Encouraging Gymnocalycium to pup

[BarryRice]

Hey Guys,

I'd like to propagate some of my Gymnocalycium plants. Since I'm fond of some of the clones in particular, I'd like to do this vegetatively. Is there a way to encourage or force them to pup? I've read about drilling the meristem out of Echinocactus grusonii, and while that barbaric-seeming tactic sounds extreme to me, would it work on Gymnocalycium?

I know that some Gymnocalycium pup, but do they all? It seems that some are rather shy about this....

Cheers

Barry

[CoronaCactus]

Yes, drilling the meristem will cause it to pup, a hot knitting needle or large pin will do the same without as much visible damage to the plant. This should work for virtually any cactus. Otherwise, sit back and wait You'll have some wait time anyway, even with the drilling/hot pin trick.

A lot of Gymno's pup naturally, some do not.

[Peterthecactusguy]

basically any damage to any type of cacti to the meristem will cause it to "pup". We have a saguaro that someone (not me) hit with a weed whacker. It destroyed most of the top part of the cactus, BUT it has grown a new "pup" off the main stem. I sorta wonder if it will make it to be a huge giant or if it will not grow very tall..

As for Gymnos, I am not expert, but the ones I have ( the goofy moon cacti, I didnt have the heart to kill for the Hylocereus stock) they pup insanely fast. As was stated already, some Gymnos pup and some dont.