 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Patrick Quirk, Cactus Horticulturist at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix shows us how to safely and properly transplant a cactus. Patrick, it looks like you're doing something important here. Well, I'm going to plant this large and unwieldy cactus. It looks like a large one. Sounds dangerous, though. It might be, but if you're careful and use the right tools, you should be fine. Starting with, to handle something so tall and difficult as this, is an old piece of hose that was no longer serviceable for watering. So you can cut them up into lengths and carry large cactuses of any particular description of that. Okay, I can see if you try and hold it just by the pot, there's a good chance it'll tip back on you. It definitely will. This allows me also to hopefully prevent some of these stems from breaking in the process of transport. So it's safety for you and safety for the cactus. Right, I don't want it to be half the size of what I'm done then when I started. Right. Let's see how it's done then. Okay, first I want to point out also that for handling smaller pieces, these beaker tongs are excellent for handling stems of this size, and these little hot dog tongs are excellent for handling little stems of this size. You can also use these in cactus handling. So now, I presume it's time to begin. Let's plant. Alright, now grab this, and this. Okay. Now I have to remove the bucket, and I'll do that by simply loosening it. Alright, here it comes. Okay. Now, this is a soil ball. The roots are well-involved in the whole thing. This is a soil ball made up of mineral soil. If this were made of an organic soil, I would have to clean all the soil off the roots, dry them out, and plant them later, because you can't have two incompatible types of soil, or the plant won't make it. I think this is really interesting. Other plants you don't dry out, but this one you clean it, then you dry it. Yes, the cactus roots have a self-healing quality, which is useful in that respect. So the next thing I have to do now is to loosen the roots from the soil ball so I'll engage with the soil successfully. This is not difficult. Like shampooing. Yep, just massage it up a little, break off some of the top here. Now, here we go. The moment of truth as we raise the flag. And your garden hose is extremely handy. Yes. I think some people would be tempted to plant it deeper than it was before. No, it's always good to plant your plants, be they succulent trees like this one, or ordinary trees and shrubs, or woody. It's always important to retain the same soil level as original. Now, I will firm the soil. This is very important. The soil will be firmly tamped for stability and so it can engage. And then finally, take your shovel and do this to be sure to get rid of any large air pockets and then just fill in and of course rake it up and dress it in any way you like. This cactus is a cactus called Steno-serious Stanley Eye, which originates on the warm Pacific coast of Mexico. So I planted it in this location due to the fact that this is a warmer section of the garden near the buildings and it will therefore rise tall and droop over a little bit without obstructing the view of other plants. Patrick, thank you very much. Thank you. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.