(edit)...... the original link I posted is busted, http://www.mushmush.nl/?page=home/metho ... ting_cacti (http://www.mushmush.nl/?page=home/methods/grafting_cacti)
So for grafting info try this one..
http://www.sphosting.com/cactus/ (http://www.sphosting.com/cactus/)
.... just as good
:D --- Very cool article: Thanks Ave!!------------ sal
nice and brief write up, just one thing, at the end where it shows a diagram of proper ring alignments, it has a smaller on a larger as wrong unless 1/2 is unaligned i.e 1/2 small ring on big ring and 1/2 off..what is the reasoning for this and its importance?
I think the reasoning is that you just have to maximize your ring alignment and with two different sized rings you can't get em exact on so it's a compromise.
Thanks Avery, that was a very interesting article that was brief and to the point. I saved it for future reference even!
It is very hard for most to get the two rings perfectly aligned. The nice thing is that not having them perfectly aligned will always ensure a few points are aligned...which means you really have to have the luck of the irish to not be able to get two cacti to graft or else you have a graft incompatibility. Trust me on this. The secret to grafting cacti is a sharp razor blade or two, parafilm, and co-ban self-adhesive wrap. Any one of which you can drop from the list and still achieve a good graft. Where most people fail with grafts is simply not giving the graft enough time or using tape or some such that when removed pulls to hard at the scion and thus weakens or breaks the union between the scion and the stock plant. Grafting has some excellent perks for those considering it...chimera hybrids, hardier root systems less prone to root rot, faster growth, resistance to virus/disease may often be transfered from the hardier stock to the scion, etc....etc......
I got several pereskiopsis recently. I have had blue myrtles since I was like 16 and I bought one at Home Depot thinking it might be a Peruvian Torch ;) So, I though I'd practase grafting some faster growing cacti while some slower growing ones germinate ;)
So, I took a 8 month old San Pedro, cut it with a razor wiped with methanol, set it down, cut the top of the pereskiopsis, and super glued them together. They were the same size and it seems so far to have work perfectly with a drop of superglue (which just looks like the scars on the cactus anyway).
So, to practace and be funny, I then hooked a pereskiopsis scion on an outdoor blue myrtle, which I had recently taken a cutting from (to use as stock).
So I'm grafting grafting stock on grafting stock (San Pedro on perpeskiopsis), and then grafting the cutting (the perskiopsis) romoved from the stock (now it is a scion, lol,) on a Blue myrtle . . . kinda hilarious, huh?