What's the better stock??

[mutant]

i don't remove the areoles until after the graft takes

then i remove them, cut the stock short and then re-root.

I don't want the rootstock to have much photosynthetic surface, for me it is more ideal if it is hidden beneath the scion.

 

you do this for aesthetics?

how much have you seen that it compromises speed of growth? we are talking lophophora or other scions too?

thanks, I think I will try it sometime

[Gunter]

have you ever seen a big fat scion on a skinny little pereskiopsis?

there isn't much photosynthetic energy coming from some of these stocks

the primary advantage lies in the roots, for example a pedro is very water tolerant and can grow a huge root mass

as far as growth, grafts on root stocks grow very well, quite fast actually, not really noticeably slower than ones on larger stocks in my experience

but i do not prefer grafting and don't do that much of it, i prefer things on their own roots.

[kadakuda]

sorry to go off on a tangent but this might be usefull to someone. ive tryed grafting on fat pachnoi sections with the theory of the bigger the stock the faster the growth and had little success. but now i have alot better success rate by rooting a fat section and letting it pup and grafting onto the pup wen it gets to the right size.

liek mutant said its due to new growth. but more accurately its because the main arteries of the plant get woddy and harder with age. So fat sections will do very well if they are new growth and still very new cells that have not gotten woody at all. width means little in regards to ease of connection of tissue an healing, its all about having hard wood, or not. in this case we prefer not.

i don't remove the areoles until after the graft takes

then i remove them, cut the stock short and then re-root.

me too, but that is more due to time rather than whats best. I find cutting out the areoles except teh very tip on most columnars is best. let them heal, faten up and graft away. Things liek Hylocereus are by far best done before. to put it simply you graba new stem (new Hylocereus stems are soft and rubbery, not rigid na smooth), take out all the areoles (when this soft you can use your finger nails if you want) clip the very very top and root it. this leaves it nowhere to grow and thus just gets plump. and because it is doing nothing but bulking up the vasc. bundle up to does not get woody, so you can save it for some months and graft later. by far the best way to graft to hylocereus, but its time consuming. often i dont bother removing areoels with most stocks simply due to time, and when i do its often like Archaea and i do it after...though my reason is that if the graft fails i still have a stock that can throw out new pups for further grafting chances.

I don't want the rootstock to have much photosynthetic surface, for me it is more ideal if it is hidden beneath the scion.

im wondering too? i do thsi as well, but its purely to jsut have a scion that sort of looks lieks its not grafted (althoguh you can still tell).

but ya, maybe not for peresk that loos their leaves....but more surface area to a point sure does speed up growth speed, 100%. fatty stocks vs skinny stocks, tall stocks vs short stocks. there is an area where it seems pretty minute but comparing a 1" thick vs 3" thick or 3" tall vs 12" tall graft, there is definitely a big difference. one of the easiest experiments to do is get 2 grafted seedlings onto peresk stocks. choose 2 that are growing similar and rip the leaves off one. it will still grow fast cause it is getting water and such, but after 1 year we all knwo which will eb bigger. thats been my experience anyway.

Also in cases of extremes generally speaking (i say generally meaning more often) a fat at the base columnar cactus tends to have a far superior root system to a skinny one. at least with regards to plants used as stocks. with other columnars it is so important to some collectors that a plant of the same height and age can be triple the price because the base is twice as thick...it has many advantages.

[mutant]

awesome post dude, thanks!