Question
Cactus
Hi
I have a very large cactus, that is literally leaning on the wall!
I need to repot it...today! It has two huge arms with tons of branches branching off.
PLEASE help me, I want to break it out of the pot and seprate it into two different ones. Good or bad idea!!
Thanks so much, I look forward to hearing from you.
AnswerThat's quite an amazing plant. It's not a cactus. It's a Euphorbia tetragona. I'm only tell you that because the sap causes people to get a rash oftentimes. It's white an milky. You need to wear gloves.
If you are in a climate that is winter now it's not the best time to transplant as Euphorbias are winter dormant. That being said, I see your problem. The pot looks like it's big enough for one of those branches but clearly not to.
I would get another pot each pot should be about 1/3rd the height of the plant and about as wide as the one you have. First I'd trim off some of the stems using a sterilized knife to make repotting more manageable. You can put them aside. You can let them callous over and either start new plants or give them to your friends. Then I'd make sure I had the pots, welldraining potting soil, stakes and hopefully a friend. Take the plant out as gently as you can and again with a sterilized knife cut the two large pieces apart. Dust the cut part with sulfur or rooting powder or charcoal dust and let the raw edges callous over for at least a week. The stalk on the left should be potted so it is at the same level as it was in the other pot. See if it needs to be staked and don't water it for a week at least. You might have to add some more soil then. I'd let it dry out between watering so new roots can grow. These plants can go for along time without water.
The plant on the right is more problematic. First I'd do much more drastic pruning. It looks like the main stalk is at about a 45 degree angle, much longer than the other plant. You can pot it so the base is straight and more of the stalk is in the soil but the plant would have to be staked for a long time to hopefully start to straighten up. I wouldn't water it until it's established or the stalk will rot. If you try to pot it at the angle it's at now it will fall over. The other thing you could do is just take some of the best branches from that plant and start anew. I know that would be a shame because both sides are beautiful.
A third option for the listing plant is to cut about 1/2 of the stalk and the roots off and see if it will air root, still drastically pruning it. Succulents sometimes do with occasional misting. I'd wait a month or two and if roots haven't started to form you can put it in soil and see if it will root that way. At least you'll have a better angle.
Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions. The picture was a big help.
Maureen
