Effect of planting materials on growth of cactus

Abstract

The effects of suitable growing media on the growth of five genera of cacti i.e., Gymnocalycium mihanovichii, Melocactus amoenus, Echinopsis calochlora, Mammillaria prolifera and Opuntia elata were studied for reducing a cost of production. This study was divided into two experiments. Experiment 1; effect of different growing media on growth of cactus. Plants were grown in various growing media i.e., 1) commercial soil mixed, 2) sand : soil mixed rain tree leaves: vermicompost ratio 1:1:1, 3) rice husk ash: soil mixed rain tree leaves: vermicompost (1:1:1) and 4) coconut coir: soil mixed rain tree leaves: vermicompost (1:1:1). The experimental design was completely randomized design (CRD). The results indicated that using rice husk ash: soil mixed rain tree leaves: vermicompost (1: 1: 1) had the highest plant height, diameters of stem, number of root and root length all of five cacti. Experiment 2; the effect of different ratio of growing media on growth of five cactus. Five ratios were investigated which was conducted in a CRD; 1) rice husk ash: soil mixed rain tree leaves: vermicompost (1:1:1), 2) rice husk ash:soil mixed rain tree leaves:vermicompost (0:2:1), 3)rice husk ash:soil mixed rain tree leaves:vermicompost (1:0:2), 4) rice husk ash: soil mixed rain tree leaves: vermicompost  (2: 1: 0), and 5) rice husk ash: soil mixed rain tree leaves: osmocote (1:1:1). The result showed that using rice husk ash: soil mixed rain tree leaves: osmocote ratio 1:1:1 had affected to plant height, diameter of stem and roots length but it was not significantly different with rice husk ash:soil mixed rain tree leaves:vermicompost (1: 0: 2). Moreover, it could be reducing the cost of growing media about two-three baht per 3-inch pot compared to the osmocote or the commercial soil mixed treatments.