Pereskiopsis Grafting Tek

[ENtiTY]

Apparently is is easily extracted from plant seeds. Here is a quote from this site.

"Extracting Gibberellic Acid

Although several types of gibberellin are found in plants as natural hormones, Gibberellic Acid (GA-3) is the best known. While it is a natural product of the Asian fungus that destroys rice, growth-promoting substances that are either identical with, or closely related to, gibberellic acid can also be found in common plants such as cucumber, rock melon (cantaloupe), corn, peas and beans, and it can be readily extracted in crude form by amateur botanist.

Edward Pinto, a student at St Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, developed a simple and inexpensive procedure for extracting gibberellic acid from common plants, which was reported in American Scientific ( August 1967). As sources of materials, he used the seeds of fresh cantaloupe (rockmelon), fresh wild cucumber, and the dry seeds of corn, peas and three species of bean - pencil rod, lupine and pinto. The cantaloupe and cucumber seeds were dried at room temperature and chopped into particles about 3mm in diameter. The procedure used 200 grams of finely chopped seeds which were soaked for seven days in a solution of acetone (10 parts by volume), isopropyl alcohol (5 parts), ethyl alcohol (2 parts), and distilled water (5 parts), to give a total volume of 110 millilitres. The solution was then poured off and the seed particles rinsed with 40 millilitres of a solution consisting of equal parts of acetone and isopropyl alcohol. The rinsing solution was then added to the first solution, and heated to a temperature of 45°C (113°F)WARNING: it should be noted that the solution is highly flammable and must not be exposed to an open flame. The heating procedure was continued until the residue evaporated to the consistency of thin tar and was almost dry. The residue was then taken and mixed with 100 millilitres of distilled water and ethyl acetate.

According to Pinto, a key factor to extracting gibberellic acid is to raise the pH of the water to about pH 8 (slightly alkaline) - at this pH the gibberellins are soluble in water. The pH was achieved by adding potassium hydroxide, or concentrated pH lower to the solution. The mixture was then shaken for two minutes, and the water drawn off and mixed with another 100 millilitres of ethyl acetate. This procedure was carried out a total of three times.

Now the water was made acidic (pH3) by the addition of hydrochloric acid - at this pH the gibberellins are soluble in ethyl acetate. The solution of acidic water was added to 100 millilitres of ethyl acetate. The water was drawn off and the procedure repeated twice more, after which the ethyl acetate solution was dried to a paste. The tarlike mass was then mixed with about 8 grams of lanolin. The lanolin paste is the final product, and it is applied to plants as a thin coat to the upper surface of each mature leaf, taking care not to damage the plant."

I wonder if there is a substitue for ethyl acetate? I shall have to do some reading on Gibberellic Acid.

[Auxin]

wow thats a cool tek

I bought mine from a rinkydink chem company a decade ago, it appears its being sold on ebay. $10 USD per gram is a fair price for 90+% but be sure to read the sellers info because its often sold as a 10% mixture even when its in powder form.

It wont increase the number of areoles at all what it does is hypercharge internodal growth so each areole will be spaced out from the next, so it would make each individual areole more accessible.

And dont give it to a plant hoping it'll make it grow big and fat and strong it basically turns anything it touches into ropes unless the dosage is precisely calibrated. In overdose it can also damage the protenomics of a plant, like a OD will turn some female plants into infertile males.

[Ace]

Man, thats some wierd shite right there! I could imagine it being very handy for Tripi's tek - but imagine pumping a mature trich with it! The thing would be HUGE!! I wonder if it would ruin the alkaloid profile of the plant though?

Truly a chem from Frankensteins Lab

[Ace]

Bit of an update - the graft seems to have taken. No signs of growth just yet, but no bad signs either I have since dont 4 other grafts in the same manner, of which one failed due to the scion being cut too small, but this has been re-grafted with another seedling, and seems pretty happy atm. I will update with pics when (if) they start growing

Seriously folks - if you've never tried peres grafts, do yourself a favour and get out there and try it! It is really simple - each graft takes a minute or so once you've got the know how, and they seem pretty easy to take as well. Or time will tell, at least

Hooray for peres!

