Pupping Pereskiopsis

[Auxin]

Conventional wisdom tells that when a seedling is grafted to Pereskiopsis it is essential to cut out any pups that form on the stock and, indeed, I've noticed that young pups in close proximity to the graft seem to impede the growth of the graft.

However, recently a pup formed at the very base of a pereskiopsis stock that is hosting an Escobaria vivipara seedling graft and I left it to grow just to see what would happen. The usual pattern of pups draining grafts did not occur and so far (its still quite early) the graft is growing at the same rate as four other grafts made at the same time but with their pups removed, the graft even regained some green, and the pup is growing like mad.

My question is am I just lucky sofar or can new branches that are a fair distance from grafts grow and at the least not harm the graft and maby even support them? Its been asked before but I never found a clear answer.

[Ace]

I'd have thought if it shares the same root stock the it'd drain energy from the scion. I can only think that your graft would grow faster without the pup. It is quite possible that this graft is just a fraction faster than the others, and gives the impression that this pup has no energy drain compared to most. That being said, it could be different for pups from towards the base of a stock when compared to those from towards the top? I still dont think so, but I guess ya never know...

If you want, you can wait till the pup gets a little bigger, then graft another seedling onto it. It'd be cool to do a peres grafting tree with all sorts of different cacti on it, or several from the same genera (like L. williamsii, L. koehresii, L. fricii, etc). Kind of like those citrus trees with two or three different species grafted to one stock to provide a 'fruit basket tree'.

[gilligan]

I've been playing thoughts with this topic as well auxin... To date i have cut the pups off as they form, to remove the chance of growth impediment.

I got to thinking the other day though, "what if you let these pups get to a stage where there is about 10 or so leaves on it, and then cut the tip from this: it would provide extra photosynthesis opportunities and that should in turn assist the development of the grafted scion?" This is my hypothesis. I have a few different grafts that are out of the comp just released from their humidity chamber. I'll try a couple of them as a test...

I think if the tip were to be left on, then it would detract from the growth of the scion through the requirement of energy to create the new growth on the pup.

Hmmm... Interesting.

I reckon the thought of a Loph tree with different branches representing differing forms would be frikin mint.

[Auxin]

 

 

It'd be cool to do a peres grafting tree with all sorts of different cacti on it

That would be cool but this is as risky as I'm going on these cacti, my plan is to have them grown, degrafted, rooted, hardened off, and planted outdoors by the end of august. Might play around with that when I get to Ariocarpus.

I got to thinking the other day though, "what if you let these pups get to a stage where there is about 10 or so leaves on it, and then cut the tip from this: it would provide extra photosynthesis opportunities and that should in turn assist the development of the grafted scion?" This is my hypothesis.

Might also be of benefit to let the new branch grow larger than that then cut off the last 5 cm or so, suddenly the plant would have more roots than it knows what to do with and it'd pump all that juice at the graft. Edited December 18, 2007 by Auxin

[Hagakure]

yeah i would go for cutting the tip off and letting the leaves pump energy into the graft. you will need to keep lopping of the new pups on the side branch but yeah, technically you should get greater growth.

[kadakuda]

i have done the same as you, cut them. i have tried just cutting the tips of the branches like you say, but the branches have always pupped continuously until amputated.

maybe adding more dirt and making the new pup give more roots then hack it like you mentioned? or jsut dig out all the areoles and leave a green stem...?

[Auxin]

In my experience its a quite simple matter to excise the areoles but leave the leaves intact, it just takes a steady hand and a razor blade or X-acto knife. Its easiest if you wait til a pup is just starting. I slip and kill one leaf for every 12 or 15 areoles I cut out, in the above pic most areoles were removed from the dark green stem. No plain leafless stems here

Still tinkering with my technique but usually I cut downward against the stem until the blade is less than 1 mm from the leaf, then I cut horizontally against the top of the leaf toward the stem a bit and just give some upward pressure and the puppable part of the areole pops off. Might sound complicated but it only takes a few seconds.

[kadakuda]

good idea, I'm a shaky bastard!