I had ordered two very expensive and large variegated grafted cacti from Thailand and the post office failed to notify me for 2 months they were in a box.

At first they looked ok but within a day of taking them out the grafts were rotting on both so I had to de graft both and try to root them.

One was too far gone and died.

The other was doing ok, I let it callous for 2 weeks then was told to sprinkle rooting hormone under and water lightly only when soil is dry. I've been doing that but noticed the water not drying in my house so I brought it out on sunny days a little each day.

Now it has begun to rot and I don't have high hopes!

These cost me $150 and were one of a kind colors, I can never replace them. 😥 They were going to be cross bred with my related cactus species from Italy but now I have no mates!

Very upset especially since rooting cacti is supposed to be easy and I can't get it right and it cost me big time.

I did not enjoy failing on this! 😡

Keith,
Been there. I ordered $130 of plants from Singapore only to have our Customs destroy the order and send me the empty box. Contracted Paypal and the company. Paypal gave me the run around for 3 months and the place I ordered them from said it was my fault. Happens. Did you order on Paypal. Did you notify them?

Stush2019 said:Keith,
Been there. I ordered $130 of plants from Singapore only to have our Customs destroy the order and send me the empty box. Contracted Paypal and the company. Paypal gave me the run around for 3 months and the place I ordered them from said it was my fault. Happens. Did you order on Paypal. Did you notify them?

I ordered on eBay but it wasn't the sellers fault, it was my post offices fault by letting a package sit for 2 months without ever have letting me know by leaving a notice/s like protocol is.

Did you contact the post master general to log a complaint. Cover cost?

Stush2019 said:Did you contact the post master general to log a complaint. Cover cost?

Yes and I was told they sent notifications and they owe me nothing. People are trying to shut down the post office because it's had numerous complaints and charges and they barely have proper help for workers. It's corrupt.

Here is a photo of the cactus, body looks good until you see the nasty rot on the bottom. The color was so pretty too! 😥

Sad to see that Keith When I try to root cacti, what I do is apply a dab of cinnamon on the fleshy exposed part and really wait a long while for the plant to fully callous and form a scab, then I put it in soil. I never apply rooting hormone for them. Usually I time it when it is warmer weather to summer, when temps are really more stable. Media I use is really very course, almost more rocks than soil.

Looking at your photo, I think that cactus should have been re-grafted to another cacti with chlorophyll, and not attempted to root in soil.

Keith,
I buy plants from Bob Smoley and most are cuttings. He tells me to set on top of pure perlite and don't water it until you see growth. I would put that on top of perlite and just mist with water with a table spoon of peroxide in it. I would mist only once a week and not wet the cactus at all. You may not see growth for a year. I would also not cut out the rot. I know of this happening and I didn't and mine healed itself leaving a brown scar. That cactus is now 3 years old and looks great.
I have seen some on Ebay and they are not cheap. It's aways the variegated ones that are the hardest to grow.
Stush

Stush2019 said:Keith,
I buy plants from Bob Smoley and most are cuttings. He tells me to set on top of pure perlite and don't water it until you see growth. I would put that on top of perlite and just mist with water with a table spoon of peroxide in it. I would mist only once a week and not wet the cactus at all. You may not see growth for a year. I would also not cut out the rot. I know of this happening and I didn't and mine healed itself leaving a brown scar. That cactus is now 3 years old and looks great.
I have seen some on Ebay and they are not cheap. It's aways the variegated ones that are the hardest to grow.
Stush

I'm trying this now, the rot spread a little bit really slowed down, it might work. Variegated aren't hard to grow if they are surviving on their own roots and this wasn't but it can if the rot stops and roots form.

tarev said:Sad to see that Keith When I try to root cacti, what I do is apply a dab of cinnamon on the fleshy exposed part and really wait a long while for the plant to fully callous and form a scab, then I put it in soil. I never apply rooting hormone for them. Usually I time it when it is warmer weather to summer, when temps are really more stable. Media I use is really very course, almost more rocks than soil.

Looking at your photo, I think that cactus should have been re-grafted to another cacti with chlorophyll, and not attempted to root in soil.

I wanted to share this photo from the person I got it from, these do survive on their own roots just fine. Pure yellow,red,orange and pink cannot but any bit of purple or green color feed the plant even if the rest isn't. Grafting of variegated ones is to make them grow faster, but they can grow on their own.

Yes they may grow on their own, but your plant has no viable roots and compromised already, so grafting them would have better.

Grafting is too late. Can't graft 1/2 ball. No base well enough to take. Also grafting helps due to the stock can take more water and less stressful conditions.

At this point, it seems late already especially if that rotting part is not healing properly. But if you want to experiment further, after all what have you got to lose, try and graft it. If your temps are still warm, it may still work. But typically it is better to do the graft when overall temps are warmer and with a healthy scion. So maybe you need to put it on a heating pad. If it grows, well and good, if it still fails..at least you tried.

Then get an ordinary moon cactus locally, observe the growth of that plant and learn from it further.

tarev said:At this point, it seems late already especially if that rotting part is not healing properly. But if you want to experiment further, after all what have you got to lose, try and graft it. If your temps are still warm, it may still work. But typically it is better to do the graft when overall temps are warmer and with a healthy scion. So maybe you need to put it on a heating pad. If it grows, well and good, if it still fails..at least you tried.

Then get an ordinary moon cactus locally, observe the growth of that plant and learn from it further.

There is a tiny healthy pup I pulled off with some green, it's the size of a pea. I'm going to give it a week or two to callous and then lay it on dry substrate and see if a root will grow.

You can certainly try. Cacti are slowly shutting down now for the cool weather due to cooler temps and lesser light.