pere graft question

[mystical oyster]

I apologise if this has been answered but i tried searching and couldn't find anything

if i was to take a cutting off a pere can it be grafted to straight away or is it better to wait for it to form roots and show signs of growth before grafting?

I've tried a few pere grafts in the past and failed, i think i have an albino/variegate ariocarpus seedling and am going to try again but want to be sure i am doing it right

appreciate any input, cheers

[Jox]

Hey mate,

My answer would be ether or. I have had success grafting onto freshly cut peres & rooted peres, I have also had failures with both. The main things would be to use stock with fresh growth & get your alinement perfect.

Good luck & remember the more grafts you try the better the success rate gets.

Cheers

Jox

[mystical oyster]

Cheers jox, yea practice makes perfect, good to know it can be done with fresh cut pere,

Also where can you buy razor blades in aus, I've had a bit of a look around and no one sells them cause there considered dangerous,

I've been using a knife but i think this has helped my previous grafts fail

[Optimystic]

I haven't done a controlled experiment but I did graft to one without roots and it did eventually take

but It took a good while to show any growth... pere will root really quick in a kelp solution just gotta make

sure theres no leaves in the solution and the brighter the light the better for rooting pere's

i'd definitely get some razors if you can I don't know how sharp your knife is but smooth cuts is the best way to make

sure theres no air pockets between scion and stock... best of luck finding razors ....

Edited March 27, 2014 by Spine Collector

[Jox]

No worries mate,

I took my kids to the doctors a few months ago with "suspected" chickenpox's & they put us in the back room to wait, lucky for me the back room was the store room & there was a box sitting open with 100's of disposable scalpels so I borrowed a hand full . These are great for chopping up seedlings but are little use at cutting into thick stock. Maybe you can buy scalpels from a medical supply somewhere? I think you will also need a good knife for bigger cuts. If you find a knife that is very sharp & comfortable to hold & use it will come in handy, the secrete is cleanliness, making sure your blade is kept sterile.

Cheers

Jox

[Sallubrious]

I can get razor blades at any Woolworths in the razor blade section, many chemists sell them too. It certainly helps to use something very sharp so you don't cause any tissue damage other than the cut. I've succesfully done it with knives too, just give them a good sharpen before you start.

[Bert&Ernie]

just a tip about posting and trying to find things on this forum. Puts some tags in your thread! i think the search bar on the forum uses them??? and just graft as much as you can with as many different methods as you can...

[2XB]

I use scalpel blades from art stores and brand new stanley knife blades too.

Ive had about 90% success rate with peres after @watertrade posted this video in another thread, hope you dont mind me posting the link again watertrade...

 

[mystical oyster]

Thanks for all the input everyone, just picked up some clean blades, got some fresh pere so fingers crossed!

[quarterflesh]

you can get a scalpel set for like $2.99 at any El cheapo shop. i find them all the time in the hardware section.

[Foo]

Also where can you buy razor blades in aus, I've had a bit of a look around and no one sells them cause there considered dangerous,

I've been using a knife but i think this has helped my previous grafts fail

I went to an art store and asked for their finest scalpel set. Might not be the cheapest option, but has worked far better than breaking open disposable razors.

[hostilis]

I second the scalpel Idea. I have a scalpel handle (#3 I think...) with #10 blades. I buy them by the 100's and I use a new one either every grafting session or if I do more than 5 plants in one session I'll change it. Since I started doing this I was much more successful. The blades are pre-sterilized so you don't have to worry as much about contams, and the sharpness leaves less tissue damage.

Another couple things in my grafting kit is a set of tweezers and some vasoline. I use the vasoline to put around the seam of the seedling and on the wound of the pere. Only a tiny bit, you don't want to suffocate it. It traps in the moisture and stops them from drying out like they normally do. I only have to leave them in the humidity tank for a couple days and then they're usually good to go.

