5 July 2008
Rooting Maihuenia patagonica
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti .
I’ve read that maihuenias in general can be quite stubborn to root, but have had no trouble propagating Maihuenia poeppigii. One of my three plants lost its roots and rotted at the base, and all of the sound branches that I removed rooted quickly and without any trouble; what I did with those was wait until they were fully callused and then water thoroughly and often - in effect treating them as I would the adult plant.
I received this cutting of Mahuenia patagonica, the other species now recognised in this rather enigmatic genus, a few months ago, before the parent plant had really had chance to fully hydrate itself. I wondered then whether it would oblige, and wasn’t at all surprised when the cutting began steadily to lose water mass.
I had been treating it the same way as I would a cutting of M. poeppigii, sitting it on top of a mixture of John Innes no. 2, cat litter, and grit, and watering it, and this clearly wasn’t working.
After a few weeks, I allowed it to dry out, and then left it to its own devices, fully expecting - as the base of the cutting had gone soft - that it would now slowly wither away and die.
Drying it out seemed to do the trick - the cutting now has the beginning of small roots showing, despite looking thoroughly dead.
One thing I would certainly recommend with this species is removing the lower spines of any joint before attempting to root it; they are quite stiff and you will probably need secateurs to do it, but it’s worth the effort as it will sit far more happily in its pot that way.