25 January 2009
Vegetative propagation of Mammillaria luethyi
Posted by Stuart under: Cacti .
I bought a bloated, many-headed graft of Mammillaria luethyi at the BCSS National Show last September, along with a couple of lovely little plants of the same species on their own roots. The graft came from Terry Edney, and I spent a little time talking to him about the possibility of chopping up the grafted plant and rooting individual heads.
He seemed to think that it would be no problem, and that Mammillaria luethyi cuttings will root easily enough.
His suggestion was to take cuttings in January, when the plants are at their most desiccated, and keep them somewhere warm sitting on top of dry sand.
I don’t use sand, so, as you can see, the trusty Tesco’s premium lightweight cat litter is being employed instead. If these four heads root down successfully, I shall gradually dismantle the graft, and use it as a stock plant for production of more of them.