Opuntia cutting in water

[DesertSun]

I made an experiment to see if two Opuntia cuttings would take root if placed in water.
It seems to be working alright! One of them has already showing small root, I am waiting for the other.
Has anyone tried propagating in water? I do this with succulents, but never tried with cacti.
I am pondering if water rooting of cacti would have any problems when potted in soil.
*I am into learning the resizing thing and I will then upload photos of how it's going.

[ElieEstephane]

The fast answer is that water roots are not as good soil roots. Water roots have water easily available to them while soil roots work harder to search for moisture. So it's better to root in soil. Cacti and succulents root very well in soil. You can try to induce roots in a very high humidity environment and then place in the soil. I only tried this methof for 2 very stubborn cuttings.
Water rooting gives the risk of infection and rot.

[DesertSun]

Uh oh, that means trouble for sure! I must put them in soil, will do today! Thank you for your output Elie! Whenever I tried to root succulents in high humidity I never had luck, they were all rotting. I even bought myself one of these plastic propagation containers that have two slide openings, so I left those ones open for 15 min. per day, still to no avail.
But I am having better luck with leaves left on soil. I would like to start a thread with my propagating mistakes and small victories, it would be interesting to see over time what worked and what not!

[ElieEstephane]

It's always best to propagate directly in the soil as this will reduce disturbances to the new fragile root system.
As for the thread, feel free to start a member's topic!

[DesertSun]

That's how they are looking right now. If I put them in soil I guess I have to follow the "no watering" rule or should I water some? Also, here is another cutting from my Hatiora gaertneri (Easter cactus), so I am planting her too.
Hope I got the resizing thing correct, let's see.

[ElieEstephane]

If you have a warm sunny windowsill, then you can water