The substance that appears to be cotton fibers is actually a fine wax made by adult cochineal scale insects, and the little black specks may be their nymphs. On cholla (Cylindropuntia spp.) and prickly pear (Opuntia spp.) cactus, it is typical in this region. The white beards that resemble those on other cacti, such as the Peruvian old man (Espostoa lanata) and Peruvian old woman (Espostoa melanostele), are not an insect byproduct but rather typical, healthy changed tissues. Landscape chollas and prickly pears have a white waxy coating produced by cochineal scale that helps shield these actual bugs from predators and insecticides.
I’ve seen prickly pear pads covered in that white fluff almost entirely. Mild infestations, like the ones Doa Ana County Extension Master Gardener Dael Goodman and I saw at in Las Cruces earlier new week, are more typical. In New Mexico, there are multiple native cholla and prickly pear species. There are numerous of them in the Goodmans’ front yard, and we immediately noted that some species were more affected by the cochineal scale than others.
Topical pesticides, especially natural ones like petroleum oils and insecticidal soaps, are unlikely to be effective no matter what time of year it is if the insects are shielded by a white covering. Also, keep in mind that the ultimate goal isn’t to completely eradicate cochineal scale from your garden—partially that’s impossible—but rather to control the populations of insect pests until beneficial insects come to the rescue.
You will be shocked to see a bright red liquid that seems to appear out of nowhere if you squeeze a glob of the white goo that has healthy females hidden inside. Carmine, a natural dye used for millennia to color textiles and create artwork, is produced inside the bodies of cochineal scale insects. Because this carmine component is also utilized in red foods and cosmetics like sausages, lipstick, pie fillings, and vividly colored alcoholic beverages, check product labels for it. Before the firm converted to an artificial dye in 2006, it was used to create the vibrant color of Campari liquor, but a new generation of craft distillers and other producers are increasingly adopting it as a substitute for synthetic red components.
Goodman and I attempted to film the flowing red fluids squeezing the white tufts on her prickly pear pads with a small stick, but we hardly noticed any redness. The female cochineal population may be declining at this time of year, or those specific tufts may be so old that the residents have long since disappeared and have only left that waxy material behind. We’ll give it another go with a fresher sample in the summer.
Six cholla species and seven prickly pear species are covered in Robert DeWitt Ivey’s stunning reference work Flowering Plants of New Mexico. There are five yellow-flowered prickly pears in that group. Identification might be aided by paying close attention to the pad sizes and spine specifics. If you intend to approach closely, make preparations and carry tongs.
At the Agricultural Science Center in Los Lunas, Marisa Thompson, PhD, is the Extension Horticulture Specialist for New Mexico State University.
My cactus is sprouting, but why?
If their needs for sunshine are not met, there is a disparity between the amount of light and temperature they are receiving, or they are not properly maintained dormant over the winter, cacti will begin to become etiolated (by becoming thin and pale).
Below are specifics on these elements:
The biggest culprit: Not Enough Sunlight!
Particularly desert cactus require a lot of sunlight to survive. Although they can still develop inside, sunshine is necessary for them to reach their full potential. They will start to get thin if this is not accomplished.
Etiolation, a process, is how cacti display this. Their stem begins to expand more quickly, which could be interpreted as a positive sign. Trust me, it’s not! They may be developing more quickly, but they will begin to appear lean and lengthy. Even some cactus start to get paler and pointier.
When you relocate your plant from the outdoors to the interior, this typically occurs. Due to exposure to less sunlight, they are unable to reach their maximum size, and instead of continuing with their normal growth pattern, they begin to resemble antennae.
Difference between the provided light and temperature:
The plant has to be placed in direct sunshine as soon as possible after springtime temperatures rise. The plant will start to become thinner as it tries to reach higher for more sunshine if the temperature is raised without supplying it enough sunlight.
The plant is maintained indoors without light and this occurs as the temperature rises after the winter months. This is the ideal time to bring the plant outside because the rising warmth will cause it to awaken from its dormant state.
No Dormancy in winter:
Depending on the season, your cactus needs a different type of care. In order to give your cactus this seasonal care, you must ensure that it grows as much as possible during the warmer months and remains dormant during the colder months.
People frequently bring their cacti indoors during the winter. That is the right course of action, but you must watch out that you don’t overwater it at this time. The cacti won’t fall dormant or cease growing if they continue to receive water but no light.
What causes the pups on my cactus?
Because it doesn’t include the transfer of seeds, cactus pup propagation is a vegetative method of plant propagation. You employ an offset, which is produced asexually by the parent plant, to create a new plant.
The pup develops as a little clump that is simple to separate from the parent plant and use to create a new cactus. This is most likely the simplest way to spread cacti. The majority of the time, it is rather simple to separate the pup from the parent plant, and it will establish itself fairly fast and frequently with success.
