Golden Rat Tail: How to Grow It, Precautions, and a Detailed Guide to Grafting
Golden Rat Tail, also called rat tail cactus, is a very warm-growing succulent, and could be called the warm-hearted guy among cacti. Golden Rat Tails mostly live in colonies, with a whole big family growing together, and during growth their stems become intertwined with one another, so anyone who likes colonies and warmth can give growing them a try.
Golden Rat Tail Growing Methods and Precautions
1. Growing habits
It likes a sunny, well-lit environment. It tolerates drought and partial shade, and dislikes wet, waterlogged conditions. The optimum growing temperature is 20-25°C, and it can tolerate lows of 4°C. It is robust in habit and has no special requirements for soil; it grows well in ordinary flower soil.
2. Propagation methods
Division propagation is commonly done by cutting off the top to encourage branching, carried out in spring and autumn. Cut 5-8 cm stem sections from mature plants, let the cut ends dry, and they can be used for cuttings propagation; stem sections 3-4 cm long can be used as scions for grafting propagation.
3. Cultivation management
During the growing season, water on the principle of letting the soil dry between waterings, and apply a light fertilizer once a month, mainly phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Long-term insufficient light is unfavorable for flowering, so it should often be placed in a sunny spot for care. In midsummer, provide appropriate shade; in winter, restrict watering and keep the potting soil slightly moist. Pay attention to preventing and controlling spot disease, red spider mites and whiteflies. Soil: fertile, well-drained sandy loam and forest soil, avoid waterlogged ground, tolerates drought.
4. Precautions
① Water: do not let it go short of water in summer; keep the potting soil moist and mist regularly to maintain humidity. In winter, water once every ten days, and be careful not to spray water onto the stem skin.
② Sunlight: it likes light, tolerates strong sun and also partial shade, but long-term shade makes the stems grow thin and spindly.
③ Fertilizer: before potting, add decomposed organic fertilizer to the nutrient soil; apply fertilizer once a month during the growing season, and do not fertilize during the winter and summer dormancy periods.
④ Temperature: it likes warm conditions with a large day-night temperature difference, and does not tolerate cold.
Golden Rat Tail Grafting Method
Grafting is mostly carried out in May-June, and upright columnar cacti such as Indio fig cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica), large-flowered snake cactus (Selenicereus grandiflorus) and similar plants can be used as rootstock. Take a 10 cm section of the modified stem from the top of the Golden Rat Tail as the scion; after grafting it heals in about 50 days.
Through grafting, it can grow into a good trailing plant shape. Flat grafting and slant grafting can be used. The best time for grafting is May-September. The method is as follows: choose a branch of Pereskia that has not fully lignified, cut it off 2-3 cm from the branch, and whittle it into a cone about 1 cm long; insert the base of a young, green Golden Rat Tail into the pointed cut of the rootstock, with no need for tying.
After grafting the Golden Rat Tail, pay attention to shading and controlling watering; humidity should not be too high, otherwise the grafting will fail. If the scion is still fresh and green after more than ten days, it has taken. Remove the binding material, then move on to normal management; grafted plants grow more robustly and faster than cutting-grown plants, and can produce 4-5 side branches or even more.
Common Pests of Golden Rat Tail and Their Control Methods
1. Red spider mite
Red spider mite is one of the most common plant pests, and it reproduces quickly, producing about 10 generations a year. Red spider mites are extremely small; they insert their piercing-sucking mouthparts into the leaf mesophyll and stem skin of the plant and suck the plant's sap, causing the plant to turn yellow and even wither.
Control method: spray with a 1500-fold dilution of 40% omethoate emulsifiable concentrate.
2. White spider mite
White spider mite was not originally a pest found in our country; it is an imported species. Generally, imported species have strong pesticide resistance, so controlling white spider mite is relatively difficult. But difficult or not, it still has to be controlled, otherwise a beautiful pot of Golden Rat Tail will be ruined!
Control method: spray with a 2000-fold dilution of 5% hexythiazox suspension concentrate.
3. Whitefly
Pest symptoms: adults and nymphs pierce and suck the sap of leaves, fruits and young shoots; affected leaves develop chlorotic yellow-white spots, and as the damage worsens the spots expand into patches, and eventually the whole leaf turns pale and falls early; affected fruits lose flavor and quality, and young fruits often drop when severely damaged. The honeydew they excrete can induce sooty mold.
Control method: for early infestations, start spraying when whiteflies appear sporadically with a 1500-fold dilution of 20% buprofezin wettable powder, or a 1000-fold dilution of 25% propargite emulsifiable concentrate, a 3000-4000-fold dilution of 2.5% bifenthrin emulsifiable concentrate, a 2000-3000-fold dilution of 2.5% cyhalothrin emulsifiable concentrate, a 2000-fold dilution of 20% fenpropathrin emulsifiable concentrate, or a 1500-fold dilution of 10% imidacloprid wettable powder, once every 10 days or so, for 2-3 consecutive treatments.
The Flower Meaning of Golden Rat Tail
The flower meaning of Golden Rat Tail is: a warm family
Golden Rat Tail is a succulent, juicy plant, also known as golden-haired corolla cactus, golden rat tail, rat tail cactus, medicinal sage, salvia, golden button, golden button cactus; it generally blooms in summer, has the effect of removing formaldehyde, and can protect against radiation. Golden Rat Tail is an ornamental plant, a flower very familiar to all of us. Its golden stems and brilliant flowers are all in warm tones, unlike those plants that look cold and icy, which is probably why it has the flower meaning of “a warm family”!
A warm family is indeed very representative for the enthusiastic, unrestrained Golden Rat Tail, which also loves living in colonies; the methods and techniques for growing Golden Rat Tail are not very different from those for ordinary succulents and cacti, so the difficulty of growing it is not great either.