Welcome to this article that will be talking about whether or not a cactus plant can die if it gets cut in half. The unfortunate news is that it most likely will. But we need to look at how much of the plant will be cut off.
If you cut it off straight down then it will not be serving, splitting it like that will remove the ability to store water, a vital part of the plant. But if you cut it diagonally then you will most likely be able to have it grow back.
Follow along and we will dive deeper into cutting and trimming a cactus plant. This really is a fantastic houseplant for beginners to start out with.
If I Cut A Cactus In Half Will It Die
Just like we said at the beginning of the article here, the cactus plant’s survival will depend a lot on how you are cutting the plant. We recommend doing it diagonally, this is basically the only way to have it survive.
Cutting it vertically or straight down will destroy the main stem that stores the water for the plant. This is a great way of not having the cactus plant grow back again.
The cactus plant is a very hardy plant that will be able to manage some really rough conditions and come out on top. We could cut the cactus plant in half and have it regrow. It would most likely be growing back by diverting new stems from the area it got cut off from.
Make sure the area is getting callused. This means that it’s healing and will avoid getting afflicted by any diseases or pests that might be in the air or around the plant.
The part that you cut off could actually be regrown. This is best done in healthy soil that is sandy. This way we can somewhat emulate the wild conditions the plant grows in but also maximize the chance it can start to root.
Another thing we want to mention about the cutting of a main stem on a cactus plant is that we need to be careful afterward. The plant will be stressing a lot after you have trimmed it and overwatering the soil now and stressing the roots too would most likely cause the entire plant to start dying.
Is your cactus plant starting to bend and you wonder how you could fix it? In this article we will be diving deeper, Why Is My Cactus Bending.
Will Cutting A Cactus Kill It
Cutting a cactus plant is often not recommended. Since it’s already growing very slowly and in a similar way without getting bushy, cutting it will cause a lot of unnecessary stress for it.
But cutting a cactus plant often will not actually. Instead, it will just cause stress as we said, and make it more susceptible to diseases and pests that might be found in the air in and around the plant.
The way you decide to cut the plant will also factor in the survival potential of the plant. We don’t want it to be cut straight down the main stem. This would in 99 % of cases kill the plant as the water storage is ruined.
But cutting a part of the top off diagonally will harm your plant but it will still continue to grow. Just make sure you keep the plant in a healthy environment afterward. This includes making sure the soil is kept semi-dry and the plant can get between 6 – 8 hours of sunlight each day.
Are you curious about how much water a cactus plant can take? In this article, we will be talking about exactly that, Can A Cactus Die From Too Much Water.
Can A Broken Cactus Survive
Knowing whether a broken cactus plant will survive will entirely depend on the severity of the damage. An entire half of the plant is cut off or broken then it could actually survive. But if a lot of damage has been caused to the main stem in the plant unfortunately the plant might not survive.
But making sure the plant has a great place to grow is the best remedy. Lots of sunlight and soil kept semi-dry will be like heaven for the plant. With a little luck, you will have the surface callus and soon the plant will start to continue and grow again.