[Guest Øskorei]

Where does Teo's dirty socks come into the growing tek ? Sorry mate, just looking again at your blurry picks, at first I thought they were lizard carcasses.

Maybe SAB could stock a new 'companion-gardening' product of Teo's socks ! They'll stop the cat munchin into the grafting sticks.

[Guest Øskorei]

[ENtiTY]

Hehehe.

Up the mighty batch pad !!!

[SaBReT00tH]

thanx for the tips ace. I think I always forget to do the scion off centre. Could be a reason why I've had so many problems?

[Hagakure]

off centre is absolutely crucial in many cases for the connection of the water and food systems in the graft.

plants have xylem and phloem.

the xylem allows the transport of water from the roots to the leaves while the phloem transports nutrients in a source to sink manner (transports nutrients from where they are made/collected to where they are required or stored)

the idea of offsetting is to ensure that at some point the xylem and phloem etc join up. if a few points join up it will keep the seedling alive while the two plants grow new cells to ensure the development of a complete phloem and xylem system.

at least thats what im guessing based on plant physiology. i may have missed some details others may wish to expand on.

[teonanacatl]

when the seedlings are very young they dont have much xylem or phloem and the tips of peres only have a small are of it, so offsetting isnt really needed because both rings are small circles in the centre of the plants, I still offset a little just to be sure though. If you cut the plants high enough you may only be dealing with proto vascular tissue.

[Hagakure]

offsetting is good practice with seedlings from my experiences so far.

i have done many grafts where the seedling was the exact size as the pereskiopsis with a nce smooth seal and most of them have failed. having a pereskiopsis stem slightly larger than the seedling and offsetting the seedling slightly seems to have increased my success rate but i havent tested this enough yet.

Edited May 23, 2007 by Hagakure

[Ace]

Alrighty folks - 4 or so months on from grafting the plant in the guide, here she is in all her glory:

As well as a couple others that I have done lately - the top right one was attacked by spider mites (seems to have always had that unusual growth, only noticed mites after buying a magnifying glass a fortnight ago), but I seem to have recently rid them using vegie oil in a spray bottle and a heavy squirting:

Another pic of a few in the collection:

Anyway, they arent all that fantastic, but keeping me happy and entertained as I notice daily growth on each Got a couple others (arios and other lophs), but they are still very young and havent taken off too much yet. Will post pics as they get to a decent size.

If you havent got the grafting bug, GET IT!

-Ace

EDIT: Sorry for the size of the pics - I'm useless at resizing (any tips would be welcomed). They should come up as thumbs tho, so that should make things a little more bearable for those on the old school dial-ups.

Edited September 14, 2007 by Ace

[rahli]

Nice grafts Ace.

Can't wait till I get a proper graft light setup organised.

My grafts don't grow nearly as quick as that outside.

If you keep posting pics like that I won't have any option other then to start building.

[Auntyjack]

Excellent work ace, thanks for taking the time to share and report back.

now if I can just get some dammed peres, I have my loph seeds I just need to read and re-read some more.....and then read some more!!

I think I've got cacti stagefright

AJ

[Ace]

Thanks guys I have heaps of peres (well, not that much), but atm its just not growing fast enough... It seems to stall after taking cuttings and doesnt seem to want to put out any growth for over a month before doing anything, and even then, it's very slow (under fluoros)... I think it might have to do with low temps and low air exchange in my cutting box. Probably something to keep an eye out for ladies n gents. Probably too much top heat (lights) with lack of soil warmth (need to install a heat mat - got one - just dont have room in the setup...) combined with little air exchange. Even had a couple rot before I cut holes in the side (the cutting box is just a couple foam boxes that fit perfectly end to end under a 4ft fluoro), so that wasnt a good sign...

If I can get enough happening (and be self surricient + graft stock), then I'll definately get some out to those new to the game (or PM me soon if desperate, tho I really dont have much to part with)