"Tales From the Cacti Cube"

Ok, time for a new Cube oddity. I had 3 paper white Astrophytum myriostigma cv fukuryu seedlings come up in one of my seedling trays. They were so white that they didn't show up well for photos while sitting on paper. I grafted all 3 of them, on various sized pereskiopsis root stocks. The longest is 200mm.
Here's a photo of them in the seedling tray:

Wow, they are extremely white! You're right, it really is a numbers game.

it will be interesting to see if such a sport can survive with virtually no chlorophyl production...

I sure hope so
The good part is that I have 3 chances.

I have been following this thread with interest as well so please keep posting updates
I have a similar setup but it is a bit smaller more like a over sized cupboard.

Cheers
Midlife

By the way, is your avatar photo an Ario that you grafted on Pereskiopsis?

IXOXI wrote:

By the way, is your avatar photo an Ario that you grafted on Pereskiopsis?

Yes it is I grafted it just under a year ago. This is it about a month ago.



Cheers
Midlife

Very nice Ario.
How long do you like to have your Pereskiopsis when you graft?

Thanks mate
My pere lengths are all over the place which makes it very hard to grow them under lights.
I have recently told myself to try and keep the a uniform height. I suppose most are about 150 to 200mm from graft to the soil level. I have recently also gone down to 85mm square pots from 100mm round to save some space on my shelves.

What length are you using

Cheers
Midlife

My Peres are all over the place length-wise too. Some of my earliest grafts have just 2-3cm of peres, lol. Some of the more recent ones, I have been experimenting on grafting stocks up to half a meter.

Ok, ever wonder where things go when they get too big for the Cacky Cube? Maybe, maybe not, but I know I have been wondering about it. Well I know have the answer. When things have grown out of the cacky cube, they go to the cacky Tube.
After hitting over 3,000 cacti in the cube, I needed an overflow for the largest of plants, so I have purchased an igloo. It's not new, and needs to be moved, but all that starts tomorrow. Will post photos as work progresses.

Took down the igloo in 40° heat with no clouds or wind, not even a breeze. As an added bonus today, I got to take home some dehydration with heat stroke and massive sunburn, and much later here at home, a nice shiny new coat of Aloe vera paint.
I'll post photos of the igloo frame tomorrow. What I did shoot photos of today is another update for the cube. It's one of those things that I don't want to get my hopes up about, because it will probably turn out to be nothing special in the end, but the multi-headed Geohintonia that I have growing has something funny going on with the largest offset. Here's a photo of it, you can decide what you think it's doing.

That looks very interesting. I've had a few do that and end up dichotomizing(is that a word?). Having said that though I would hasten to add that crests look the same as that when they originate. If it does go sideways put me first on the list when its ready to chop up.

If "dichotomizing" wasn't a word before, it is now. I had one of my Astros do that on me. It had 2 heads, and the second one looked like it was cresting. It went like that for months but then suddenly as it started, the middle of the crest started reverting. So yeah it's dichotomizing also.

Having a close look....at the moment I'd be going 60/40 in favor of a crest but only time will tell

I will update photos every week or so. Then we can refine opinions

I need to invest in one of these "cacky cubes" haha!

~Kandahar

When you grafted Geohintonia mexicana, you get offset showing abnormal growing quite offten. Small offset of Geohintonia can graft onto Pereskiopsis easily.
I have grafted several abnormal ones.
The photo is one of them, dichotomized body.
I hope your offset grows well and becomes a special one.

Thank you Hanazono, I hope that the Geo in my photos doesn't just dichotomize, but goes on to greater (and much much wider) things

From the abnormal ones, what did you get once you knew what each one was turning into?

Unlike the Ariocarpus that is a bit of a mystery in the post I just uploaded, I have an interesting Ario that I DO know what it is. Let's see if anyone else here (Who I have not already told) can identify it

Took a photo to show a few of this years grafted cacti. Most of the ones in this shot are Ariocarpus, though there's a few Astros in the back. The oldest of these had their seeds planted at the end of March. The biggest of the grafts is now +4cm across. Not too bad for being seeds 7 & 1/2 months ago.



The biggest graft left (Sold some by accident - had them in a display and got an offer I couldn't pass up).

Little army !! They have grown very fast.

They are absolutely rocking. I have had a number of Ariocarpus / pere grafts that seem to take ok and they don't shrivel up and die but they just don't grow. I have had loph's do the same but there normally sit for a while and eventually take of. Do you ever have the same problems ?
Your pere's are in really good knick as well. Have you just got them in a standard potting mix or some thing different. Also are they 50mm pots they are in.
Sorry about all of the questions but I am still trying to get my setup dialed in for the best use of space but still get good growth.

Cheers
Midlife

There are lots of tricks and tips for Pereskiopsis grafting, things you can do to boost your success rates. When I first started, I believe that I was getting around a 40% success rate. I do a lot of Peres grafts (more than 1000 this year alone), and have honed the techniques to where my success rates are +95% in virtually every batch.

I find that most of the grafts need 2-4 weeks worth of healing before they will start to grow. Placement of the scion plays the biggest part of success or failure. Poorly placed scions will linger around sometimes for many months before they either shrivel up and die, or push new roots out.

Back when I was learning, I had a couple of the grafts that went an entire year without growing. Over time though I learned that the worse they are positioned, the longer it takes for the 'pipes' to align for good growth. While they are rerouting the scion sits there. When the pipes connect up, they take off growing like a shot. From what I have seen, they can sometimes take up to 3 months to connect. If they still aren't growing by then, I will usually regraft that one.

Once you have the skills down to do basics, then you can try some fancy grafting to produce cacti like this:

Wow very good that is just amazing i love the multiple grafts looks cool.
Keep up the good work.