Some grafts

[Guest]

Hi Mike,

True eriosysce rather that the lumped ones germinate very poorly. I was lucky enough last year to get a couple of thousand seeds from habitat locations and I tried various ways of germinating them. The best was to lightly rub them between two sheets of fine wet and dry. Even then ony 20% came up. I have given most of these away but the grow very quickly until they are transplanted then they slow down dramatically. I have 10 still in the original tray and they are 2cm diameter in 1 year, the transplanted ones are less than 1cm diameter.

[Tina]

I forgot to say thats very good grafting with the E. Subdenudatum, I have only managed two so any tips?.
How do you get them to stay put?, are they cut at an angle?

[Trevor]

Interesting stuff - I've yet to try grafting, but I did buy my first plant of Pereskiopsis sp. a little while back. Any tips on reproducing this stock fast ? It's about a foot tall at the moment - if I cut it into three would they all root and offshoot ?

Thanks,

[Roy]

You could cut that into 2" bits stick it in some moist compost (no need to let it heal) turn up the heat to about 25C and they will all root within the week. When you graft save every bit you cut off and plant it. The same with any sideshoots that develop, cut them off and plant them. Very soon you will have a lot more plants than you need.

[iann]

Is Eriosyce aurata a true Eriosyce? It came up very well and very big last spring from seedpool seed, then about half of them rotted when I pricked them out!

[Mr Crimson]

>Tina:
>Those are some very interesting Lophs, the top & left ones are really an unusual and defined shape (like Bob's).
>I have an A. Asterias superkabuta which looks very similar to your one, It must be common for them to grow that way when grafted.
>Your plants look really good , do you keep them under lights ?.

The lophos are simply "common" Decipiens and Huizache. Generally it can be said that when grafting on these stocks, the plants tends to become a little bit bloated and in most cases starts to pup at a very early stage. I hope that when I degraft them, and give them a year or two on their own roots, they will gradually take a more natural form
I believe its not unlikely that many plants from the nurseries are degrafts.

I use 18W tubes, 6500 Kelvin "daylight". Luckily I can get these tubes quite cheap, and they are cheap to run too I made myself a growbox with white walls a couple of months ago, with 4 tubes in it.


>iann:
>Spectacular progress. I still haven't tried grafting.
Thanks, once you get started its difficult to stop




>Herts Mike
>Presumably you grew the Eriosyce from seed.
>How did you get it to germinate? I struggle with this one.

After one year of trying and failing, I propagate all my seeds this way:
1) Pasteurize the soil in an oven, 120C
2) Soak the seeds in water with a little Sodium benzoate in it (kills eventual fungi hidden in shells, i have found especially Astrophytums to be carriers of mould )
3) Put the soil into small pots (which is soaked in Sodium benzoate or bleach, both is proably good)
4) Put the small pots into plastic bags (zip-lock bags is probably the best)
5) wait

I got the sandillons from a friend in Chile. They took a while to germinate, 3 weeks maybe.. but then suddenly they all popped up at the same time. I think I had 100% germination, good luck ?



>Trevor:
>Interesting stuff - I've yet to try grafting, but I did buy my first plant of Pereskiopsis sp. a little while back.
>Any tips on reproducing this stock fast ? It's about a foot tall at the moment - if I cut it into three would they all root and offshoot ?

My answer is 100% equal to Roy's. I started with 3 cuttings under a year ago, now I got more than I know what to do with



>Iann:
>Is Eriosyce aurata a true Eriosyce? It came up very well and very big
>last spring from seedpool seed, then about half of them rotted when I
>pricked them out!
I am no expert on this topic, I believe you and me have been into this topic somewhere else

[Mr Crimson]

oops, forgot this one:
>I forgot to say thats very good grafting with the E. Subdenudatum,
>I have only managed two so any tips?.
>How do you get them to stay put?, are they cut at an angle?
>Tina

Nope, I cut them straight like the others.
Though there are a couple of important steps to be observed:
1) I put them slightly offcenter so the vascular rings overlap
2) Keep them in humidity chamber for 7 days
3) Clean equipment is important.. though I still lose one once an a while, you can see contamination when the peresk turns red/brownish on the top. Still some of these even survive

[Guest]

I Ian,

Yes they were aurata, the seed was a couple of years old and obtained from the person who collected it. You were lucky to get fresh seed as that will germinate well. They grow well but hate being transplanted.

[Guest]

Bob, is it sandillon that you have? If you could spare one I would be very grateful. I have various things I could offer in return with habitat details, cacti and stapeliads.

Mike.

[Mr Crimson]

Too bad I didnt join earlier, I would probably donate them to the seed pool then.. the remaining 200 or so seeds is now travelling around the world. See PM for details.