Why do grafted Astrophytum proliferate?

[Lee]

Hello Group,

Could someone give me a reason why some Astrophytum proliferate young plants when grafted?
Do they only do this when growth is very quick due to fertiliser and temperature?

It is quite common to see plants from Thailand of Astrophytum covered with proliferating plants from aerioles, when they have been grafted and after they have been degrafted.

I understand after these plants have been re-rooted they will stop producing proliferating new young plants.

I have seen these plants growing on Hylocerus and Harrisia.
Pehaps they do this on other root stocks?

Can anyone  tell me how I could produce a plant with this growth?

It is only some Astrophytum that will respond this way?
Is there a  genetic basis to this growth?

Your advice is much appreciated.
With regards
Lee (inUK).

[AstrophytumCultivars.com]

Hello Group,

Could someone give me a reason why some Astrophytum proliferate young plants when grafted?
Do they only do this when growth is very quick due to fertiliser and temperature?

It is quite common to see plants from Thailand of Astrophytum covered with proliferating plants from aerioles, when they have been grafted and after they have been degrafted.

I understand after these plants have been re-rooted they will stop producing proliferating new young plants.

I have seen these plants growing on Hylocerus and Harrisia.
Pehaps they do this on other root stocks?

Can anyone  tell me how I could produce a plant with this growth?

It is only some Astrophytum that will respond this way?
Is there a  genetic basis to this growth?

Your advice is much appreciated.
With regards
Lee (inUK).

Hi Lee,
Non-grafted astrophytum should never proliferate (excluding some special cv.'s like HUBOKI or so..). Proliferation is side-efect of grafting, especialy well-known for Pereskiopsis or so.. I have some of my grafts on Hylocereus and they never did offsets.

Solution => Do not graft

[fanecchissimo]

there is a genetical basis. it is a different hormonal pattern.  i have a seedling 5 mm big with offset own roots. grafting can enhance this because the hormones of the stock can have different concentrations than the scion ones.

hope it helps. bye

[Lee]

Hi Tomas,

Thank you for your help and observations.

With Pereskiopsis grafting of Astrophytum, do you think the plants are more likely to proliferate if the stock is fed with rich fertiliser?

It would be good if you could control proliferation from the nutrition of the root stock.

It is interesting that your hylocereus grafting never results in offset proliferation. Yet I presume in Thailand where it is a common root stock they can produce plants with offsets.  Do you think it may be temperatures?

With best regards
Lee (inUK)

[Lee]

Hello fanecchissimo,

Thank you for your help and observations.

It is very interesting that the hormones of the rootstock may be affecting if the Astrophytum proliferates.

I am sure that there will be a large exchange of nutrients and hormones.

The grafted plant will have access to a rootstock that may have a different level of plant growth hormones which it will share.

Synthetic plant hormones can affect a whole range of plants, so I suspect that many plants share similar metabolic pathways.

I wonder if synthetic plant hormones that cause poliferation in-vitro of many plants would also affect the growth of grafted plants.

The well known synthetic cytokinin Benzylaminopurine (BAP) caused prolifeation and axillary branching of many plants in-vitro. I wonder if the root stock is pumping similar natural cytokinins into the grafted Astrophytum causing 'branching' into proliferating offsets.

If the root stock is removed and the poliferation stops, this might be because the hormone levels have changed!

It is an interesting hypothesis.

Perhaps I need to spray some non grafted plants with BAP or Cycocel (used on Hibiscus and Poinsettia) or other plant hormones to see the results.

Thanks for the idea.
With regards
Lee (inUK)

[fanecchissimo]

we are just talking about auxines.
auxines makes the plant grow if in low concentrations and the plant stop to grow and start to "wooden" if in high concentration. they are hormones responding to gravity.
if the apex of the plant does not produce enough to stop the lower part to branch, the plant will branch. if you have a root stock 50 times bigger than the scion you can have: 1 scion proliferating (if genetically susceptible)
          2 rootstock proliferating and branching (i guess anyone of us saw it at least once)

don't trust me? try this....
1 take a stock and cut it's apex flat.
2 take another and cut the apex diagonally fron high to low, leaving a high areola.

first case: the plant will produce one or more  branches , near the top
second case: the plant will produce ONLY ONE branch fron the top areola (if not severely damaged)

another experiment: try the same with rooting:
1 leave the meristem in the lower part of the plant (plenty roots from the middle)
2 cut it flat: the plant will produce 1 root or 2 from the meristem, anywhere.

try the same with a scion u can sacrifice...
1 cut flat: 2-3-4 new heads
2 cut diagonally: 1 new head only, usually bigger


enjoy experimenting. auxines to me are the greatest discovery. i found a book in my library which talks about it. but it is not produced anymore! 

[Lee]

Hello fanecchissimo,

Many thanks for your help and information.

It does make a lot of sense that a big rootstock will be pushing many hormones upto the apex with the grafted scion.
So it will upset the normal balance.

If you ever want to find out more  from scientific papers you may find Google Scholar of help. It is used by many scientists for research on publications. You can search for 'Google Scholar or try
http://www.scholar.google.com

The information is better than simple Google.

With regards
Lee (inUK)