Cosmetic surgery

Multiplying your cacti vegetatively.
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Hanazono
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Cosmetic surgery

Post by Hanazono »

Astrophytum myriostigma seedlings tend to grow slender in my place. Grafted ones do not.
I cut bodies of two seedlings yesterday. It is just a cosmetic surgery but the operation is critical for two becase of cutting body.

Photo 1: Before cutting body
Photo 2: After cutting body, under drying process
Soft tissue will shrink during drying processs but skin will not. As the result, the skin is pushed up from cutting section after dried.
To minimize this problem, the cutting section is bevelled.

I use gardenlime as drying agent.
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Lupask01
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Re: Cosmetic surgery

Post by Lupask01 »

Well, I never experience A. myrostigma elongation, so I can't give you the correct answer.
However, it seems like your plants have some fungal issues. The orange spot around the stem, which I believed is the sign of fungal infection. I am correct?
The stem color is a little pale that I remember. Maybe they need more sun.
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Hanazono
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Re: Cosmetic surgery

Post by Hanazono »

G'morning Lupask01,

Thanks for your comment.
However, it seems like your plants have some fungal issues. The orange spot around the stem, which I believed is the sign of fungal infection. I am correct?
The stem color is a little pale that I remember. Maybe they need more sun.
The orange spots are scars of mealybug attacking.
These cacti are kept in a greenhouse and stopped watering last 4 month. Even if it was in winter, inside of greenhouse is not cold. As the result, mealybugs grow.

The myriostigma are not standard ones which are cultivar khoyo redbean. Their body colour were red in autum to spring and now retuning to green.
They will be green in summer.

I think one of reasons of elongation is weaker sunlight strength. My greenhouse is adjusted sunlight strength by shade cloth actually. The sunlight in here is too strong for some cacti and I adjust sunlight strength. Unfortunately I have kept various cacti in same greenhous and the adjutment work well for some cacit but it does not also for some cacti.

The temperature in summer reached to 45 'C and I try to keep inside temperature of greenhouse within 50 'C by shade cloth.

Frank
keith
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Re: Cosmetic surgery

Post by keith »

Soft tissue will shrink during drying processs but skin will not. As the result, the skin is pushed up from cutting section after dried.
To minimize this problem, the cutting section is bevelled. " :D

Yes that's what I do and I use roottone on the cut and place on clean sand over normal potting mix. A light spray of water at this time helps rooting. And the bottom rooted part part often grows new stems. A cactus friend from Texas gave me a dozen cuttings of Echinocereus knippelianus and many dozens of totem pole cactus BUT its almost Winter here so just like last year when he mailed me Mammillaria cuttings I expect no rooting until Spring and only half to make it because its cactus dormant season and the unrooted stems will dry out. Best to make cuttings during active growing season.

At least if you grow your cactus in cold frames.
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Hanazono
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Re: Cosmetic surgery

Post by Hanazono »

Two myriostigmas were rooted well. I pushed them from side and got enough resistance.
Rooting medium is 2~4 mm pumice sand.
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keith
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Re: Cosmetic surgery

Post by keith »

I'm trying to root some conophytum cuttings hope they root usually I root cactus . Growing season winter for them.
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Hanazono
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Re: Cosmetic surgery

Post by Hanazono »

I did a similar cosmetic surgery for an astrophytum myriostigma cv Onzuka several years ago.

Photo 1: Rooted top
Photo 2: Remained bottom which has one off-set. Since the off-set reached to 3 cm in diameter, I decided to remove it and to root.
Photo 3: Removed off-set
Photo 4: Set the off-set for rooting, it was done in this afternoon.
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