Growing Pereskiopsis

[BruceM]

Hi all, I have some Pereskiopsis to use for seedling grafts. I would be interested in hearing how people go about growing Peres and especially over wintering (I have a heated greenhouse). Alot of what I see online is for the American climate, but the humidity aspect keeps popping up. Is it necessary?

Any input is appreciated, especially on:
Soil mix?
Heat mat?
Humidity chamber?
Full sun/part shade?
Watering and fertilising frequency?

My cuttings are just rooting and I want to be able to propagate them as fast as possible, since I don't have enough.

[Eric Williams]

Hi Bruce, humidity is essential for Peres. I use a large plastic box with lid. A small saucer of water in box as well. They love it. I use normal compost with a little more peat to prevent drying out. They also like some water in theWinter even at low temps. A cheapy hygrometer will show well over 85 percent in these conditions, exactly what is required. Cheers

[DaveW]

Yes agree with Eric, Turkish Bath type conditions. They like a steaming tropical Jungle type of atmosphere unlike most cacti if you are rooting cuttings to graft on. That is for growing the stocks of course before you graft on them.

With all grafting stocks you want rather lush new growth to graft on, rather than harder lignified stocks or the graft may not take. You harden them off after the grafts have taken.

See:-

https://cactiguide.com/article/?article=article7.php

https://pereskiopsis.com/pereskiopsis/

[kohinoor]

Soil mix: i personaly use very organic mixture with more than 70% humus
They love water. And can withstand short-time with root submerge under water.
I even seen some ppl success with hydroponic. I would like to try some day.

Heat mat: i live in subtropical country so this part i cant help

Humidity chamber
They do very well in enclosed container.
You can put them in plastic box and move inside under fluorescent light in winter.
That is what i do when i graft in winter. they need min 10C for graft to success.


Full sun/part shade
they can do both. But they produce a lot more spine under full sun.It is better to grow in part shade to reduce spine growth. If done right you can reduce spine to almost no spine.


Watering and fertilising frequency?
I never let soil dry,so i can reach maximum speed. They do well with fertilising i just toss random amount of fertilizer to pot.

i put them inside a huge fish tank with sand bedding. Keep breeding wet so it never dry out completely.
temp can rise to 40C in midday this method is highly risky and highly rewarding.

[ragamala]

I'm wondering if there is a bit too much emphasis on air humidity here. In my experience the stocks will grow fine in "normal" humidity conditions (either greenhouse or indoors, eg as windowsill plants) as long as they are adequately and frequently watered. Indeed you don't want them to grow out of control, otherwise you'll end up having to keep chopping them down - they can easily grow feet rather than inches in a short time. When I started growing them for stocks I soon found I had far more than I could cope with.

When high humidity is recommended is immediately after grafting, mainly for the benefit of the scion and union. I have had success both in lidded propagators, and with individual plants placed under a pop bottle with base cut off.

As for winter, in my experience they do need to be kept warm, and watered, even in a heated greenhouse at down to a few degrees they will suffer, and ungrafted or grafted will start to lose their leaves.

I'm sure, Bruce, you will soon find they are easy to grow/lop/root and you'll have more than you can cope with!

[BruceM]

Thank you all. This confirms what I have been reading with regards to humidity. I will try splitting them 50/50 into a humidity chamber and on the lower staging.

It's very much appreciated and of course feel free to make any other suggestions. I'm guessing they enjoy a higher Nitrogen feed? I have an 8-8-6 which would probably suit them quite well.

[DaveW]

The reason for high humidity is to grow them fast and lush since scions graft better on "softer" growth. Scions tend to reject more frequently on more lignified or harder growth on stocks. That is why with all stocks such as Trichocereus, Echinopsis etc the advice is often to grow them under the staging for a time before grafting on them in order to get softer new growth, rather than in full sun on the top of the staging.

It depends how many plants you are grafting, but if say seedling grafting you may want to multiply stocks fast and using one of those high top propagator seed trays I used to be able to get 2" Pereskiopsis cuttings touching the top in a week or so, chop the top off and root it down again and the stump would throw out more branches for propagation by also rooting down again, therefore you can multiply your available stocks rapidly.

You don't even need the top section either using high humidity methods, since provided it has some areoles even sections of the stem will quickly root and throw out branches that can be cut off for propagation. I once rooted a section of stem 1" long having no leaves using those methods.

If you want to grow Pereskiopsis for it's own sake as a plant and not a grafting stock you just grow it like most other cacti, perhaps giving it a bit more water. I have done it that way too and flowered it when about 4ft tall.

[BruceM]

Hi Dave, thanks for the reply. I'm growing them for seedling grafts, so yes, rapid propagation is the goal. All of my humidity chambers are currently full with seedlings, so I have just bought a new one for the Pereskiopsis.

When you did your seedling grafts, did you keep them in a humidity chamber in the greenhouse? Or in the house?

[DaveW]

Just kept them humid until was sure the graft had taken then brought them into normal atmosphere to harden off.

[BruceM]

Thanks Dave. I'm going to have a trial run with the seedlings. I have 100% success with larger grafts, this is the first time trying such small seedling and Peres.