Euphorbia Lactea Cristata - Remove graft??

Hi,

Simple question. I have a grafted Euphorbia Lactea Cristata and its getting really big. I'd like to remove it from the graft plant. Is this possible?

If so do I just act as normal and cut it back, apply rooting powder, let it callous and then replant?

I've never tried to remove a plant from a graft so any help would be appreciated.

If its not possible, what are my chances of loosing the Cristata part if I just cut the graft stem shorter and then leave that to heal and replant? My main issue is that as it gets bigger its getting very top heavy so I'd like to shorted the graft stem right up so that its very close to the ground in case it falls over.

Hi CactusJen,
I take cuttings from euphorbia lactea cristata all the time, the best time is spring take the cutting wash the white sap with water until it stops flowing then apply rooting powder wait two weeks then you will see small roots starting to form then plant onto well drained medium i use a very coarse washed sand roots will form fairly fast within 3 months you should have a good root system. I live in Adelaide and the weather is cooling down now and the days are shorter so i would not take any cuttings again until spring but as you live in the cold coast it might be possible any time of the year. Good luck and happy growing.

Thanks for your response much appreciated.

What I'm more after is removing the entire cristata portion from the graft - not taking cuttings if that makes sense. I've attached the image below. If you can see the graft cactus stem - what I want to do is remove the cristata portion from the top entirely. I would imagine that it would be just like taking cuttings as you say, but seeing as I've grown it from tiny I'm really nervous to do that if its the wrong thing to do. Its such a good size that I don't want to risk losing it.



Cheers,
Jenny

Sorry those images don't seem to show??

Link here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenmarsden/6849734008/

Jenny

Here is a pic of one i took as a cutting around xmas time.

I would be incline to take the cut from the stock and root that down as trying to make a cut from a big crest would be hard you want the smallest cut area as possible. I would leave it till spring you wont have any trouble in rooting it down you can even leave the cut until roots appear it doesn't take long several weeks in the right conditions. I took some cuts around 4 weeks ago and they are not going anyway near as good as what they did in spring.

Awesome thank you!