Most of the time, the pups will have a limited number of their own roots. Sadly, not all cacti species can give birth to pups. Make sure your garden’s cactus species can produce offsets before choosing this method of propagation.
Types of cacti that grow pups/offsets
Offsets are produced by many cacti of the barrel and rosette varieties. Large barrel cacti typically produce the largest pups, making them one of the greatest succulent species to multiply through this technique. The barrel cactus has a special technique of giving its offsets nutrients and water while protecting them from the harsh sun.
The majority of pups develop at the plant’s base, although some may also appear throughout the stem or even on the pads. Any of these offsets can be taken out and rooted in a container so they can develop into new plants.
As long as you make clean incisions and give the offsets time to calluse before rooting, propagating cacti from offsets or pups is simple and quick.
In general, cacti plants that you should think about growing from pups ought to be big, rounded, and clump-forming. The offsets must be at least the size of a tiny ball, and the parent plant must be substantial.
What does fungus on a cactus look like?
Only the enormous variety of fungi can outcompete the great number of cacti species. Cactus pads frequently develop fungus spots, such as the Phyllosticta pad spot. Since treatments are typically the same, it is frequently irrelevant to identify the specific fungus that is causing the spots.
Once their visible harm is noticed, some fungal kinds attack the roots and finally the entire plant, therefore it is too late for the plant. Simple topical fungal spots are much easier to treat and, as long as the offending fungus is controlled, usually do not pose a threat to the cactus’ existence.
Cacti lesions can appear in a variety of ways. They could be square, oblong, angular, elevated, flat, or any other shape. Many are discolored, but once more, the hues might be anywhere from yellow to brown to completely black. Some are snarky, some are tearful. These may exude rust-colored, brown, or black fluid as a sign of a serious illness.
Opuntia and Agave cacti are the most frequently affected by fungal infections. Water spots or light discolorations on the plant’s epidermis are frequently the first signs of fungal diseases on cacti. As the fungus develop and spread over time, the symptoms may become more severe and may even eat into the cambium as a result of the surface skin breaches that allow the infection to enter.
What on my cactus are those white creatures growing?
All of us enjoy the colors found in nature, especially at this time of year, but none are as brilliant as red.”
Red has always been a popular hue in societies because it is associated with risk and bravery, revolution and conflict, violence and sin, desire and passion. (1) When Spanish conquistadors discovered the Aztecs selling an exceptional red dye in the major markets of Mexico in 1519, no red dye was as vivid. They referred to it as cochineal or grana cochinilla.
“When Cortes arrived, he was astounded to see Montezuma and other lords wearing bright, vivid red robes. The fact that the hands and breasts of the native women were painted the same vibrant hue astounded him as well. He discovered bundles of dried cochineal brought to Montezuma in Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), which were swiftly conveyed back to Spain. The dye was so much more vivid than the others and became very popular in Europe. By 1600, silver was the most expensive import from Mexico, followed by cochineal. (2)
The Opuntia engelmanii, or prickly pear cactus, is home to the scale insect known as cochineal. It eats the cactus’ delicious juices as a rasping, sucking insect. To ward off predators, it creates a cottony white covering. The insect is removed from the cactus, dried, and dehydrated before being exported all over the world to be used in a variety of ways. Cosmetics, food coloring, artist’s paint, and textile dyes (such as wool) all use dried cochineal. Today, it is frequently utilized as a red colour in dietary beverages. Cochineal’s most well-known application was to colour the jackets of the British troops “During the Revolutionary War, redcoats.
Live cochineal are displayed to children in the City of San Antonio Natural Areas Education Classes on the cactus, and dried cochineal is used to paint on rocks, paper, and wool fibers. While dried cochineal is still available today, synthetic colors with longer shelf lives have mostly taken its place.
The scientific study of the interactions between people and plants is known as ethnobotany. Cochineal is a fantastic technique to demonstrate to students how plants and insects were used by Native Americans and early settlers in Texas. They discover the history of this insect as well as its link to and relationship with nature. The pupils enjoy reading the ingredients list on their preferred red food product and seeing the name of cochineal extract (labeled as carminic acid) “use Sobe Life Water, a bug juice.
Do I need to take the pups out of my cactus?
Taking out cactus pups is one of the simplest ways to propagate cacti. These are the miniature copies of the parent plant at the base; they lack hairy ears and a tail. Numerous cactus species are renowned for producing cactus pups, which share their parent’s traits without the erratic nature of seeds, which might result in plants with various traits.
