You need the cut surface to be calloused like the pics show else they stand a chance of rotting at the base. Use a fast draining gritty mix that's damp, not wet or waterlogged, insert cuttings upright and not too deep, (hard to advise how deep as no idea of scale from pic shown) if wobbly stabilise with layer of grit or pebbles and please don't water till they have rooted. Signs of roots forming will be new top growth.....So, no roots=no water. Keep shaded and out of direct sun.

Roots will form from the slanted base just as easily as from a horizontal one in my experience anyway.....is that what you meant?

Hopefully others will confirm my suggestions. Good luck:-)

Gill

Usually, a callous is pretty important to ward of rot, and no, it will not block roots. All you have to do is stick it in some DRY soil, and wait. Like Gill said, you may have to stabilize it. And do not water until you are sure of new roots, otherwise it may rot.

~palmsandsnow

wantonamara, usually I dig around a bit at the base to check for roots, as opposed to pulling on the cactus, because it has the potential to break small roots.

ktslwy, I don't mean to be proud, but I consider my method of root checking to be potentially less damage inducing... You could use either method, though.

~palmsandsnow

...but my suggestion of waiting till you actually see new growth does no harm whatsoever and is therefore the best method!

It doesn't necessarily mean that I personally practise what I preach though!

Gill

I'm w/ Gill on that, new growth is always the best indicator of rooting.

Digging around the base doesn't sound so great either; disturbs things unnecessarily & could also introduce bacteria (from unclean tools). I don't ever tug for resistance, even gently.

Lena

I know... I am sooo curious sometimes, though. I am super duper impatient when it comes to looking for new growth, and after a while, everything just looks the same...

Often I will root in perlite to get a big root system quickly and I will switch to soil after I get the roots out there. As you see, there is more ways to skin the cat than one. I do things differently all the time , just cause I feel like it this time. With that attitude, I get a few failures but I learn a lot.

I forgot to mention that often I am growing cactus to PIG (put in ground) so I am looking to get things going quickly and into another situation. I learned the gentle pull method from a very reputable grower with a national reputation.OR I will have things in a common rooting pot and need to get them into individual pots. Day before yesterday I gently pulled a roadkill cactus and I was met with resistance so I removed it from the perlite and it had a 6" root system, and the loose perlite was very loose and easy to remove. I let the roots callous and today I am making a pot up for a birthday present with a Aloe striata karasbergensis and three types of haworthia in one pot.

Well, we will have our preferences, I suppose (and jealously defend them as well!).

These cactus will root quickly and have substantially thick roots that are not that delicate when they do. I guess I live in a place that is more conducive to cactus so the need to treat them as delicate princesses in not as necessary. When rooting other cactus I am more circumspect but this nor opuntias.

Heres a tip: right after you plant it, take a picture of the growing point. Once you see a difference, you know its rooted and you dont need to tug or dig around.

Good idea Garrett! As I said, I admit to gently tugging or carefully digging around....who doesn't?

Gill