Cacti Propagation

Tuesday started out a bit on the cool side, it was almost 50 degrees but not bad considering it was mid-November. We headed out to el Charco botanical jardín for a lecture and demonstration on cacti propagation given by Martin Smith, the curator of el Charco's cacti collection.

Martin is a most interesting individual who is British and was first introduced to the study of cacti at age four. He has dedicated his life's work to the study, cultivation and protection of cacti.

Martin began the class by giving us a background of cacti and succulents. First off, all cactus are succulents, but not all succulents are cactus! Another interesting point he made was that agaves (which are very plentiful here) are not cactus, but a member of the grass and orchid family, which is very interesting and not something I would have guessed. Needless to say most of us were surprised by this fact.

The first part of the seminar covered soil mixture which consists of two parts tierra negra (basically a fine silt that contains nutrients), two parts coarse sand, one part tierra lama (or river silt) and one part pumice gravel which can be acquired at a local building supply. This mixture is used for all propagation methods. Martin stressed that it is most important that the soil mixture be open and free draining.

Next he gave the group a demonstration of the different methods of cactus propagation. These included cuttings of vegetation such as leaf, stem or small side plant and planting from seed.

We finished off the class by being given a tour of the garden's collection of cacti from around the world, although most of the collection is from Mexico. The variety of the plants was astounding! We really enjoyed the lecture and demonstration and highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance to attend a future seminar given by Martin.

To see more photos and commentary from this wonderful seminar, please check out the photo set at my flickr page here.