About to graft some A. caput-medusae

Hello, Sorry to drag this post back to the top, but I have tried grafting A. c-m many times and went through probably a dozen seedlings trying to graft to Pereskiopsis. I tried grafting seedlings with 2 tubercles but they kept toppling over. I tried using Crazy Glue to hold them down but kept glueing my fingers to the scion or getting glue under the scion. I even tried grafting tubercles to Pereskiopsis as they were small seedlings and therefore small/thin tubercles. None worked. I think I applied too much pressure on the Tubercle grafts but I had a question for Echinopsis and Torro, Do you Cut the Tubercle section in half but not all the way through? Is that Both halfs (still connected) on the Root stock?

Thanks

Paulzie, we cut the tubercle in half and graft them on Ferocactus or Astrophytum myrio or capricorne for example.
Young acm seedlings I graft on pereskiopsis without any pressure.

Ok... But the seedlings must be young with only one tubercle, correct? Because my seedlings all had 2 tubercles and were always off balance and fell over. I was told to use super glue on these but that didn't work out.

I'm now down to just 3 seedlings and am goin to try tubercle grafts again and hope to get similar results. My plants are still quite small

On the segments that are grafted, some are two pieces laid side by side. Are these both halves of the same segment and are they still joined by the skin or cut clean through making two individual pieces? I ask because most pics seem to show the new growth from between the two halves.

G'day Paulzie,
I got a nearly 100% success rate by grafting them when the first tubercle was only 3-4mm long. You can graft them after that, but the tubercle often will overbalance them, and tend to lean, or even fall right off.

G'day to you too IXOXI
Thank you for your confirmation. I was discussing this with someone today and he directed me to this forum. I had then mentioned your "Pereskia Forest" to him and how your seedlings were all very young and only one tubercle. I had surmised it was due to them being unstable with more than one. So, I need to start some more seeds and try again and leave my last three older seedlings alone to get larger so I can graft the tubercles

But again, are the tubercles in the pictures posted by Echinopsis not cut all the way through and just laid open in a "butterfly" style position? Or are they cut clean through and just laid side by side? Can either of you say?

By they way... How did your tray of Aztekiums turn out? I just started some A. hintonii a few weeks ago and grafted the first "Pin head" sized seedling and so far it's hanging in there! Did the same with a Blossfeldia seedling last year and it too took. Unfortunately, I pulled a bone head move and bumped it while reaching over the pot and saw it shoot off into the abyss! So, not counting it as a successful graft yet.

(Oh and btw IXOXI don't know if you're a fan, but gotta tell ya your version of MasterChef is much better than the one here!)

Paulzie, I graft ACM seedlings before they have one tubercle.
When they are just out of there shell.
What you are trying is a normal graft. Take a Harrisia jusbertii or
another stock for adult plants and graft them as adult plants.
Attach them with a rubber band.

That should work.

I prefer to cut the tubercles in half. What Echinopsis did works - but there are
better methods.

Thanks Torro. I'm going to be trying it soon! I'll let you know how it goes.

Paulzie - good luck. It is surely easier to graft such a plant on anything else then
Pereskiopsis.

So, you suggest using something other than Pereskia, like H. jusbertii?

Yes, something different.
H. jusbertii, Tricho pachanoi, bridgesii, Ferocactus.
It is easier to graft and lasts longer.

Peres or Hylo are for seedlings at this size.

That´s the way I would prefer for an acm at this size:
Myrtillocactus is also a good stock.

Of course it is possible to graft older seedlings to Pereskiopsis too.
But you need to use a little pressure too.

Thank you Torry! That is very helpful...and forgive me for my post on the other forum. I had not seen these posts yet I was composing them and missed these.
I will be sowing more seeds this weekend and will be trying this hopefully by next week. I have plenty of Pereskia and Hylocereus.

As you see, I am on both forums too - no problem.
Then it is a non brainer. Graft the young seedlings on Peres and the older
ones on a different stock.

Torro, Is that a seedling Hylocereus? It looks very... soft and imature.

Paul, yes it is a Hylo seedling. Just a year old, grown from seeds.
I guess you could get some hundert cuttings - one meter long each, arm thick - from the next
Pitaya grower.

LOL! I'm not that far south in Florida Not many Pitaya growers where I am
But I do have some growing in pots! I have also collected LOTS of seeds out of fruit I have eaten. Just haven't grown any yet. But now I will! Thanks!

Actually it is possible to graft much larger scions onto Pereskiopsis as well. There's a few methods for it and any of them can work.
It's the middle of the night here, and I got woken up and can't get back to sleep, so I will write about them, but I am not going to go and do photos right now.
Anyhow, method one is called a pencil graft.
You cut away bits of a Pereskiopsis until it is sharpened something like the angles on a pencil, and then either drill or poke a hole into the scion, and then jab it onto the Pereskiopsis.
For this method to work, you need to be very certain the areas of contact have been sterilized well first. A spray or dip of meth spirits works good.
The second method is a wedge graft. The Pereskiopsis needs only 2 cuts, at a fairly sharp angle, and then the scion can either have a single cut made at the bottom, or a wedge no greater then half the angle of the one made on the Pereskiopsis. Sometimes you might need a rubber band to squeeze around the cut to hold it in place while the pencil graft often needs no additional work to hold it in place.
A third method which I have had reasonable success with, is to superglue the scion to the root stock. You have to be very careful not to let the glue get sucked into between the scion and the root stock by capillary action, as it will cause a total failure, so you need to hold it till the glue dries. This method works great, but once the plant grows to a certain stage, you need to get the glue off, or it WILL choke the growth eventually.
A fourth way involves putting weights to hold the scion in place and painting a sealant, preferably the kind of sterile sealant tar used on tree wounds. The only drawback of this one is that you have an obvious black section on the bottom of your graft, sometimes for the life of the plant.
On the first 2 grafts listed, there is not really a limit on the size of the scion, as long as the placement is correct (even if you have to steak it in place!).

Hope this gives you something to think about,
Cheers,
IXOXI

No Ixoxi - not without pics.

Is this what you mean by the wedge graft? Never even thought of that.
I have seen the one you call a pencil graft. Basically, you stab the sharpened end of a Pereskiopsis into the base of the A.c-m.

Yes Paul - it is possible. But much less succesful then a plain graft.
90% against 30% success for the plain graft method.
(Dieter Helm, Biology of cacti, p. 206)

Actually Paulzie, the wedge goes the other way, it's similar to the pencil graft, but you have more control over the alignment.

Hey All, Sorry to resurrect this thread again, but figured this should go here! I did what you all said and here's the results!





THANK YOU All of you!!! These are both looking Really Good!

Nice success Paulzie.

Thanks! I'm hoping to graft the rest this weekend! Really Excited!

Hey this is a very informative thread, after reading through it I was wondering how you feel grafting ACM seedlings was a benefit? I decided not to graft my ACM seedlings just on the basis that I read that they don't grow much quicker, I have been amazed by how quick they have grow on there own. I should have grafted one for comparison but did not & would love to hear the opinion of people that have tried this. I can see the advantage of grafting a chopped up branch of areoles as a way of propagating this beautiful plant.

Cheers
Taygus