grandmamaloy: I'm not sure about trimming them since I haven't tried it before, but I might try to overwinter two pots to see if I can trim them or not and how that affects it. I'm just afraid they'll get too large by Spring, but then again if their in a cooler house with less light and water maybe that will help contain them. I started out with 3 little 4" pots and they are spilling out of my whiskey barrel! Hopefully it will work, but if not I've only lost $10-12 in purchasing the parent plants. Might as well try :) Thanks for the tips! 715rose: I've heard that they only grow in water, but maybe they grow in soil for you since they're in a greenhouse? I might try using some rooting hormone that I'm picking up this week and see if that helps. Where do you clip the cuttings and how far/where on the cuttings do you plant them? Any other tips you could share that work for you would be awesome! ken_adrian: I did know it's registered, but I'm only using it for my own personal use in my household, not making any profit. I'm pretty sure no one will knock on my door :) Thanks for the info just in case! mnwsgal: Did you not have very good success or just didn't think it was worth it for you? Thanks to everyone for their advice!

Hi, apologies for the belated response, as you may have guessed I don't frequent these parts often... I'm guessing one way or the other your situation is now resolved...but for historical purposes I'll let you know what happened with mine anyway...unfortunately the poor thing didn't pull through. I should have listened to the words of the wise above and taken cuttings of the branches. My advice to anyone in a similar situation in the future is don't hesitate - CHOP! It's always sad to loose a cactus, especially such a well established one with a sense of permanence. If you save even a small piece of it, it'll grow back, eventually...

I would think that your non-variegated one would have the same name, just minus the "variegata" at the end most likely. I still haven't found any species-specific information on the net/web for rooting this one, but after reading a page (that I will paste below along with the url to it, since it has photos), I'm going to take a good look at my plant and see if I feel safe to take 3 or more cuttings from it to try rooting in different ways. The article does cite some specific species, but unless I overlooked it, mammilaris isn't one of them. You might find this info of use though - I know it does talk a bit about Medusa's Head - and I've got cuttings rooted of that one, so this additional info was nice to tuck away in my memory banks (and of course will get saved into a text file as well :) copied info from: http://www.euphorbia-international.org/Cultivation/propagation.htm Vegetative Propagation Propagation of euphorbias from cuttings is the easiest and quickest method for many species, and is also a way to prune an old plant back into shape. Cuttings should be taken with a sharp clean knife, if possible laying the plant down on a clean and smooth surface and using a pulling, rather than pressing motion to obtain a clean and clear cut. Branching species should be cut if possible at the branching point. Solitary plants such as E. bupleurifolia or E. piscidermis can be decapitated to encourage production of side shoots which can later be removed and rooted. The best time to take cuttings is in the spring when growth starts, but summer is also suitable. Cuttings taken in autumn or winter have little time to root, and so cuttings should only be taken as an emergency to rescue plants suffering from root rot. The latex appearing after cutting must be completely washed away in a glass of water or by spraying. Cold water stems the flow quickly as does brief exposure to a candle flame or match. Euphorbias with large leaves should have leaves just above the cut removed with a knife. The cut surface should be left to dry before planting, one or better several days for leafless species. Leafy Madagascan species need only dry a short time. Dusting the cut surface with a hormone rooting powder will help roots form. For euphorbias we recommend 0.1% naphthyl acetic acid and not indolyl acetic acid which is usually found in shops. The planting medium can be the same as for seed sowing with the addition of some sterilised drainage material. Rooting can take longer than expected but is accelerated by raising the soil temperature to around 25 C using a thermostatically controlled warming mat. Direct sun should be avoided. If unrooted cuttings dehydrate, they can sometimes be saved by soaking in water at room temperature until then swell up again and can be replanted. Rooting cuttings Euphorbia greenwayi var. greenwayi Euphorbia myrioclada Euphorbia similiramea A fast rooting method, which does not suit all species, is to stand cuttings in a narrow glass and fill up to 2-3 cm with water. Rooting can occur in 10-14 days. Some euphorbias that can be rooted from side shoots continue to grow as branches and do not form the typical plant form. The medusa-head species are in this group as well as E. brevitorta, E. groenewaldii, E. tortirama and others. For these the so-called two-step cutting method is required. First a cutting is taken in the normal way. When this has rooted, a second cut is made just above the point where roots have formed and the cut is treated in the normal way. The tip can be re-rooted and when large enough can be cut again. The rooted stump will normally produce a plant of form typical to the species and this can then be removed when large enough from the mother cutting. Some Madagascan euphorbias (E. francoisii, E. cylindrifolia, E. pachypodioides, E. ankarensis, E. millotii) have been successfully propagated from leaf cuttings. Leaves are gently pulled from the plants (not cut) and put into cubes of rock wool which are then placed on coarse sand in a tray. The surface of the sand should be covered with water (putting the leaves directly into damp sand also works, although with greater losses). Hormone rooting powder and fungicide assist the process. Both gentle heat or a cool position with a plastic cover to increase humidity, should produce the desired result. After 40 days the plants are sufficiently well developed to be potted. Leaves of E. decaryi, E. primulifolia, E. moratii, E. cremersii and E. decidua will produce roots but do not develop plants. They remain as rooted leaves. Finally a few words on the toxicity of the latex. Even small amounts can cause painful skin irritation. If you get it on the skin, it should immediately be washed off thoroughly under running water. On no account let the latex come into contact with the eyes or mucous membranes.

Ken, You've got most of the steps, IMO and IME, but some, again IMO and IME, are out of order. This is what I'd do Firstly, spray your cutting instrument with alcohol (and, if you feel like, as I do, that cleanliness is next to ...., you'll spray it before each cut you make, though with a healthy plant this is probably superfluous) before cutting. Cut it, (and, once again, with a healthy plant you may not need to do the next step), spray the cut end, and while it's wet, staunch the flow of latex first with that lukewarm water, then dip in the rooting powder/gel. For non-Euphorbs, obviously you can skip the water and dip into your stuff. Set the cutting aside for callousing for some days (as you said, a week's good), then pot her/him up. Mist it (don't water, it's got no roots, though I think you know this) every few days until new growth is seen. Personally, in my rooting of cuttings I use a bulb pot a lot of the time - there's room for a thin layer of soil (which is all you need when rooting cuttings) and room for rock to support the cuttings. IME, it's easier to root with some (a minimum of) soil. If the soil does get wet there's not much to dry out. So there you have it. Your kilometerage may vary. Besides, you've got lots of cuttings, right? Experiment and find what works best for you. And the bottom heat (24-hours concrete that's heated or a heating mat? That's just the best ever for rooting cuttings, other than the bit about not watering but misting them, IMO.