Copyright © Claude Bourleau. All rights reserved.
Cuttings
Cutting of S. tiraquensis v. totorensis
HS 151 a/1 from previous year after 3 days
in the water.
Heating tray
The goal of the heating tray is to provide some bottom heat to the plants. You can of course use an electric window sill propagator but if you want a larger installation just do it yourself. You can find in any garden centre heating cables and ground thermostat to built your own heating tray.
The heating tray is very useful in the greenhouse :
- It is almost necessary for seedlings but it is also helpful for cuttings. These tend to root easier and more quickly with some bottom heat.
- When the cutting is planted in the soil it can be kept on the heating tray for some time. The roots development is boosted.
- If the soil of a plant is too wet and it doesn’t dry quick enough because the weather is too cool, it can be placed on the heating tray : it will dry out more quickly and the bottom heat will fight the “cold – wet” combination I have already talked about.
The easiest way to propagate Sulcorebutias is from cuttings. Most of them produce a lot of offsets. All those offsets can be use as cuttings.
Take off carefully the offset from the main stem and let it dry for about a week. Afterward I set out the cuttings on clay grains and I spray them frequently (I try to do so in the morning and in the evening). When the roots start appearing, I repot the cuttings in the usual soil.
Sometimes it is even easier : some of the offsets are already rooted. In this case, I just let them dry for 2 or 3 days and afterward they can be repotted in the usual soil.
All those operations cannot be done in the full sun. When the cutting shows some sign of growth, then it can be gradually exposed in the full sun.
How to save an old cutting ?
If you still have some dehydrated, unrooted cuttings from previous year, you can always try to soak them in water. Sometimes, if you are lucky, it works : after only 2 or 3 days a root might appear.
You can repot the rooted cutting in the usual substrate and soak it.
Afterward, the soil must be kept wet but not soaked.
After 5 or 6 weeks the cutting should be perfectly rooted !
If you still have some dehydrated, unrooted cuttings from previous year, you can always try to soak them in water. Sometimes, if you are lucky, it works : after only 2 or 3 days a root might appear.
You can repot the rooted cutting in the usual substrate and soak it.
Afterward, the soil must be kept wet but not soaked.
After 5 or 6 weeks the cutting should be perfectly rooted !
