niggles Posted December 12, 2011 (edited) Thought I would show the results of my recent grafting attempts.. The first is a caespitosa i did in a hurry, something ate a big hole right through the root system and I panicked. Fortunately it looks like it did fine, and the root bundle is still producing pups after losing its head. This was grafted about a month ago. (This used to be someone elses graft that died and the stock repupped) This is what happens when you forget about your TBM graft and leave it in a bag for more than a week... these are some bits Im preparing to experiment with.. EDIT I just found the pictures I thought my camera ate... This is last years graft from the very same mother plant. And this is my current cactus cutting knife (I use scalpels for the finer work) Edited December 24, 2011 by niggles 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philocacti Posted December 12, 2011 Nice work man Can't wait to see the TBM graft develop Keep us updated Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niggles Posted December 12, 2011 Nice work man Can't wait to see the TBM graft develop Keep us updated Unfortunately i think that TBM graft has developed terminal bacterial infection.. its mostly soft and gross looking. However I have high hopes for success after listening to Trout and talking with the EGA folks. Ive seen the error of my ways. I will no longer attempt grafting unless i am sober and clear headed I have a heap of TBMs going wild in the yard so I am going to retry the process more thoughtfully. I now have 2 caespitosa grafts growing away - there is a third, i didnt photo it cos its still taped down and shaded at the moment, so next Im going to try for solitary loph grafts. I have a few little ones tucked away waiting for the right moment. P.S. The first graft in this post has a little hollow under one side of the button, and a little spider lives under there. you can see his web all over the button. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted December 12, 2011 mmm nice plump lophys man! haha, i just jumped on here to post some graft pics also, was a good arvo for photos. i've got some tbm grafts just taking off i might take some pics tomorrow to show. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazonian Posted December 12, 2011 Yeah, nice work niggles.Thanks for sharing. That dreaded black rot is scourge of cactus world hey ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted December 13, 2011 hey niggles, with those bits you are experimenting with, are you bevelling the stock well in advance and letting that callous before shaving the top off and grafting? or are they failed grafts your goin to have another crack at? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Jeans Posted December 13, 2011 are you bevelling the stock well in advance and letting that callous before shaving the top off and grafting? Is this something you recommend doing? I've never done that, and all but one of the 10 or so loph grafts I've done onto pachanoi have been successful. I figured it might be better to put the scion on when the stock is as healthy and actively growing as possible - that's why I never did what you suggested (I am just a beginner with grafting though). Have you had more success by letting it callous first? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niggles Posted December 13, 2011 hey niggles, with those bits you are experimenting with, are you bevelling the stock well in advance and letting that callous before shaving the top off and grafting? or are they failed grafts your goin to have another crack at? Yeah Im preparing them for grafting later - this is what Trout recommended in his talk, so im trying to follow to his advice this time. In the pictures they have been sitting for less than a week, I think I will leave them for two weeks before grafting, just so that they have stopped shape changing, my last failure was mainly to do with the rootstock changing shape i think. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ferret Posted December 13, 2011 SirJeans no i haven't tried it before. but like niggles says, i have had some fail due to the stock going concave at the union. water loss from the large cut area? hmm very interesting, I like the idea. make sure to let us know how they go! on the trout note, i found him very inspiring! im going to work on tlc'ing all my cacti over the next few weeks .. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Jeans Posted December 14, 2011 Perhaps my graft success is partly due to the fact that the root stock's vascular rings are so much larger than those of the scions I have been using. Come to think of it, some grafts I did in the past (where the stock's vascular rings were completely covered by the scion) did fail in the way you described - by the stock shrinking away from the scion and leaving an air space. Thanks for the tip - I'll keep it in mind next time I graft. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niggles Posted December 24, 2011 An update on the pre calloused grafts.. I did some work on them a few weeks back, and broke my new rules - I was ill prepared with not good tape and just generally a poorly planned attempt. That being said, it is an improvement on previous attempts. I tried doing this with some non sticky fabric tape, which was ridiculous and hard to snag onto spines, and was just generally complicated. Ive made sure I bought some of the nice paper microprore tape for future use. It seems to have taken nicely with no signs of infection (the black colouring is on the pre cut calloused bits) Another good example of tape that doesnt work well, at least not for me. Definitely the paper tape. This is a TBM if you cant tell. I wasnt sure if this was a good idea or not, but having the scion being wider than the root stock seems to work rather well .. so far. I like the shadow from the snail eaten TBM. The bottom bit of a TBM pup - I used the stupid non stick fabric tape on this one too.. such a pain. Here is another shot of the caespitosa graft 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niggles Posted February 11, 2012 ok heres another update on my grafts.. as you can see they are all doing rather well now.. i had to redo the super pedro with the bottom of a TBM pup on it, that one did not make it, so I put an immature pup on there and it seems to be kicking along nicely now. Interestingly - the second tbm graft that looks a bit scarred and snail chewed, it pupped from an areole that I had already cut off! I wasnt expecting that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Posted February 11, 2012 This is awsome! I cant wait till i can get my hands on some to play around with! You have made me very very enveous! Keep it up mate! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites