My cactus has smaller bits (pups?) growing on it and I want to remove them and repot them. How do I do this please? Is it the right time of year to be doing it? (I'm in UK)

Thank you

to NGA!

Some cactus lend themselves to being taken apart and re-rooting the pieces and some do not. Cactus that don't mind come apart easily on their own. Echinocactus oxygona and all the Prickly Pears come to mind. Anytime you have to use a knife to break apart a cactus, you are taking the risk of killing it.

I'm not sure what kind of cactus you have (maybe Mammillaria) but it is absolutely beautiful. Instead of taking it apart, lift it to pot rim level (add soil underneath) and enjoy your fabulous looking plant.

Daisy

Thank you, so it's best for the plant to leave it alone, as in not take the little ones off? I thought taking a knife to it was a bit extreme. I don't want to harm the plant. I'll repot the whole thing to a bigger pot and lift it to rim level, it's too big to stay in the pot it's in.
Thank you for your help.
Rachel

If you can twist the pups off (because there is just a little connective tissure holding them on) or if they fall off, start new plants. But your cactus would be the envy of most of us who grow cactus and are trying hard to get them big and beautiful.

Don't pot up to a larger pot unless this one is tipping over. It looks like there is quite a bit or room in this one if you bring it up to the pot brim. Its okay if the plant top is wider than the pot. The danger of potting it to a larger pot is that more moisture will be held against the roots leading to root rot and death of the plant unless you are extremely careful. Also, you don't really want the stems of the cactus to lie on the soil surface - that could also cause rot.

Daisy

Thank you for your help Daisy. I have ordered some new cactus compost to lift all my cacti up to the top of their pots. I didn't know they lived better like that.

I have another question. This cactus has flowered previously. When the flowers died they fell out with what seemed to be plug attached. It left a small hole in the plant, is this normal? It took ages to heal over.

Rachel

Did the 'plug' leave a wound? Or just a hole? Did you pull spent flowers off or let them drop on their own?

It would help if we knew what kind of cactus it is. Did you take a photo of the blooms? Where on the plant did the blooms originate from? Top in a ring, bottom randomly, at the base of the tubercles? Where the buds bristly, smooth, scaly?

That's a really nice cactus! I'd leave it!