Baby cacti!

helen.pinney

Hi guys! Forum newbie and plant novice here.

I've had these cacti for about three years and I've just discovered the soil has recently sprouted all these little cactus babies (or at least, that's what I think they are - please let me know if I'm dealing with something else here!)

My question is this - can I safely take these out and start propagating them in a tray or similar? Or should I just wait and then repot the whole lot when the babies are a bit more grown up?

Thanks in advance!

Helen

Helix

Did your cacti flower?  Or are there other plants nearby that did?  As look more like a succulent like a crassula than the adult cacti in the photo - hard to tell tho’ as can’t enlarge photo much. 

Either way I’d leave them a bit long before potting them on. 

Alan Clark2 in Liverpool

It is hard to tell from the photo what they are, but they don't look right for cacti. I agree with helix that they should be left for a while, until they get crowded.

treehugger80

that looks like moss starting to grow to me, particularly as it looks like there a fern starting to grow as well

helen.pinney

Hi guys! Thanks for your responses. It has flowered every year since I've had it and hasn't been particularly near anything else apart from an asparagus fern (so you might be bang on @treehugger80!) I'll wait until Spring since even if it babies I guess they'd need to be stronger before I do anything with them.

BobTheGardener

They do look like fern 'babies', which I get growing in pots I leave in a coldframe with a fern growing in it.  It looks a bit like liverwort on my pots but they develop into ferns.   Ferns have a very interesting life cycle and when the spores germinate they produce growth very different to the adult plant:

https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~joyellen/bioweb.html

treehugger80

only problem might be you'll need to let the cacti dry out almost totally over winter, the ferns will die in that type of condition

helen.pinney

I will keep you all updated, thanks so much for your help!