And to answer your question about the rooted/non-rooted stock. One thing I like to do is let them get very established. So what I do when I take a cutting is plant it let it root and grow a couple inches, then I cut it down to about 2-3" tall. I will repeat this with the new cutting I got from it. I then let that already established stock pup and grow 6-8 inches. Then I will graft on that and usually take about 4-6" from the top and repeat. It's worked well for me recently.

Here's a grafting guide I threw together. http://spinelove.wordpress.com/grafting-guide/ This method has worked very well. After doing about 100 or so seedling grafts I now get 95%+ success. At first though I killed quite a few seedlings, so you may want to try your luck with a few lophs and stuff before grafting the variegated ariocarpus.

Edit: I forgot to mention the 90% Isopropyl alcohol that's in my kit as well. Here's a picture. It's maybe a bit overkill, but it suits my needs well.

Edited March 28, 2014 by hostilis

[mystical oyster]

I picked up a 5 pack of razor blades from mitre 10 for 2.50 but i will look into a scalpel set for sure. Cheers for the graft guide Hostilis, i ended up grafting it in the end, probably should have done some practice ones first but hopefully it takes. Trying to build my pere up before grafting with it to much. Cheers

[mystical oyster]

I have an isopropol solution called isocol, i use this for all cleaning purposes

[2XB]

Holy shit isocol is still around!?? Where can I buy it?

[afungitobewith]

Double Edge Razor all the way. Scalpel blades work good. But on delicate young seedlings the thick metal and short bevel sort of crushes as it goes. My success rate went up when using the super thin razors for shaving. For 10 bucks online you can get 100 razors. Broken in half into 200. As long as you don't hit hard spines each blade should last a while. They also sell them in smaller packs at pharmacies. But thats hit or miss. A 10 pack lasts a while.

Edited March 29, 2014 by afungitobewith

[mystical oyster]

Hey db, i found the isocol at the chemist that's in conjunction with woolworths, can't remember what there called, but id try your local pharmacy

[Myeloblast]

afungitobewith, do you use those blades for any size stock? What about when the diameter of the stock exceeds the blade length? I'm still trying to find the perfect knife for larger grafts...

I use scalpel blades too for peresk, along with thumb forceps. Just what I had from an old dissecting kit, but I have definitely crushed some of the more delicate seedlings. The seedling has to be slid along the blade to not crush them...can be difficult.

[afungitobewith]

I'd use a sharp clean kitchen knife or similar for something large. What ever is available. I know what you mean about having to slide the blade to avoid the crushing. The DE razors are tough to cut through inch wide stock. Not enough room to slide without sticking fingers. But if I want to graft these super small delicate variegated mihanovichii I have going or week old arios I'd use the thinner DE razors. For big stuff I like a blade that is as wide as the scion. So I can have the scion sit on the blade while I make the final cut on the stock and quickly place it.

[hostilis]

Yeah. I use a sharp kitchen knife for big stock like columnars and the like.

[mystical oyster]

Yay i think it took, my first pere graft

a albino/variegate ariocarpus retusus

also grafted a (pach x juuls) x tpm while i was going, extra practice, can't wait to do more

thanks for all the help

[Philocacti]

Nice work

But your ariocarpus seedling is not an albino, I can see some green pigment in it

[mystical oyster]

well I've decided its time i bought a new camera, my phone just can't handle macro shots. so no photos yet. but woah! i can't believe how fast they grow on pere! i can see this grafting getting quite addictive. the ario swelled up so much i thought it was going to burst, it now has a bunch of little white hairs coming out the top.

the pach juuls x tpm for some reason, half of it died away, which was sad at first, but it now has a pup which is bigger then the original seedling already, and is definitely showing signs of freaky growth.

pere rocks! thanks to the fellow member who sent me some, let the pere graft adventures begin. im hooked!

*edit - spelling mistakes, fat thumbs messing up my typo!

Edited April 29, 2014 by mystical oyster

[mystical oyster]

oh and also i haven't watered them once yet. do i just water per usual?

[Philocacti]

Water whenever the soil dries...... I water them once every 2 weeks or more during winter cuz I don't provide heat