To remove or not to remove

[Khala]

Hey.

I've done a loph-peres graft for the competition and the pereskiopsis it is on has no leaves, it is just a stick. However it is now pushing out leaves. How should I approach this? Would it be beneficial to have leaves so it can undergo photosynthesis, or is the stick itself enough? I am concerned it will steal too much water from the scion.

Thanks.

[woof woof woof]

remove the leaves! BUT,... I think that if you allow the peresk to grow,.. the roots will develop more and give more push on your graft once remove the peresk outshoots in the future.

[Stillman]

I have the exact situation I was going to let a couple leaves grow only, then remove the rest that come along but I'm not sure as I am very new to peres grafts too.

[Evil Genius]

I usually remove pups and leaves. Host doesnt need leaves as long as its well fed and in good health. Also you want it to put its whole energy into the graft. Many successfull graftings fail later on when a pupping pushes them off the host and its a lot easier to remove pups as long as they´r still small.

[Stillman]

thanks for that EG, so there is no benefit for leaving any leaves? Im about to start a heap of graft attempts on some tiny Gymnocalycium hobitan, nishki off sets in the hope of propagate my own mutations from seed.

[Cereusly]

I've always cut off new shoots on my pereskiopsis because it does seem logical that it would feed the scion more. I have heard others claim it makes no difference or is beneficial to leave the new shoots, after all pereskiopsis grows fast anyway. Perhaps some experimintation needs to be done.

[Myrtillo]

IMHO the leaves should be left on thus providing a larger area for photosynthesis. The shoots however should be removed because you want most of the energy pumped into the scion and not wasted on shoot production.