A new approach on rooting Lophophora

[Philocacti]

I've lost a bit over 20 buttons of lophophora in attempting to root them how other member in US, Europe and Australia do. It got me really frustrated since if I degraft a button there was always a higher percent to lose it rather than it will root.

Since I live in a totally different environment, I decided to try new methods that will work best for the cacti.

So last year a lophophora that was grafted to pereskiopsis had its stock rot, so I just stuck the button in a pot that had T. bridgesii growing in. The pot was in a place that receives direct sun all daytime. I watered as I usually do and I noticed that the button has thrown roots.

Now I used this method on other buttons and roots developed nicely

So maybe this method is good for people living in sub-desert environment with dry air.

The one on the right was the one I put in bridgesii pot and the one on the left is a degraft that started rooting

These are 2 others I've used this method with

Btw I use the same method with all my columnars and I never lost one to rot.

After they scab I plant them up in soil and place the pot in the sunny place and water lightly once a week or so until I see new growth.

I hope this comes useful for others who also have problems rooting lophophoras

Cheers

[Evil Genius]

Yeah, sounds good. Full sun is important when rooting Lophs. They can rot easily without a root. I just put them in bird sand and give them full sun. Birdsand contains Anti-Fungal Stuff like Anise and it rarely fails me.

[Philocacti]

So I'm not the only one who places them in the sun

I've been always told to keep buttons in shaded place until they root, but it never worked for since the air is dry here I guess

[hostilis]

Thanks for sharing buddy! I have a ton of grafts that I will need to root soon. Do you think this method would work well for astrophytum and ariocarpus? Also, have you tried the method where you leave 2" of pereskiopsis stock on the bottom and letting that root first then planting?

[Guest Señor Corrochio]

This year I did a bunch of rooting experiments too. I degrafted 3 clumps off of pach stocks, let them sit around in a well ventilated, part shade but bright area for the 6 months of spring and summer (I had actually forgotten about them) then pot them up two weeks ago keeping them in plastic in a closet, 10 days later I checked on them and they were all plum. Mould had started to grow out of the flower remnants though. For the smaller peres grafts, I barely watered them for long periods of time to the point that the stock would shrivel and I think this helped. Doing this I even rooted a degraft that was less then half a centimetre.

[Philocacti]

hostilis, I advise you to try different methods with different soil mixes (even without soil) to find out which is the best method for your environment, remember I live in a totally different weather than you ;)

I've never tried rootin ariocarpus or astrophytum yet, but hopefully this will work too.

I met this collector who's obsessed with grafting and he swears he roots ariocarpus degrafts without any losses by placing some sand in a jar and adding 2-3 drops of water to the sand then placing ariocarpus on the sand and closing the lid of the jar and every few days he opens the jar to let it air out a bit.

In my mind this will definitely rot the ariocarpus but he said it works. I'll probably give it a try when the time comes.

And yes the best method for me is leaving a piece of the pereskiopsis to the graft and burry that in soil. The pereskiopsis roots in 2 weeks and while the graft still grows it throws it's own roots.

SJ these pics are crazy, did all these roots form just cuz you didn't water the stock? What's the humidity percentage in your air?

[woof woof woof]

I air layer pereskiopsis and when it shoots out new roots I cut off the pereskiopsis, allow it to dry a few days then bury the peresk entirely. I avoid burying the graft. eventually the graft will shoot out it's own roots.

[Guest Señor Corrochio]

SJ these pics are crazy, did all these roots form just cuz you didn't water the stock? What's the humidity percentage in your air?

Hard to say, I'm sure there are other factors to keep in mind. There were four grafts in that pot, two rooted and two didn't so it's not an exact thing. But on a larger scale it seems depriving them of water for long periods of time seems to help the rooting. Humidity here averages to around 50 to 60 percent.

[djmattz0r]

I had good luck rooting in a box that reaches 100+ F and 10k lumens just kinda dehydrating them until they were forced to throw roots, cruel I know but it worked. Actually lost some that I was trying to root just indoors and eventually died to random problems being indoors

[Jox]

I like to talk sweetly to them until there happy & then root them