Cactus offsets, commonly referred to as pups, can be removed to create another whole plant, which is handy in overcrowded situations. The sluggish growth of seed, the surgical dexterity of grafting, and the variable growth of cuttings are all more difficult to propagate cacti than offsets. The young cacti merely need to be separated from the adult because they are miniature versions of the parent species.
My prickly pear cactus is sprouting what, exactly?
Several varieties of prickly pears yield fruit and pads that can be consumed. The fruit is generally known as tuna fruit, and the edible pads are frequently referred to as nopales.
By using the same methods as for pruning, pads can be harvested at any time of year and up to six times on fast-growing plants.
During pad harvesting:
- To maintain your plant healthy and producing new pads, don’t remove more than one-third of the overall number of pads.
- Remove them from the plant in the middle of the morning when the acid level is at its lowest for the finest flavor.
- Utilizing tongs to grasp them, carefully scrape the pads and peel the fruit to get rid of any remaining glochids and spines. They can also be cooked to burn them off.
You can eat pads either raw or cooked. When cooked, they have a slimy texture akin to okra and a lemony flavor.
The luscious red fruits should be twisted, not pulled, from the pad once the glochids fall off (typically in September). The fruits can be used to make jams and jellies or eaten raw.
My succulents are sprouting, why?
When they don’t receive enough sunshine, succulents swell out. The succulent will first begin to turn and bend in the direction of the light source.
As it grows, the leaves will spread farther apart, making the plant taller.
The leaves are often smaller and paler in color than usual. The succulent will typically turn green or lose the strength of its original color when it is not exposed to sunshine.
This Echeveria ‘Lola’ is beginning to bend toward the light, and it isn’t quite as colorful as it was when I took the photo for the post about top dressings.
The majority of the time, this will occur when succulents are cultivated indoors, but it can also occur outside when succulents are exposed to too much shadow.
What are cactus pups used for?
Amazing plants, cacti generally grow slowly and have extended lifespans. The day comes for many cactus aficionados, though, when they want to begin propagating their cacti. To share it with friends and family, to start growing fresh cactus because of an illness, or to add to the collection of cacti. We will provide you with a comprehensive tutorial on how to propagate cacti from seeds, stem and leaf cuttings, offsets, and share advice in this post. You will be able to discover brand-new techniques for growing cacti.
Propagating cacti by dividing offsetsthe easiest way
Cacti can be multiplied vegetatively by diving their offsets. Vegetative propagation is the process of a parent cactus producing an offset asexually without the use of seeds.
An identical offset, which is typically a small cluster, is produced by the parent plant and can be divided to form a new cactus. Cacti can be spread most easily using this method.
An offset is typically quite simple to divide, and it will establish itself fast and often successfully. When you separate small offsets from a mother plant, many of them already contain tiny roots.
Not all species of cactus can generate offsets, however many of them can. It would be relatively simple to spread cactus without using seeds if they could all reproduce by offsets. Some cacti can generate offsets, but because the plant is so little and delicate, it is not advised that you separate them. Small offsets help these cacti grow and look better.
You shouldn’t divide/cut offset from the following cacti:
- The peanut cactus, Lobivia silvestrii
- small (note that you can cut offsets for big species) Genus Gymnocalycium
- Tephrocactus
- Echinocereus, a genus of bigger shrub cactus, including species like Echinocereus engelmannii.
- small-scale Rebutia cacti
One of the plants you should avoid reproducing using offsets is Rebutia heliosa.
As it can affect the cactus’ growth and integrity, it is often preferable to reproduce these cacti in other ways.
You can propagate cacti from offsets with these cacti:
- Your offset-propagating cacti should be big, rounded, and clump-forming. It is ideal for offsets to be at least the size of a little ball and the primary parent cactus to be huge. These cacti grow “separately,” and the pups on them don’t have a nice appearance.
- For instance, the majority of Mammillaria or huge Echinopsis eyriesii are ideal. Numerous additional species are equally appropriate. Please refer to our individual care papers if you have any questions.
Cacti that don’t produce offsets/pups:
Many cacti don’t normally generate pups or offsets. These include, for instance:
- big cacti with a barrel form, like those in the genus Ferocactus.
- Others include the genus Astrophytum of cactus,
- Parodia,
- as well as numerous others.
Offsets are unusual for these cacti. However, in the event of wounds, damage to the root system, cold, etc., they can still create offsets to preserve themselves. Some individuals propagate uncommon cacti in this way. However, most cacti create offsets, and it’s usually easy to divide them apart for fresh growth.
How to propagate cacti using offsets/pups:
- In late spring or summer, cut the offsets from the main parent plant.
- The offset ought to be between 1.5 and 2 inches long. Higher offsets on the parent cactus typically have stronger and healthier offsets.
- You will need to either cut the pup/offset free from the parent plant with a knife or disconnect it manually.
