Look in the sky! It's a cactus.

[Pat Uri]

I've a question for my more experienced cactus growers:-

I see Epiphyllum cactus that have taken to the highest most reaches of trees. They grow quickly and have lost all attachment to the soil.

Whilst tree lopping from an Elevated Work Platform the thought struck me of grafting small ground dwelling cactii onto them. The shade is about right for the terrestrials I was thinking about using. This would put them well out of sight of any unscrupulous types that would take them away.

In fact I think I'd enjoy seeing them, eyes glued to the ground, trying to find them.

Do more experienced grafters foresee any problems I might incur?

[M S Smith]

Even if you could get them growing up in a tree you might have a problem with them once they got big and had no roots in the ground to support the plant. Here's a couple shots of T. terscheckii up in a tree in Tucuman, Argentina.

~Michael~

[scheckii]

Wow! What's going on there Michael? Do seeds from tall Terscheckii fly on there, germinate, and roots grow into the tree for sustenence? Do we have some parasitic cactus action going on here, or are they merely rooting into any debris fallen on the tree?

Wouldn't wanna be near one of those trees when that cactus gets too big! Yikes!

[in_spirit]

I think lophs would do OK if you could get a good graft. There isn't much meat on the epiphylum.

[Evil Genius]

Do seeds from tall Terscheckii fly on there, germinate, and roots grow into the tree for sustenence?

Birds eat the fruit and spread the seeds with their poo. Not sure how they get access to nutrients but it seems they do ok. But i guess it gets problematic when they get bigger.

[whitewind]

It's a really fascinating idea, I think it could be possible to create a "pot" in the fork of branches, where a button cactus could get passing water, perhaps collecting leaves which gradually break down. Just like any other epiphyte. But these little babies are quite good at hiding low, especially in drier places where no-one would think to visit. There are no real pollinators; it would seem unlikely that button cacti would ever become naturalised in Asutralia.