De -grafting

[Eric Williams]

Hi all, has anyone had success in de grafting a Loph williamsii from a Perekiopsis, and if so did it survive on its own roots for long. Cheers

[Diane]

Not with a Loph Eric, but I had a couple of Eriosyce tenebrica that I'd grafted on peres, that we're getting large, so last year I just cut them leaving a short section of peres and re-rooted them. They seem to growing away quite well, so maybe an option for you instead of trying to cut the Loph off.

[DaveW]

Hi Eric,

As Diane says some leave three quarters to an inch of the Pereskiopsis attached to the scion and bury that, since it roots quite easily. However after a time the scion usually puts out it's own roots and being underground, therefore not photosynthesising, the Pereskiopsis stub usually withers away and the scions own roots grow through it. You will often find those Melocacti in garden centres from the Continent were originally grafted and have had about an inch of the stock left on which now buried has gradually withered away.

Some however dig out the remains of the stock and leave the scion to dry before rooting.

See:-

https://mycotopia.net/topic/48522-degra ... eskiopsis/

See the posts by Hanazono here:-

https://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewto ... 4&start=15

For those interested in grafting this is an excellent little downloadable PDF book by Teo on it.

https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rho ... opic=869.0

[RAYWOODBRIDGE]

Hi Eric
I completely agree with Diane and Dave either cut down the stock, or if it is only a short stock just bury it and sit the Lophophora onto the surface of the soil.
It will take a while, may be up to two years for the stock to wither away and the loph. to root down through it, during which the top plant may well shrivel badly.
I did this with a Lophophora alberto-vojtechii I had bought grafted from Elk, and the top plant shriveled so bad it lost its growing point and in the end sent up a pup from the base which has now grown into a nice small plant.

[jfabiao]

I have done it a number of times and it presents no problem. You can either cut as much of the stock as possible (may be difficult, as these grafts tend to have Pereskiopsis buried deep inside the scion) or twist and tear the scion away. It will throw roots not from the centre but from the adjacent tissue, as you can see in the sequence below. I rooted this scion in pumice, by the way.

I've tried the same with L. alberto-vojtechii and although it worked it took a very long time for the plants to root, as Ray says. It also helps if you do it while the stock is healthy and the scion is nice and plump, instead of doing it to save the top of a dying graft (Pereskiopsis tends to shrivel and die after a while).

[Eric Williams]

Hi jafabio, that's my problem, the Peres stock seems to be dying (4 year old) and I am trying to save the Loph. Thanks

[jfabiao]

Is it kind of wrinkled longitudinally near the top? If so, it's gone and you should act fast. Right now the scion is living off of its reserves and every day that goes by it's growing weaker.