You probably remember our “Cherry Red” Trichocereus Grandiflorus cactus, the one with the bright red or hot pink flowers. Well, today it was time to separate the overcrowded parent from the pups in the original pot.
Bob took his circular saw to the plastic pot in order to cleanly remove the cactus and its roots. The result is seen at the right – the cactus sans pot on a camo tarp. The tarp was there to retain the soil that we brushed away from the roots. The residual soil went into the transplant pots along with some local sandy soil.
The yield was the original main cactus and a bunch of pups ranging from mature to very small. All were transplanted into pots except for the very small pup which went into the ground in my xeriscape garden outside the courtyard main gate.
Before attempting to separate the cactus and pups, we consulted with several on-line sources describing methods for separating cacti of this type. We think that some of the pups that broke off of a main stem without the roots will develop them in their new pots (or in the ground) over time. The main cactus and larger pups had partial root systems that made it into the new pots.
We’re hoping that eventually we will have bright red flowers happening all over the courtyard and xeriscape instead of all in one place. You can see from the photos below that we are spread out a bit now. Click on any image to enlarge.
I have to ask…..what kind of gloves do you wear when you do this.
Damsel’s having trouble signing into the blog.
We wear gloves, but do not handle the cactus with our hands at all. Glochids and Spikes go right through leather work gloves. We use tools, tongs, towels and whatever to come in contact with the cactus. Just not our hands.
Didn’t know they were that nasty!