Hello all

[Stijn]

hi stijn, this is 3bears from eastern usa. i am new here too.

Welcome here!

1. i have done my first pereskiopsis/ariocarpus seedling grafts, june 21 , out of 7, it looks like 4 have "took". the pereskiopsis has in this time shot out a branch right at the base of the graft. can i leave this on and do another graft on it later? or should it be removed completely?

I would remove them. At least I always did as it takes away nutrients that otherwise would have gone to the scion.

2. the scion normally needs a cold dry rest, but the pereskiopsis wants to stay warm and wet. so how should these grafts be treated this winter?

Although pereskiopsis does like a warm winter, mine did very well at 12-18°C. I haven't experienced problems in regard to this. They might drop some leaves, but that's about it. They can't take freezing, but that isn't a surprise I assume.

3. is there any special watering treatment needed right after the graft is made regarding watering the pereskiopsis? i have heard internal water pressure can pop the scion off if you water it too soon or even the day before you graft.

Yes, that might happen. I therefore made sure that the scion are firmly pressed against the stock. I always place plastic bottles, that I've sprayed water at the inside, over the over the plants. That way they are in a very humid environment (nearly 100%) and then you can give them less water. That's the way I do it. It works well for me.

[3bears]

good, thank you, now another question. an article i read said to cut the top half inch off the pereskiopsis, as that is the growing tip. i overlooked that and cut my pereskiopsis in half, well below the top half inch. was that a mistake? another person told me to cut the pereskiopsis at a point where it matches the scion diameter. and another person said to put the scion off center on the pereskiopsis, (which i did), i assume so the vascular rings will overlap.

if you cut where the diameters are the same, then no off centering is possible. will that work?

btw, your english is excellent!

[Stijn]

I cut mostly near the top as that contains active tissue that can readily adapt to the scion.
But I also tried lower down the stem, and that also took easily. Just make sure that it isn't getting 'woody'. After some aging the stem becomes more rigid and less suitable for grafting.
There are some advantages of going lower in some cases: the stem can support more, is thicker and you can use the top again as cutting to root and grow. So I think it depend a bit on you situation and needs.

[Stijn]

if you cut where the diameters are the same, then no off centering is possible. will that work?

Depends. If I cut near the top, the vascular ring becomes very small. In fact it converges to a point. In that case, assuming your scion is also very small, centering will do.
Otherwise, and that's in most cases, I place the scion a bit 'off center' to make sure the vascular tissue is able to connect. Once the grafting takes, it doesn't matter much how it's placed, the vigorous growth will quickly overgrow the point of attachment and often will no longer see the connection.

btw, your english is excellent!

Thank you! I appreciate this very much.

[EddieA]

hi stijn, this is 3bears from eastern usa. i am new here too.

first for eddie, here's a link to a blog i have found helpful regarding led's and cfl's for seedlings.
http://pereskiopsisforestryservice.blogspot.com/
i have to say a friend showed me a led panel he bought as a "gro-lite" and i laughed because i simply couldn't believe a light like that would grow anything!. then i found this blog, apparently its a great way to raise seedlings. so, i ordered a box of 14 watt panels as stijn has described off ebay. i plan on experimenting with them this winter.

Hello 3bears
Welcome to the forum
I'll be looking at the link you sent and I'll probably be experimenting with LED panels this winter as well
Thanks for the link
Eddie

[3bears]

here's an update on my grafting ordeals from this summer. i did about 90 seedling/pereskiopsis grafts. i kept them in a large plastic storage box in my greenhouse for 3 weeks. most of the grafts took, and i moved them outside into partial shade under a tree. even though the tree provided almost complete shade, all the grafts turned cherry red, sunburned. still everything was ok, so i moved them to even deeper shade. one of them took off with growth, tripling its size in literally weeks, the rest seemed to just be static. then i ignored them for a few weeks or so. when i looked at them again, something had eaten almost every one!!! i know they were eaten because a bunch had remains left that were still trying to grow. the same thing had eaten ALL the tops out of my 18th month old trichocereus seedlings that i had put next to them!!!(this wasn't nearly so bad, because i was growing them as grafting stock, so the tops will probably be cut off next year anyway.)

in all the reading about grafting and seed raising, i never read anything about having to protect them from being eaten!!! anyway, the summer project is lost, and its too late to graft now, i have to wait till next spring. so this is my lesson, and spread the word, you can't put seedlings outside unprotected until they are much larger. i suspect crickets did this, but have no idea really. fortunately, i kept some grafts inside the greenhouse, and they are fine.

i do have a question, if anyone has experience, how old /large do my trichos have to be before attempting to use them as stock for grafting seedlings? they are 2"/5cm currently.

[AnTTun]

Did you notice any traces of snails / slugs? They are happy cacti eaters as well But at least you can stop them with chemicals spreaded around collection, unlike crickets that can jump.

Regarding trichos... I'd say it depends on what kind of scions you have on mind and if you plan to leave them grafted long or short term. I used to use bigger and thicker trichos for long term grafts even if scions were not too big. Otherwise I have used shorter and younger rooted cuts, 3-5 cm long, 1.5-2 cms wide. And I was using tricho bridgesii as stock, didn't have any pachanoi etc.

[Diane]

Hi, 3bears, you can graft on those Tricho seedlings now, if you are grafting seedlings. The stock will eventually become the "roots" of the grafted plants and can be buried quite easily.