Inyan

Here is another representative of my method of grafting with parafilm. 100% success with the use of parafilm on a 3 day old seedling. This little guy was cut below its cotyledons and only only the top portion was grafted to my Pereskiopsis. The parafilm was removed so you could get a better look, it is best not to remove the parafilm this early however as it can cause your grafts to fail. In fact, it is often best to never remove the parafilm from your graft as your seedlings will have no problem if you leave it in place and could suffer a complete failure to take should you try to remove it too soon.Never leave home without your grafting tape. Also known as parafilm, this one simple tool will save you time, effort, and increase your take rate dramatically with 2-3 day old seedlings as well as 2-3 week old seedlings. For older seedlings...2 cm in diameter.... better to stick with self-adhesive coban.

@Humbolt thanks for your concern. I did learn a good bit already from my hurricane grafts though. Grafting with extremely well watered Pereskiopsis, as happens with Hurricane soaked stock requires you to dry off the Pereskiopsis with a cloth right after you cut it. You have to be expedient in placing your cut scion onto the graft as well as sealing it tight with Parafilm. Otherwise, the grafted seedling will float off right at the start. Some of my stock I put under car port which effectively blocked some of the wind. In addition, those under the carport had even more light blocked than those exposed to the clouds and thus my grafted plants and stock have grown quite light green in a very short period of time anywhere there is new growth. Suffice it to say, all of my grafts have weathered the Hurricane very nicely so far with no graft failures. A win for Parafilm grafting! That said, I did have one grafted Pereskiopsis that was a few feet tall fall over in the wind and even that newly grafted specimen has stayed perfectly in tact. So, far it has been a rewarding experience watching the scions hang on for life with the help of the parafilm... it is no contest. Hurricane Florence Zero... Grafts 100% okay! I'll try to get some pictures uploaded later.

Grafts of the day in a hurricane... Like most days, I'm grafting today, but today is special as I'm leaving these grafts outside to greet Hurricane Florence. Lets hope we all survive and yes... lets hope these grafts survive the hurricane as well. These seedling grafts will be left out without any protection to be pounded on, rained on, and generally abused by Florence. Hopefully, I will be back with an update for you guys and gals. I'm fairly confident that if we make it out alive, so too will these grafts. With that being said... let the Hurricane begin. Size of seedlings being used todayAnd this is how we do it.. Stay tuned for updates on grafts able to withstand a hurricane or not?

Fail to trim and you scion will fail to grow. Case in point So, you can guess that in addition to rectifying this travesty by trimming my stock plants today I also made a handful of grafts as is the case most days. While I was at it though, I also took a Pereskiopsis from full sun to partial shade to demonstrate dark green growth on bottom half indicative of full sun exposure and light green growth on top showing shade growth

Graft made today Caterpillar buffet again.... looking like caterpillars are eating my babies every day now for a few days...Another hybrid.... and this little one... not grafted

And today... two new mutants discovered while preparing to graft

Bark has no value to me for a potting mix as it actually pulls nutrients out of the soil. As a top dressing bark is fine. The more bark you have in your soil the more you will want to fertilize. Like Gimli, I often use pre-made soils. Like Gimli, I like to add bone and blood meal to my cacti soils. With an emphasis on the bone meal rather than the blood meal if I'm going to skimp on one. I've used cow manure, bat guano, and even buckets full of chicken manure scooped out of my own chicken coops for my cacti. Most people tend to underfeed rather than overfeed their Trichocereus. The same thing goes for watering in the warmer months. Keep your Trichocereus in full sun and in warm soil and your going to experience some phenomenal nice thick growth. Especially when I don't have the time to make up my own soils. I've used Miracle Grow soils for Trichocereus, bags of black cow (composted cow manure), etc. Just about any moderate to high quality garden soil for potted plants will work great for most Trichocereus. Now, with that being said, If you've ever grown Tomatoes or Brugmansia... feed and water your Trichocereus like you would a Brugmansia or a Tomato plant during the hot summer months and you will be very happy with your results. If your unsure of how much to add or whether your doing more harm than good, plant a Brugmansia with your Trichocereus and as long as your Brugmansia is lush and green you can be sure your Trichocereus is going to flourish. The best part about that... your Brugmansia can be made to go dormant just like your Trichocereus when winter comes if that is your practice. With that being said... fish emulsion and blood meal, both of which I frequently use mixed in with inorganic fertilizers... are major animal attractors. So, use with caution depending on where you live.

