How to Fix a Broken Cactus

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen from vanveenbulbs.com, and in this segment, we're going to learn about how to fix a broken cactus. Now, I've got quite a few cactus or cacti, cause' I have more than one in my kitchen, and I love em' because they don't need hardly any care. I just kinda' leave em' alone, but I have been known to break one. They drop sometimes, or the cat knocks em' over and they break, or I've had a few that I've watered too much and the mother part starts to rot, but the top part still looks alive. So, how do you save em'? I'll show ya' a few tricks. So, I've got this really pretty cactus and this part's broken off, and as you can see, it's making kind of a Elmer's Glue kind of goo coming out. And a lot of people say what you should do is put a little bandage or some more actual glue on top to seal it, but I really don't bother to do that cause' I found that they will grow no matter what you do to them. And so, now I've got this little piece that's broken off, and so, most of the time you would think that that would probably just die, but the glory of cacti is that you can just plant em' and they will grow again. So, whether I put em' in the same plant that they came from which is now getting kind of crowded. I've got another plant that's kind of, I've got other pieces growing in, so I kind of just put a hole into it, and as long as it's a couple inches deep it will grow new roots. It might take a couple months even for it to grow, but I have found eventually I can get more starts. So, whenever you have a cactus and you break off any part of it, always put it back into the ground, cause' eventually it'll root again. It only needs a tiny piece to regrow, which to me is completely, is totally amazing. So, make sure you're wearing gloves, especially when you're using the most prickly of all cactus, cause' this one's very prickly, and you've got to be so careful cause' even one of those can get into your skin and it's really hard to get back out again. Cactus are meant to break off so that they can regenerate in another spot, and that's why they're so prickly. So, if you have a piece that breaks off always just put it back into the ground or in a container, and it'll grow a new plant. Easy as that."