| Rooting zygocactus? | |
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Eck
Number of posts : 107 Location : VIC Registration date : 2012-12-04
| Subject: Rooting zygocactus? Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:48 am | |
| Can anyone suggest a fool-proof method/medium for rooting leaf segments of zygocactus & similar?
The trick seems to be finding an environment/medium that's moist for long enough, to encourage roots to form - but not so much as to rot them.
Having no luck at all. Thanks. | |
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Walker87 Calm and Collected
Number of posts : 298 Location : Melbourne Registration date : 2014-03-01
| Subject: Re: Rooting zygocactus? Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:11 pm | |
| Hi Eck, I have never had any luck only using leaf segments. My only tip if you havent already tried it would be to partially break the leaf segment and allow it to partially dry while still attached to the plant. This should help it form a calus capable of producing new roots. I saw that method somewhere before (unsure of where) I have never tried it myself. I just wait until I can spare a woody piece of growth and use that.
Hope that helps & good luck! | |
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Eck
Number of posts : 107 Location : VIC Registration date : 2012-12-04
| Subject: Re: Rooting zygocactus? Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:15 pm | |
| - Walker87 wrote:
... I just wait until I can spare a woody piece of growth and use that. It's a small specimen and the woody stem had rotted. In a last ditch attempt to save, I'm trying a cheap plastic food container (16x16x5 cm) filled with 1 cm of fine seed raising mix. Being sealed, the soil went in virtually dry with the leaf segments placed flat on top. Checked this morning and noticed moisture had formed under the leaf segments despite the dry soil. Fingers crossed. | |
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Cereoid
Number of posts : 137 Location : Sydney Registration date : 2013-04-04
| Subject: Re: Rooting zygocactus? Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:58 pm | |
| I have great success with mine by just half-burying lengths of any number of segments in normal potting soil and keeping moist, with or without a drying/callousing period. I've done it in water too but it's more trouble than the benefit it could give. I do it in almost heavy shade and my only problem is that scales sometimes find and infest them. My plants look like S. russelliana but I don't know. Is your plant a new hybrid? They're bred for their flowers so are probably not as tough as the original species but I don't know. If nothing else works then maybe you might be able to graft them. | |
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rickyscactus
Number of posts : 118 Location : sydney Registration date : 2013-08-22
| Subject: Re: Rooting zygocactus? Sun Mar 16, 2014 7:41 pm | |
| I have not had a Zygocactus for many years, i think the more segments of the plant the better, 4-5 segments will have more of a chance than obviously 1 segment. About a year ago i successfully grafted one segment on to pereskiopsis, it grew quite well. The only problem i think was that it was under fluoros, it grew for about 6-10 months, then it started to drop a few segments from the top, i put it in the greenhouse with natural light, it held for a bit then i lost the Zygo, the pereskiopsis was still ok. | |
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Eck
Number of posts : 107 Location : VIC Registration date : 2012-12-04
| Subject: Re: Rooting zygocactus? Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:28 am | |
| Thanks for relating your experiences. I was surprised at the idea of rooting them in water but apparently it works. Googling I found this document: CACSS_Article_Rooting_Epiphytic_Cacti_In_AZ_Leo_Martin.PDF
I had a three segment piece so I've stood it a small spice jar and filled it with 5mm of water. Will see what happens.
The pic of the grafted segment looks great. Haven't tried grafting. I get the impression grafting with pereskiopsis requires a complicated setup (tall enclosed humid environment?) | |
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terracottacactus
Number of posts : 40 Location : USDA 10 Registration date : 2013-09-24
| Subject: Re: Rooting zygocactus? Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:04 pm | |
| Nope. I coke bottle with the bottom cut off will work fine!
After a little trial an error pere grafting is super, super easy. | |
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Eck
Number of posts : 107 Location : VIC Registration date : 2012-12-04
| Subject: Re: Rooting zygocactus? Sun Sep 21, 2014 6:15 pm | |
| Here's an update to my attempts propagating zygo from segments. In the attached photo one can see 3 segments. All have roots and one has already started to offset. Two segments were lost awhile back - either never rooted or began to but died. I think the "trick" to propagating segments is doing it close to growing season. For those who may be wondering, the thing in the centre is a Euphorbia Obesa. There is only so much room in the propagation box... | |
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