Some nice things.

Today my Ariocarpus were showing off so I thought I would follow their example...
From front to back left side is fissuratus, bravoanus, kotschoubeyanus.
Right side is scaphirostris, hintonii, agavoides.


The other pictures are of some astros that were part of the recent
degrafting. My old grafts for breeding got mealies so I decided to
degraft and clean them. They probably won't grow roots till spring.

Pitty about the mealies ! Some really nice plants there, both the Onzukas are just stunning and the 5 rib Asterias too.

HN

Those are great plants and some superb grafts. I love how well you've got multiple grafts going on single stocks.

the second onzuka is simply beautiful! i can do everithing to have one so perfectly shaped and good marked!
nice work the ariocarpus graft too!
realy admired of your work!

Multi-ario grafts are amazing...

Do you do this at once, or one-by-one, gradually ?

Thanks for the comments, I feel a bit silly flaunting my plants but at the the same time I also want to share them. I am working to establish a nursery, because I have large numbers of most species I some times get special things. I will keep adding to this thread for a while.
Hn: the five rib plant is actually a Coahuilense X Super K. It really appeals to me too. I have tried These hybrids onto themselves and back onto Super K. The seedling are on own roots mostly so are a bit slow. I hope to get something stable like that plant. it is a long term project.
Cortona:The second onzuka is really choice. It is the best one of around 30 that I did in that lot of grafts. I have used it to breed with. With the cultivars it is necessary to grow many to get really nice select specimens I find.
Mutant: I do them all at the same time. My record is twelve Obregonias on one perry. It used to be I needed to save space and had only a few stocks. Now I mostly do single grafts on top. Side grafting does make it a bit easier to de-graft cause the stock doesn't grow into the scion as much. Problem is the scions get so heavy the plants fall over.
Here are some more photos.

An Ariocarpus hintonii with unusual colouring. There is one tubercle near the base that has a bit of the normal colour.

I didn't expect either of these two Ario hybrids to survive so I stuck em on the same stock. They both are doing well.Left is Kotschoubeyanus v.elephantidens X Retusus c.v. pectinatus and right is kotschoubeyanus X scaphirostris.

This pic is another Kotschoubeyanus v.elephantidens X Retusus c.v. pectinatus

A Loph that is variegated. If you look closely there are three colours,
yellow,light green and dark green. Unfortunately the mites love this
one.

Nice one chief, Glad to see you sharing some of your awesome work. I been hanging for this moment for some time now. Few said people have told me how awesome your growing skills are and now we can all admire them and gives us something to aim towards. Kudos!

Awesome variegate. I must PM you a pic of an astro hybrid I once had and I was gutted it passed away. I think I still have to tag someplace and would love to know if you have one similar or could help me obtain another of similar markings. I'll track down the photo asap.

Keep up the nice work mate
-A

That last hintonii is amazing crypto. The colour is looks it should taste like an exotic fruit.

It's good to see more of your plants here.
We're all suckers for miniatures.

Nice funky coloured Arios

Remarkable results! Compliments!

they are all just gorgeous mate! job very well done!

the yellow/lightgreen ario hintoni sure looks special.

hey, I haven't yet sown ario seed yet. Last night I was having my first attempts to graft seedlings [some 3-4 months old!!] of strombo & aztekium {!!} [having my expectations pretty low of course]. It's very easy to drop the seedling from your hand and then of course you're not be able to find it!

Are arios so slow as them to get to a size one can handle it properly? I hope not!

Anyways it was an interesting experience and I hope I can get some going by the end of season [that is I hope I don't fail 100% on those tiny graft attempts] since I am afraid I won't be able to get them to a decent size in own roots which is less than 1 mm long .... waiting for 5~7 years?? Most people say they kill them because of drought/ forgetting to water and such.

They are some truly amazing plants. Your variegated arios are easily some of the most striking plants that I have ever seen.

Pretty average there crypto...




Nah just kidding, just awesome stuff. Love your work!
I really like the ario in the first pic in the first post... back left side, top scion; look at that spacing between the tubercles, so inflated it looks like it's going to explode!

Thanks for all the good comments, I appreciate them. I am getting a big head so I'll take a break for a bit (actually I have a Plant Biology exam on Tuesday that I need to study for) But I will post some more goodies soon.

Lewis; the A.kotschoubeyanus always swell up like that on a perry. I prefer them natural they are flat at ground level with a carrot tap root. They look like stars when grown own roots.

Mutant: Arios are a lot easier than those very small plants . Best to do them under six weeks old I find as they get a bit hard after that. Best of luck with grafting aztekiums if you can do them then no other species(except maybe blossfeldias) will present much of a challenge. Keep em humid for at least a week after grafting and gradually reduce it. i.e in a bucket covered with plastic wrap and put more holes in it each day. Keep ALL bugs off then. I had a half dozen fresh A.hintonii grafts eaten by a tiny caterpiller overnight. Aztekium actually grow quite fast on Perry and seem to have an affinity for it. I find some South Americans like Uebelmannia and blossfeldia are much slower on this stock.

Amnesia,or anyone else; If there is anything you are after feel free to contact me about it. If I don't have what your after I'll try to grow one but it will require a bit of patience. I may be a bit slow to reply to PMs but I will get around to it eventually..

Thanks again for the compliments back soon with more nice things....

Thanks for valuable info friend!

No worries Mutant always glad to help an enthusiast. Also wanted to say that the multi grafts are all done at the same time.
These are some pictures from a talk I gave on the subject.

Wow these photos are the definition of the saying

1 pic 1000 words or , rather 2 pics 2000 words

thanks a lot, very inspiring!

Some very nice astro cvs there too

Wow thats amazing and inspiring!

Those multiple grafts are simply astounding... you make it look so easy!

Glad you like em. Actually I have gone off multiple grafts since I have more room and stocks but it is a novelty. Thought this pot with Turbinicarpus booleanus and mammillaria hernandezi was worth postin'. Are the flowers the last of this season or the first of next?

Seeing this made me happy. Australian born crest of Obregonia denegrii. It is on a graft so should be able to propagate eventually.

Wow love the crest its a real beauty. How old would it be? And was this caused by grafting. Could its offspring from seed also produce a crest. Im interested in crest, monstrose and varigates.I have a couple of each and i am going to experiment with varigated seeds it be interesting how many come out varigated all are astrophytums.

Wow, those things are going bananas with flowers. The mamms are covered in buds.

I'm loving that Obregonia crest... I reckon yours would have to be the only example I've ever seen of such a thing.

I don't think the crest was caused by the graft cause it hasn't happened on any others and I have done a few. Maybe crests are a bit more common on a graft but it might just be the faster growth makes them seem to happen more often relative to the own roots plants. Having said that I can only think of a half dozen all up out of thousands of plants so they are fairly rare grafted or not.
The plant is about 3 years old I think I don't really keep track any more, What I do remember is that it was the weakest seedling in a large batch and I chucked it on a short perry stock that was a bit of a runt too. Needless to say that when I noticed this it started to get the five star treatment. Just goes to show never overlook a weak seedling....
I have seen other examples of this species cresting in Thailand but this is the first in Oz as far as I know. Nice that it is here now means it can be propagated. Assuming it lives long enough. Here is a couple more fasciated Mexicans...
Echinocereus pectinatus I think. Own roots.

And a Mammillaria that begins with H can't remember which one and it's too dark and cold to go out and check.