I've always kept my Trichocereus in very rich soil, watered them heavily, and fertilized heavily as well. An example of the fertilizer I use for my cacti... rich in organic and inorganic fertilizers. For nice thick growth on your prized Trichocereus specimens you will want a rich soil and a healthy dose of fertilizer. If the soil can drain or dry out within a few days at most that will help your roots to develop and grow as well. Trichocereus grown in a bog system tend to have underdeveloped roots as compared to those that aren't.

Looks like you are going to have some potentially very nice babies to graft and soon... what I wouldn't do to be a fly in your green house Mean Green.

Nice rich soil you have there Average Joe. I see you believe in rich soil for your Trichocereus as do I. As for me, I grafted a bunch of hybrid babies today after I found a caterpillar eating some of my newly grafted seedlings. Check out the hole on the side of this cacti...

More grafts done today... now, I won't bore you with the usual step by step pictures. Instead... I'll hit you up with a few pictures of how I roll on the other minutia of grafting... those steps many don't talk about. Without further ado. First, its nice to have a tray of stock ready. Now, I fertilize my stock regularly, but when transposing I prefer to soak them in a little something stronger. Sometimes I'll soak my seed in fertilizer to clean some of the dirt from them as well. . I've also been known to simply use water for that my seedling soaks. Whichever you choose... I try to do at least two baths with the last being water or if I'm concerned I might add in a bit of h202. Next, I often lay out a few stock plants and wrap them with a little parafilm. This keeps fuzz and what not from getting into my grafts later and also helps the next top l layer of parafilm stick a bit better. Note, in the previous picture, some have also been grafted already. Another perk of parafilm... you can lay your grafted work on its side or upside down after you are done. Bump into your grafts... no worries. Before long, you should have a nice stack of grafted babies ready to go. Just be sure to have some light or your babies might look like this mess when your done. Suffice it to say, I was grafting in the dark again! Not a smart move, but I can't stand not to graft each and every seedling I have plucked for the days grafts.. Lastly, you will want to feed those fresh grafts as this will help settle in the soil you worked around your stock to keep them snug. I make this a wee bit stronger using both chemical fertilizers such as miracle grow, fish emulsion, etc. You may wish to skip the organic fertilizers if you can't keep your trays away from the wild life though as organic fertilizers have been known to attract foxes, dogs, etc.

Soaking dirty little girls and boys today before the grafts were to begin when I noticed this alien munching on the thigh of one of my little ones. All that trouble to keep them clean so they can be grafted and this darn little one is eating them up just as fast as I can graft them. Apparently he doesn't like the stock as he just goes after the scions.

Another day another hopeful light yellow hybrid gets grafted.

Asking if the plant Earth is giving you enough unconditional love is failing to realize that in order to experience unconditional love one from another one must first have unconditional love for oneself. No, I don’t believe there is any inherent need for murder, rape, cancer, man made global warming, etc. That kind of thinking is indicative of thinking entrenched in dogma at best and at worst is indicative of one that is incapable of genuine empathy and shows a genuine lack of conscience. Good and bad can indeed be subjective, in that good and bad is often colored by ones dogma and or personal beliefs. However, be that as it may, most of us instinctively have empathy for another human being when it comes to their suffering. This is what makes us humans and not psychopaths. I will explain a bit further. If I were to take 10 people in this forum at random and show them a young dead man that had been mutilated for no apparent reason I’d be willing to bet 9 out of 10 of the people here would have sympathy in that they would feel compassion for that individual that might even be so strong as to cause a violent retching or vomiting from the pits of their stomach. We inherently feel and know that mutilating another for no reason is wrong. To feel differently is something that must be taught or one must be born with the inability to feel empathy or sympathy. So, to wrap it up without explaining things too much more and in too much unneeded depth… if one has knowledge of an act that causes pain or suffering or that will cause pain and suffering it is natural to want to help to alleviate that pain and suffering. It is inherent in us as human beings to want to alleviate pain and suffering as we have empathy and sympathy for others that we see as the same as us. So, failure to do anything about a murder, rape, or any other such atrocity speaks volumes about the person who fails to act so long as they have adequate knowledge about the fact. The art of detachment.... that is something many are good at however. Some out of necessity, as for example those who work with the dead must stay detached from their work lest they have horrific dreams at night. As I can attest as I've worked with both the dead and those who work with the dead.

