shallen Posted November 23, 2015 Hi there this might sound like a silly question but, out here were I live prickly pear is growing all over the place (well its a weed out here) and they seem to be growing rather quickly so I was wondering if they could be used as a viable rootsock for other species of cacti 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeadStar Posted November 23, 2015 You can indeed :-) 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ Posted November 23, 2015 i read the pads make good eating too but i know the fruits can be to die for... ,tried em yet? is it opuntia ficus indica? {barbory fig} Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BedOSpines Posted November 23, 2015 i have, they are full of seeds but they are very flavorsome never see any birds on em tho. starving man would be happy to eat em. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BedOSpines Posted November 23, 2015 Opuntia stricta is the ones i see growing wild everywhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shallen Posted November 23, 2015 I was walking home hammered when I tried one of the fruits and then I ended up with a spine thingy in my gum that I needed tweezers to remove the spine kinda ruined the experience for me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theuserformallyknownasd00d Posted November 23, 2015 Your lucky it was just one lol! ^ I'm currently using o. monocantha for grafting gymnos with good success. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Derkshaman Posted November 24, 2015 Yes I hear that all sorts of opuntia can be used as a grafting stock Especially for seedling grafts. The vascular core is closer to the edges with the pad shaded opuntia. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) I've never had much success with Opuntia spp as stock. I've tried several different species and the results were sub par on all of them. The scions take to the Opuntia no problems but they never grew for me. I took photos of the stock after I cut it to identify the vascular bundle on some and they seemed to be aligned correctly. If you take a pic & play around with saturation levels on photoshop or something similar the vascular bundle can be seen very easily. Some people have good success with them but I won't do it again, I've lost too many good plants that way. I'd look for some peres or a nice fat healthy trich to use as stock - even a cheap bunnings trich. Edited November 24, 2015 by Sally Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Myeloblast Posted November 26, 2015 My experience has been the same as Sally's using pads, I'd be interested to hear more from people who had success with them. There was a tek described somewhere about using O. compressa seedlings to graft other seedlings to it. I bought seeds, germinated them, and never got around to grafting... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Change Posted November 26, 2015 I seen people grafting tricho seedlings to them, they exploded It looks really cool because it was possible to fit 3 or 4 seedlings on a single pad, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites