very good dirt. It will produce little baby cactuses along the length that will grow up into a nice little stand.
I've got a little stand in a terra cotta pot of dirt - not soil, just "dirt" that's been in the pot easily 15 years. It's in the back yard where it may or may not get some sprinkler spray. I don't even check. Sometimes I remove the clutter of pine needles that overflow the pot. I've never fed it. It grows a couple inches a year. Occasionally it flowers. They started out at about 6-10" pieces above ground. The stalks are between 3-4' high now.
I carried 30 or so potted stands of cactus from rental to rental until I bought my first house in 1994. There, they all went into the dirt. The ex-hubby still lives in the house, and from time to time, he texts me that they're growing up into the eaves again and I should come get some cuttings before he takes a chainsaw to them. The stand grows vertically about a foot a year. My current house got a little stand from these cuttings installed in 2008. The cuttings sat in my trunk for a couple weeks, then in the garage on the floor for another month or more. I jackhammered the cement dirt in the front yard and poked them all in the ground on Memorial Day weekend 2008.
They can grow quite rapidly, but I've observed that is more the case when stressed. If they're happy, they get fatter instead, and the vertical growth is more gradual. If you're getting slender light green growth at the tip, it's under stress, but that will eventually fill out once established, sometimes leaving behind an "hourglass" shape at that point in the stalk. Even withered and scarred, they are not necessarily dead. But don't over-water. I lost a stand this year. We converted a lot of front yard to rock garden with drip irrigation and I gave the cactus it's own drippers. I think it was way too wet in poor-draining soil, and we had a wicked freezing time this past winter. Most of the stalks rotted at the ground level. They turned yellowish black and fell over. Time to pay a visit to the ex and get more cuttings.
Hope you find some or any of that info useful, and good luck with your garden!
Greetings,
Devon
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Gary350
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Don't get peru apple cactus confused with san pedro cactus. Both are from peru and both look almost identical sometimes. Both have 6 rows of needles, young plants may have only 5 rows, older plants may have 7 rows of needles. You need to look at some photos to see the difference.
These are peru apple cactus.
These are san pedro cactus. See how they look more filled out and fatter.
These are peru apple cactus.
These are san pedro cactus. See how they look more filled out and fatter.
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dougiequick
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I planted several cuttings over a year ago now. I waited like 6 weeks before planting and used cactus mix planting mix. They all took except for one, which after a very long time turned very pale and looks a bit deflated ...I tried repotting it but noticed instead of any roots it had like a bulb shoot underground Thinking I might have planted it upside down? The other end LOOKED like the top because it tapers sort of to rounded but with a black spot off one side and the other end was sliced like all the other cuttings ...now I am wondering if was like a 20" unstable off shoot where the black is where it broke off ?? then to explain the cut other end that it was cut in half to produce two 10" cuttings or whatever? I don't know but it seems so strange that all the other cutting grew roots but not it?? I did not have the heart to toss it in the trash so I just planted in the ground....funny thing is I swear there is a little green on one side after a month like this where there was none I recall? Maybe it hated being in a pot and likes this mountain natural soil better?? Side note this species grows so slow compared to some others, huh? I wish I had taken photos now, some appear taller but others I am not sure ...none have sprouted branching segments at all or anything.....but I mean how much could they grown in pots anyway??
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