without glochids!
I had to smile at this one as mine look very similar... right down to the soil. Your packing them in there so as to save space and you will make some excellent grafts with these to be sure. I just got in some more grafting stock myself... I'll leave it at that for the moment.
i actually just picked them up yesterday. i grabbed the one with the most pieces. there was a much more mature spineless one but i wasn't willing to spend a hundred bucks on it. guess i'll have to wait.
100 dollars, I think I would have let that one go as well. The same old story, too many cacti scions and not enough stock here. I just tossed around 30 variegated Astrophytum aeroles away as I was out of stock plants and could not wait any longer to graft. Saved what I could and tossed the rest. You're grafting stocks are coming along good though. You've got a nice selection of different stock plants which is definitely important and they all look very healthy. The other grafts you've done are much harder than the ones you will try with these stocks I imagine, but who knows what craziness the grafting bug might inspire in you now that you have a few nice seedling grafts underway.
well I'm definitely exited about working with opuntia. it certainly looks easier. i have to grow out some of this stock first.
Cambium layers are definitely easier to line up with Opuntia as your stock. Just remember, the shallower the cut the closer those cambium layers are together. So shallow cuts for seedlings tend to produce the best results unless you plan on grafting multiple seeds on an Opuntia stock which is also fairly easy to do. Its always easier to cut deeper later on than to add tissue back as well. I'm wishing you luck with these grafts, but I don't think you will need it as everything I've seen you post looks healthy and fairly vigorous.
wait and see i guess. do you think i could graft onto there now? the opuntia looks like its growing.
Those Opuntia look healthy enough to graft onto. You want them nice and plump like that before you start grafting.
what's the deal with grafting to unrooted sections of cacti? there must be some pros/cons.
Grafting to unrooted pieces of cacti definitely has pros and cons.
Cons are that if the cuts are too small and not plump to begin with they can easily dry out before the graft has taken. You will also want to use a cacti that is actively growing for this. You can take some precautions such as increasing humidity, placing them in a plastic bag to hold in more moisture, etc. to help keep them from drying out. Another con if your scions are also small they can be damaged by the coban more easily if too much pressure is applied... especially so if they dry out.
Pros. You can save many aeroles this way that might otherwise be disposed of. This is especially important if you have a grafted piece that has rot showing in it as you can cut away the rot and hopefully salvage the cacti via areole grafting. Another positive is that the stock is small and can remain hidden as your cacti grows larger. The smaller stock won't push your cacti as hard which means growth will be slower, but you also won't have to worry about splitting of your slower growing cacti as much. Its a good way to save those odds and ends that you have laying around if you don't have sufficient large stock as well. Yet another pro, you can really maneuver the entire stock around as you candle your new graft as you are going through the steps of securing it to the stock. Any tiny crevices that you see light coming through can be tightened down. This results in less lifting of the scion and can make for a much better graft down the road. Many people graft with cut cacti using smaller pieces to get that natural look and push that is better than you would have if you left the seedling or small cacti on its own roots. You also have less aeroles from the stock to push out pups from the stock this way which can be more effectively trimmed.
cool thanks. that explains it. i had wondered if the slowed growth would result in a more desirable look or generally just less chance of failure. so if i grafted to the top of a tall rooted cactus would the scion develop a less natural look than if i grafted to a much smaller rooted cactus or cutting?
The bigger the stock the faster and more potentially it may make your seedling crack or grow in a way that makes it look unnatural. You can offset that by not watering as much and providing more sun. Some small stocks such as Pereskiopsis are still able to create an unnatural look however... in part because they can push the seedling so hard. Everything is a learning experience and you are basically on your own figuring out your own watering cycles, temps, etc. The bottom line... slow down growth if your seedlings start to burst or crack... i.e. do not water or do not water as much.
ok, i will remember to ease up on the watering. i understand i have to keep the soil a bit moist for pereskiopsis though, correct? it seems this stock will undoubtedly cause some deformities.
Pereskiopsis is a cacti. It can withstand drying out of the soil. With that said.... watering, fertilizing, humidity, heat... are all key and in different proportions depending on each other... so that is a learning process that is individual in nature to some extent. I find that Pereskiopsis can generally withstand overwatering much better than many cacti, but so too can Opuntia compressa. Pereskiopsis can also be pushed much harder with fertilizers organic or otherwise than many other cacti. To be honest, I tend to error on the side of overfeeding sometimes with my Trichocereus and Pereskiopsis both and unless your looking to grow show specimens there is not as much harm in it as there would be for other slower growing cacti or cacti grafted to these as stock plants.
here goes...
