ha! i did the same thing several months ago. i cut the knobs off and planted 2-3 in each of two lage pots. now they are budding and about to bloom!
i am excite! i cook with ginger frequently and hoping these roots, at their just-dug freshness have extra zing!
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Would you post a photo, please? How big are they, what size pots, etc?
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yah sure, you betcha!
10 inch nursery pot, three ginger knobs. these are maybe 30 inches tall. needs to go back into some partial shade.
close up of the bloom bud
and the second set, in a shadier spot
the leaves are greener, the plants a bit shorter and these are not blooming , yet.
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Wow!
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Help!
I rescued this nonspecific winter holiday cactus from the house of a friend’s parent who had to move into a care facility. It was the last living thing in the house. It is large, overgrown, and fragile. The soil is compacted, growing moss, and obviously not supporting the plant’s health. Water runs right through and pools in the cachepot, but the cactus itself is constantly parched. I know it needs repotting desperately, but I’m also afraid that I will accidently kill it in the process and have no idea how to go about trying. Advice needed.
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That’s actually overwatered, if it’s growing moss, it’s way too humid for most succulent’s long term root health.
Have a look at what’s recommended for that, it seems like it depends if root rot (fungal growth) has started in the root system (if yes, chances are it’ll die), first thing is to leave it be for a week, no water, and wait until the top third of the soil is dry before rewatering. Then water every week or two, depending on how much the soil dries.
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I don’t know much about succulents. I always kill them with too much water
But this sounds like good advice. When you do water, you could try either ice cubes or a clean sopping sponge or hand towel. Both will drip the water slowly enough for the poor thing to drink it without it running straight through.
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Don’t worry too much about that, if it has a drip tray, it will absorb it all. My 1 piece of advice for wet/dry is picking up the pot when you know it’s dry, and 30 minutes after you water it, the heft of it will be noticably different, and a good guide to how wet or dry it is.
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Best I can tell, because the “soil” is like rock when I try to poke about in there, the top part is pretty much always dry, despite the moss. Water runs right through it and never fully hydrates the plant itself. The bottom of the pot is probably a soggy stinky mess of root rot, though. I don’t know if it comes through in the photos, but the droopy branches are all kinda shriveled looking, and I regularly find dried up branches among them, so not much water isn’t getting into the plant itself.
It needs repotting, but I haven’t tackled a cactus like this as big and fragile as this one before. Should I hard prune it before trying? (Anyone want cuttings? It used to bloom gloriously, all brilliant fuchsia.) Once I bash the terracotta inner pot, because no way it’s coming out on its own, do I try to loosen the root ball or just cut away the dead parts? How do I protect all those brittle branches?
I know I’m being a bit overwrought about this. It’s quite an old plant. I took a cutting from it in the mid-90s, and it was old then, and probably in the same pot.
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Not done it, but I’d say you can probably salvage the bits that aren’t completely dried out, pretty sure any decent piece of root will have a good chance too. Give it a good chop back,any branch that’s dying remove, any bits of root that look bad remove. When it’s lost roots, with root rot, less branches will make recovery easier.
We’ve done lots of trailing plants like that, loads of rooting suckers in water, the main plant you replant if worth the effort.
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No wonder you want to save it!
Something I was taught when repotting root bound plants, is to use shears in a long cut on each side of the root ball. It does cut a lot of roots, but doesn’t tear even more and let’s new roots move outward.
If you’ve been trying to water it and it’s dry and suffering, maybe a serious prune and repot is the way to go. In good succulent soil. Aside from over watering, succulents tend to be pretty tough, right? So maybe take some cuttings just in case and then go for it.
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I have mixed feelings about this. One one hand, I never would have had an orchid if it had been an expensive luxury item. It was a gift to my sister-in-law during her cancer battle, and it was one of the green growing things I rescued after her death. I love my “common” moth orchid! On the other hand, I watch the flower arrangers swarm Trader Joe’s floral section on Friday morning to snatch up inexpensive orchids and succulents to decorate for a single event and then toss them all in the trash at the end of the night.
I will continue taking good care of mine regardless.
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There was a story in the local paper about the upcoming shortage of poinsettias, and I had similar feelings.
They’re non-native here, toxic to pets, and generally get thrown out after a few weeks, so I’m just not that torn up about there being fewer of them here this Christmas season. 
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Nighttime temps in the lower 20s F (mid negative single digits C) for the rest of the week for the first time this season, so I assembled the citrus huts (Aldi specials) this morning.
Also an update on reporting the old, overgrown, long-suffering nonspecific winter holiday cactus, @anon77190095 was correct: it was completely waterlogged. Root rot had set in, and the smell was 
. Best I could do was salvage a handful of cuttings that I hope will root and grow.
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I find them to be incredibly hardy. Do what you need to do, give it some water but not much, and let it acclimatize to its new situation. Then, be sure to water again in early December to get those flowers blooming for at least some of the winter holidays!
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It had terminal root rot. I clipped the best cuttings and hope they’ll root. (See post above)
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Thanks, I posted before reading to the end of the thread. Sounds like you made the best of the situation. And as I said, those cacti are really tough buggers, so I’ll bet you get regrowth, no problem!
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Don’t worry, those will do fine, succulents are so tough, we have some that drop leaves onto the soil, due to attrition (cats, etc) and a good portion of those end up rooting…
ETA: stupid autocorrect.
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