How can we call ourselves spiritual when so many of us sit in silence? How can we say we make a difference when so few of us make a stand? Where do we spend our dollars? What do we support? Through inaction or silence we are complicit in slowly killing the Earth and our Oceans in the same manner we are complicit in our own demise when we do something harmful to our bodies or we fail to take action to improve our health. I look at my health and I know that there is more that I could do. I know I am not the best when it comes to trying to exercise for a few minutes every day... a few minutes that I could easily waste on youtube, television, etc. Yet, I know that when I can find the time to spend just 2 minutes to do a set of pull-ups I am working to improve my health in a very real way. I can see and feel the difference with just 2 minutes a day of exercise like this. 2 minutes of pull-ups. 2 minutes of pushups. 5 minutes running... anything is better than doing nothing and consistency is key. I find the need to speak out on my spirituality which is grounded in a love of this planet and for life on this planet. To bring to light in this moment of time in my own mind if no one else's the importance of the Earth and how much she means to me. To reflect and empower myself with knowledge on how we can make a difference even if that difference is the equivalent of taking 2 minutes out of the day each day to do pull-ups. I'm over 100 kgs in weight and yet I can still lift more than my bodyweight in all major exercises to include simple things like pull-ups with my simple routine. For me, it is about taking the time to express that we can make a difference simply by sharing or learning about how we can help the environment or what we are doing to harm the environment. It is about taking responsibility for our own bodies and for the Earth. Knowledge is power and sharing knowledge has never been more easy than it is today. We affect others with our posts when we share things. Some to a greater degree and some to a lesser degree, but we are all connected. Mitakuye oyasin... reflect on what it means to be related or connected to others as we are all connected in this great web of life. The air we breath, the water we drink have all been recycled. I want to say, I don't do much to stay in shape. I often don't do enough and I slip a bit. But I always stay in shape enough to lift more than my own weight. I don't do much in the way of environmentalism either. I do however speak out on the acidification of the ocean every time I hear someone say something about global warming. I talk about it. I am not silenced. I will not be silenced when it comes to my support for the Earth. I've gone to rallies and the like, but is there more I could do? You bet there is, but like my own health... I tend to do enough to keep me in decent shape and not enough to make me a marathon runner. With Earth Day just a few days ago... how many of you took the time to go to one of the local celebrations? How many of you had a local celebration to go to? For me, I don't think it is necessary for us all to be marathon runners or professional level power lifters to maintain good health. I do think that a bit of exercise... even just a 2 minutes each day can make a world of difference in my health and general feeling of wellbeing so long as I am generally consistent with those 2 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I have my 2 minute rule or 1 set minimum I try to hold myself to, but I do more on some days if I feel like it. In the same manner, I go to Earth Day events, March on Washington D.C., etc. as time and schedule permits. What I am trying to say here is for me, spirituality begins with taking care of yourself. Setting a minimum standard for yourself to strive to achieve each day. More is certainly great, but for me you have to have clear minimums that you don't want to fall below. After you have taken care of your own minimum needs you can start to work on your other minimums. For me, one of those minimums are letting others know that there are others like them that do care. We can all do our small part to effect change. Decide what your minimum is then strive to reach it each day. Mitakuye oyasin

Some more hybrids.... yeah, I love em purpleor red. Provides some detail if you notice the cut going down the side on this own... that shows you the line I sometimes make to remove the parafilm. You can see however, it is definitely not necessary to remove the parafilm so early.