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You are a brave soul indeed! Un-rooted cuts of Opuntia and seedling grafts as well! These can be tricky when done this way. You need to keep any these humid which means air tight and or humidity dome enclosure just to be on the safe side when you do them this way. For what its worth, there is always some play room and I'm giving you an 80-90% success rate on these if you do nothing else. My best guess. There are two different schools of thought with this type of graft that I adhere to with Opuntia... the one you have already chosen... keep them humid, well wrapped, and warm. The other would be to submerge the cut ends of the Opuntia in wet sand or perlite with a humidity dome. Either way works fine. The latter seems to work better if the Opuntia is only growing slowly. If the Opuntia is growing a bit more rapidly and the temps can be kept higher as your doing... also works well. The real key is to keep these from drying out for the first two weeks or possibly a bit longer. When you do decide to remove the cling wrap my suggestion would be to place in a humidity dome with sand or perlite to root. Humidity domes for something like this can be a simple clear plastic bag with your cuttings/grafts inside and sealed up, two coat hangers cut in half and placed over your container in an arch and more cling wrap placed over them to make a mini green house... etc. You get the idea. You can even do a simple cup with moist perlite or sand and place them inside these with another clear cup placed over top of them to hold in the moisture.
what is the max time they can stay wrapped? two weeks? or until roots are poking out? how about leaving them wrapped for 1 week then slowly unwrapping them and placing them into cactus soil in a humid tent? they will be warm, yes.
I leave them wrapped like that for 1-2 weeks max. After that, I often simply remove and place in perlite or sand that is moist with a humidity dome or bag around that. The main benefit of the plastic wrap when used this way is its ability to hold the cutting down while also allowing the healing process to occur in a more humid environment. You simply do not want the recently cut surfaces to dry pulling away from each other. Sulfur dusting the bottoms prior to this can help.
Sorry I didn't notice this earlier, but P1020751.jpg may have two of the seedlings (left and center) not connected properly. You can remedy this even now if they have not begun to dry. Simply push along the edge of the cling wrap to adjust them slightly outward and a bit closer to the outside of the cacti. Just a slight nudge should do it. Failing that, a simple cut in both the scion and the stock to remove a thin sliver of tissue should make it as new to begin again.
ok, thanks for the clarification. i wonder if it is just because of the angle they are on? some of the cuts i made were not quite 90 degrees so I'm wondering (hoping) if they might just appear to be tilted. i tried to press them down and slide them around the stickiness. they seemed flush, but some were on an angle. i tried to make straight cuts but it turns out these DO have glochids... very, very small ones...so i had a few pairs of gloves on which made it difficult to make straight cuts. thanks though, i will double check for sure.
I see what you mean when you mention the angle. It never hurts to double check and after triple checking I think you are right!!! Lol, sorry to get you worried for nothing.
that's alright. i was pretty bummed out for second there. good thing you told me to check though.... i sprayed the container before i closed it..but like a dummy.. i didn't ensure they were up off the base of the thing. a couple sat in water overnight and don't look to hot. they got wet under the saran.
If they got sufficiently wet, you may want to unwrap them to protect them from fungus. Let those that got too wet dry a bit, but when dry place back in humidity dome. Do not attempt to put cling wrap back on those that got wet where you had to remove it. That decision is a tricky one to make, but suffice it to say that fungi can sometimes creep in or germinate when too wet. The other option is to simply keep an eye out for any abnormal growth signs such as black or white dots forming. A very light dusting of sulfur can often help with this if you apply it to the cut surfaces being careful not to dislodge the scions in the process. Another good lesson to be learned is that if you ever notice any discoloration such as red spots, etc. in your stock or scions tissue itself it is better to cut it off and remove it rather than chance it infecting the rest of your stock/scions once they have been cut and opened up to possible infections. This is why many will clean their blades with alcohol after each cut. So as not to cross contaminate other cacti. I confess, I usually just use water... but I've also had the backfire on me before and ruined a whole batch of grafts. In an ideal world, I'd do everything right and to the best of my ability each and every time, but in the real world things happen. We get in a rush or overly excited about making grafts and after so many successes you think... now I've got it! Lol, that is usually when the bad stuff happens. Don't beat yourself up over it.
