loph grafts keep shrivelling :(

[kindness]

Hi all,

Thought you guys might have some wisdom to impart here. I have tried twice to graft lopho's onto pere's - each time they shrivel up and look terrible. The last one I ended up taking off and then trying again with another seeding. It is now looking decidedly shrivelled. So do I give up on this one also and try again or is this a normal part of the grafting process?

cheers

[gerbil]

where are you leaving them post graft? Check out Teo's rough draft grafting manual and you can see he recommends humid environments to help the graft take.

For larger buttons onto Trich's I just keep them dry at room temp, fluctuating RH i guess, but probably lowish due to indoors, but for seedlings and tiny buttons you'll need humidity to help them out.

[nothinghead]

Also, it looks like the pere is fairly thick/old compared to the tiny loph.. I find when the pere stem gets woody, as they do with age, they are more difficult to graft onto, especially with tiny scions. Try a younger pere shoot with the smaller lophs, you might have more luck.

[kindness]

thanks heaps. I did notice that the ring on the older bit of pere's was much larger compared with the first graft I did, (nearer the growing tip). I have been misting the grafts with a spray bottle to keep the humidity up and keeping them indoors for the first week or so and then into a shaded spot outside to get a bit of warmth....

I have a feeling that I misaligned the rings or something, given that they are minute and I find impossible to see on the baby lophs it has been a matter of going "well that looks like it would be about right" but I guess they haven't been!

I had a whole heap more seeds on the go but we had hardcore wind here on Friday and it blew them clean off the shelf... thus mixing all seeds with the soil. Clearly a demonstation of 'don't put all your seeds in the one pot!!!'

peace

[nothinghead]

I lost a tray of assorted globular cacti in the same way. Only takes once to teach you

If you can construct a humidity chamber from an old fishtank or something this will encourage the grafts to take also.

[kindness]

So how long do you reckon I would need to keep them in the humid environment I think I read in Teo's grafting guide that 2 weeks was the recommended?

I am not about to give up on this though... I think that I may also have a bit more luck now that it is warming up. I'm going to have to buy more seeds first though. And propogate a few more pere's

any suggestions on variety of seeds while I'm on the subject?

[nothinghead]

Yep, follow that grafting guide - Teo's information is excellent.

As for which type of seed, there is a thread on Loph varieties

[XipeTotec]

So how long do you reckon I would need to keep them in the humid environment I think I read in Teo's grafting guide that 2 weeks was the recommended?

I am not about to give up on this though... I think that I may also have a bit more luck now that it is warming up. I'm going to have to buy more seeds first though. And propogate a few more pere's

any suggestions on variety of seeds while I'm on the subject?

i think it says 1 week

[kindness]

I think I might also leave my seedlings for a little bit longer next time. The one pictured was about 3 weeks old as I recall, still very small. I'm waiting for my next batch of seeds now to try again.

Is grafting bigger loph's onto tricho easier? Does it have a higher sucess rate? I am asking this because I have a 5cm loph that I'd like to graft. Thoughts on that till now have been that I would like to get the baby loph / pere grafting down first before hacking into my big one!

[rahli]

I think I might also leave my seedlings for a little bit longer next time. The one pictured was about 3 weeks old as I recall, still very small. I'm waiting for my next batch of seeds now to try again.

Is grafting bigger loph's onto tricho easier? Does it have a higher sucess rate? I am asking this because I have a 5cm loph that I'd like to graft. Thoughts on that till now have been that I would like to get the baby loph / pere grafting down first before hacking into my big one!

Hi meanies

I'm no expert on grafting but I wouldn't graft a 5cm loph.

Save your efforts for something a bit smaller. Maybe regraft your peres grafts when they get big enough.

Up to you though.

[blangschpeer]

I'd keep them in humidity til the scion starts to show signs of growth, the peres don't seem to mind the extra humidity if anything they respond better.

[Hagakure]

i have found that grafts kept in humidity and a certain amount of warmth (25-30 degrees) take better than grafts kept in cold humidity.