Burying grafts?

It's been about 19 years since I've done a cactus graft... so I'm very rusty... anyway since I've started germinating seeds again I thought I should try and get some understocks incase something strange turns up and I have a little Sulco. rauschii whose pup I want to graft. I do a lot of rose grafting (T-budding and cleft grafting) but I have a preference for own-root plants so one thing I do with roses is bury the graft once its taken and growing and over time the graft union will form roots and will take over from the understock if its a type that grows well on its own roots (grafting gives me a higher % of success over cuttings), eventually resulting in an own root plant because the understock gradually dies off. If one was to graft a cacti (one that is capable of growing on its own roots, not chloritic ones), onto a low understock (something like a tricho or a hylo) and then gradually buried it do you think the top section would develop its own roots and become own root instead of cutting them off and trying to strike them again? Just thinking that with this little sulco if I was to graft it and it forms a large clump of pups more quickly than it normally would (not normally a fan of speeding them up.. have never seen a rauschii flower though... my last one was 15 years old and it never flowered in all that time), I could bury the graft to make it own root again without setting it back.

burying grafts is an invitation to rot i hear, degrafting is pretty straight forward to do when you are happy with the health/size of your scion

I have read posts which mention leaving a small amount of the stock when degrafting... i think but i am not sure. I was going to try degraft some plants and leave only about 5mm of stock, then let it dry. I am unsure if the stock will die and rot also? As yet i have only degrafted a few plants.

regards
Darren

As Darren says it's not unusual to leave a small amount of stock attached to the scion and bury it...I think this is mostly done with pereskiopsis stocks though, as they root so easily...

I do various ways of degrafting.
This one is not exact degrafting but:
Cut grafting stock and remained 3 cm length
Dried remained stock, the stock will shrink and shorter
Support scoin by a dark pot, stock should be bottom and wait roots coming out
The attached photo shows roots coming out.
Potting the plant
I normally cut stock in autumn and do potting in spring.
I currently have about 20 plants processed by this way.
Plant can keep grafted characters by this way.

Thanks for the great photo. Hanazono, I've never gratfed astrophytum before, but have grown lots on their own roots without too many hassles. If you were to slice an astro. off above the graft would it form roots eventually? I've never tried to strike an astro. cutting.

Another question kind of (not really) related to this, that I was thinking about today, was does grafting induce offsetting in cacti that are normally soliatry and if so when degrafted do they continue to grow as multiheaded cacti or does the strongest head dominate the others to take the role of the primary solitary head?

TasV
The rooting from cutting plant of asterias will failed sometimes. All other Astrophytum are easy to root.

Multiheaded character of grafted plant will be remained even after degrafted and rooted.
Multi-flowering character and strong flecking character will be normal level after degrafted.

Hanazono