thanks man. yeah i fudged up a bit there. i carefully unwrapped a few and rewrapped them. the others i left in an area with high air flow to dry out. I'm sure some of them are done for so that will be the cost of that simple lesson. i really didn't think that much water came out when i misted the container. you know, i've heard people talking about using alcohol after each cut and always wonder how much it really helps since bacteria and spores are in the air and on our hands so inevitably they will populate the area. I'm also pretty sure their is healthy flora for plants too. i have been giving it a quick wipe and flame myself. i definitely know i have a lot of mistakes yet to make. it's the foreseeable ones that i upset me. this could have easily been avoided with just another moment of consideration.
I agree with your sentiments on bacteria and fungi. I've actually grown out anaerobes, aerobes, fungi, etc. on agar media I've created and on store bought media as well and you absolutely must develop some good techniques to preventing contamination. Your breath can stir up microorganisms in the air and easily contaminate things. With that said, I'm with you. There is only so much you can do when grafting. The hardest part is maintaining a humid warm environment and hoping some of the normal flora in the environment does not contaminate your grafts. Its a gentle balance that you have to keep and even then everyone has mishaps from time to time. One of my grafting attempts for instance failed.... simply because I failed to act properly on what I saw as insect damage. If I had of examined the hole the insect made and thought about it more... I would have realized that the insect that made the whole most likely continued to defecate while winding its way around the inside of the cacti. Like a fool, I noticed the red streaks in the cacti and simply cut 98% of it away and grafted a slew of cacti at the same time without properly cleaning. Needless to say, I should have cut 110% of it away to be on the safe side and sterilized if not simply used a new blade. We all learn from these mistakes. The one thing I know for certain is that if you have a doubt about what something is... it is often best to simply cut it out and presume it to be a pathogen of some sort. With that said, I think your going to like grafting with Opuntia. Opuntia sets up a nice root system that is much more forgiving than Lophophora's roots and another benefit is that you can cut the stock after you have some decent growth leaving just a wedge of Opuntia stock for rerooting your already grafted Lophophora. The place where you cut the wedge out... becomes another surface already rooted for your next graft. Some people call that hidden grafting, but you can be assured that you don't need a huge cacti for stock. What is more important is the rooting characteristics of the stock in the long run. You can have a good number of grafts from a single Opuntia pad this way and all your grafted scions (Lophophora) will have the roots of Opuntia nicely hidden under them and concealed.
..so the worry is that something might colonize the space between the scion and the stock? it seems that is the only part that needs to remain sterile and mainly from anaerobes, which likely aren't on your cutting surfaces. is that right?
i like the idea of hiding the stock in the case of opuntia, pereskiopsis and hylocereus but as for the blue candle i definitely want to use the entire stock to really add to the look.
what kind of insect tunnelled through your plant like that?
Yes, you can get colonizers between the stock and the scion. As for the particular insect that traveled through my cacti... I have no idea what it was as it was either dead and decomposed or had long since vacated. There was a small tell tale bore hole in one side that had almost healed up with a little rust red around the exit. Suffice it to say, we live in a world of microorganisms and I've been lucky as I've worked in the laboratory growing out these microorganisms... you would think that I would be more careful with my own cacti... I don't believe that you can graft for many years and not have some unexpected turns. The bottom line is that grafting is both an art and a science and you will continue to learn as you perform more grafts.
unfortunately...only 2 took. pics below... Some got infections.
lessons:
1. make sure they don't sit in water! (obviously)
2. make sure elastics are not too tight...
3. make sure scions are pumped and definitely actively growing
4. ..maybe just calm down a bit in the winter.
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You made excellent evaluations and I agree 100% with them. With that said, you still managed to get some to take which for your first attempt grafting seedlings to Opuntia without roots is not bad at all! Your not out of the dog house yet though. You will need to keep them in a humid environment a little while longer to be on the safe side. You could get away with placing them in sand or perlite now though and attempt to get some roots started.
they are in that container. i drilled some drainage holes, moistened the soil and covered them up. hopefully they will start rooting soon.
You've done all you can do at this point. Now it is just a matter of waiting.
I BLEW IT!! ...totally blew it. all the scions died. that will be the last time i try to graft to unrooted cuttings for a while... live and learn.