- To see where a parent plant and a pup are connected, remove the soil from the offset’s top.
- It could be simpler to manually disconnect the offset
- Simply take a pup, turn it around, and gently break it till it falls off.
- You can use a knife if that doesn’t work. Cut the knife at the connecting place after sterilizing it (with boiling water or alcohol).
- Cut off any remaining parent plant material from the pup using a clean knife. If not, it will decay and harm the pup.
- After that, you must allow your pup to dry for around three days before planting it. The pup can be dried most effectively by being positioned vertically in a vacant container with drainage holes. If the offset isn’t dried, any wounds won’t heal in time for planting and will instead degrade the soil.
- When you cut off any cacti offsets from the parent plant, their roots will develop organically (most Echinopsis cacti, for example).
- A cactus pup without roots can be placed in dry soil with some gravel for a few days or even up to a week before it begins to grow roots. Alternatively, you might put your cactus in a pot with perlite, some ground charcoal, and sand so that it can develop roots. With small-rooted offsets, skip this step.
- Set up the soil and container for your new cactus. Before adding soil, remember to utilize the proper containers and drainage. Learn how to make cactus soil and select the best container here.
- Place a pup in the ground, but don’t bury it too deeply. The dirt should only cover one-fourth of the stem.
- Deep under the stem, some adult cactus generate very tiny pups. These puppies will frequently be little and receive less light. These pups should be dried for a few days before planting in order to separate them. After leaving them in the shade for several days, gently move them to a lighter location.
- After planting, don’t water the cactus right away! 5-7 days should pass before watering. By doing this, you will reduce the possibility of rotting and infections.
That’s basically all for growing and dividing cacti from offsets. This is the simplest method for propagating cactus, and if you choose to use it in the late spring or summer, you shouldn’t encounter many difficulties. Ensure that pups are dry before planting.
Propagating cacti with stem and leaf cuttingsthe second best way
The second best method of cacti propagation uses stem and leaf cuttings. By straightforward division, this method of propagation is also vegetative. Cutting propagation is comparable to pup/offset propagation. This method of reproduction is quite helpful when a cactus is growing too large and unsightly, or if it is, for example, beginning to decay. A nice approach to share your cactus with friends or family is through stem/leaf cuttings.
- Approximately 7 days after watering your cactus, take cuttings in the spring or summer.
- Selecting healthy, non-dry, uninfected cactus portions is the first step.
- To reduce the risk of infection, clean a knife or blade with rubbing alcohol in this manner.
- With a knife, slice the leaf or stem portion across the joining point.
- If the object comes off of the cactus loosely, you can avoid needing a knife to make the cut. Try to remove a leaf with a base by gently pulling it from side to side.
- Apply some horticultural charcoal like this to the base of the cutting and a piece of a cut cactus to avoid infection of the plant and the cutting. To stop the chopped area of your cactus from drying out, you can even cover it with a piece of paper or fabric.
- It is now crucial to use a knife to “sharpen” the end of the cutting base. Cut the base’s edges with a knife that has been sterilized. Sharpen the edge by slowly slicing across the cutting base, just as you would with a pencil. This is crucial because if the cutting is allowed to dry, the roots will draw back inside the skin at the location of the cut. Even while a blunted cutting will develop more quickly, its roots will only grow from one side and will be too feeble to support the plant’s stem for an extended period of time. This is so that there won’t be any root growth from the plant’s center.
- However, if you sharpen the cutting edge, roots will begin to sprout from the center of the plant, building a stronger root system for long-term success.
- The cutting should be dried. Once you pot them, this will help them develop more effectively. Drying should only be done vertically for 10-14 days for thick/large clippings and 5-7 days for little ones. It can be hung or put vertically in a container that is empty. Your cutting will begin to develop tiny roots on that side if you place it on a table (horizontally), which will result in permanent harm. Because the roots on this cutting are coming out of the side rather than the base, it cannot be potted. Therefore, only dry them vertically. The pot can be topped with a few rocks if you have a flat cutting.
- Place the base in the temporary substrate so that it can begin developing roots if you notice that the base is becoming coated in callus (a dried wound) or after a general drying period. Sand, charcoal, and peat should make up the majority of the temporary substrate.
One method of growing cuttings Sand and charcoal make up the top white layer, which is followed by soil and drainage level.
- Roots should start to show after around two weeks. At this point, a cactus can be repotted into a typical substrate like this cactus and succulent mix. More information on creating cactus soil may be found here.
You can chop off the healthy top of a cactus and develop a new cactus if any portion of the plant is sick or rotting. To preserve a dying cactus, a stem cutting will be used. As previously mentioned, use a sharp knife to cut and sanitize the cutting edges.