by Andrew S.
(West Henrietta, NY)
Hello again!
So, I chopped some pieces of this rescued plant off and have put them in some soil.
I have not watered them yet (well, I watered half of them when I first planted them, the other half not at all). And a few of them have some little buds on them. I wasn’t sure if it was trying to flower, or just growing new segments, or what.
I think those are new leaves, which are actually modified stems, just for interests sake. The flower buds are quite distinctive; pointed, and larger than what those appear to be. However, those look pink, so it’s possible that they are flower buds. Let them get a little bigger before you deal with them one way or another.
I normally won’t allow them to get too carried away with blooming; sometimes it’s a last ditch effort to reproduce before they keel over for the last time, and it drains them of any energy that they have left.
You can rub them off once you’re sure they’re not leaves, and hope that there are leaf buds alongside them which the removal of the flower bud will allow to grow.
If you tug on the cuttings, do they resist being pulled out? This will indicate that they’re rooted!
The pale color of the cuttings tells me that they’re not quite there yet; they’re still surviving on the nutrients that they contain in the leaves, and they haven’t put out any roots to replace them yet.
Good job, Andrew – those look great!
Isn’t propagation exciting?
Jacki
Comments for Easter cactus cuttings
| Feb 28, 2013 |
Umm… by: Andrew S. Jacki, Remember how I said that I watered half of them when I first planted them? I went to tug on them to see how they were doing (none stuck at all) but I did notice this. I wasn’t looking at the soil earlier, and I’m concerned now. http://i.imgur.com/7l8eSQ7.jpg This is just one of them, this one had the most… eggs, spores, things. The other two that I initially watered also have them. Ah, yes I see. Those look like possibly some kind of mold or fungus. What is the soil that you’ve used? If it isn’t sterilized, this can be an issue. I would just find some sterilized soilless mix for your propagating, to make sure this doesn’t happen. The good news is that these are probably not harmful to plants, just unsightly and if it gets really carried away, it could plug the soil up. Scrape these off, if you’re at all worried, and let the soil dry out again. Hope that helps, Jacki |
