Onzuka tricostatum on various rootstocks

[robinast]

As I have quite a lot of seedlings of the three-ribbed 'Onzuka', I just decided to play with them a bit. So I grafted the seedlings onto different rootstocks this morning (6...8 seedlings in each combination):

• Opuntia humifusa - seedlings
• Cuttings of the seedlings of  O. humifusa
• Two different clones of O. humifusa - unrooted pads
• Two different clones of O. fragilis - unrooted pads
• O. basilaris - unrooted pads
• Echinopsis denudata - seedlings
• Selenicereus hybr. - rooted cuttings
• Selenicereus pteranthus - unrooted cuttings
• Pereskiopsis spathulata - intensly growing plants from the previous year

Time will show what will happen and on which stocks the growth is good enough.

Some pictures taken shortly after I had finished with grafting:

[danskibsted]

Very interesting project! Keep us updated.
Dan

[robinast]

I'm trying, I'm trying...

[robinast]

I am too busy now for making pictures and counting succsessful / unsuccsessful grafts. Nevertheless, I made some photos of the young Onzuka tricostatums and also of some grafts made at the same time. Have a look:


Onzuka tricostatum on the Pereskiopsis stock


Onzuka tricostatum on the Epiphyllum hybr. stock


Onzuka tricostatum X Kikko Koh-Yo on the Pereskiopsis stock


Kikko Koh-Yo X 'ordinary' Kikko on the Pereskiopsis stock


Kikko Koh-Yo X 'ordinary' Kikko - the same plant on the Pereskiopsis stock


Kikko Koh-Yo X 'ordinary' Kikko - on the Selenicereus stock

[danskibsted]

Great work.
How did the opuntia grafts work out? I often have problems with humidity and large cut-surfaces, because they get infected with fungi. Do you also have this problem?
Dan

[robinast]

Great work.
How did the opuntia grafts work out? I often have problems with humidity and large cut-surfaces, because they get infected with fungi. Do you also have this problem?

Well, actually not - not at all. Using Opuntia as a rootstock is quite a new thing for me and I do not have just much experience yet. But so far I have not lost ANY (out of around 50) Opuntia grafts due to the rot of the stock. Some grafts just did not take, right - but none of the cut surfaces were damaged by fungi (though I keep the grafted plants in very humid (close to 100%) environment for a week or so.
I plan to take some more photos next week and also calculate the succsess rate. So far I can say that O. basilaris and Epiphyllum as rootstocks did show very poor results...

[andrea.a]

Last month ago I made around 30 grafts on Echinopsis and 60 on Opuntia. On Echinopsis I had fungi problems in around 50% of the plants (I had to use copper to stop the infection) and on Opuntia I had no problems, even if the cut surface was much larger. In both cases I used the same blades, the same sterilizing products (ethanole and H2O2).
Andrea.

[robinast]

Overview of  grafted Onzuka tricostatum seedlings on different rootstocks (rootstock - total grafts/success/not sure yet):

• Opuntia humifusa   seedlings - 7/7
• Cuttings of the seedlings of  O. humifusa - 7/6
• Two different clones of O. humifusa, unrooted pads - 7/7
• O. fragilis v denudata, unrooted pads - 7/7
• O. fragilis v parviconspicua, unrooted pads - 7/2
• O. basilaris, unrooted pads - 7/0
• Echinopsis denudata seedlings - 7/5/2
• Selenicereus hybr., rooted cuttings - 8/7
• Selenicereus pteranthus, unrooted cuttings - 6/5
• Pereskiopsis spathulata, intensly growing plants from the previous year - 8/7
• Epiphyllum, young intensly growing plant - 7/2

As you may easily guess, grafts on Pereskiopsis have the most vigorous growth. And so far, there is no big difference in growth rates on the other rootstocks.

Some pictures:


None of the grafts with O. basilaris was successful. It seems to me that this rootstocks is not suitable for Astrophytums (I tried it last also year - with the same result).


I do like this graft on the Echinopsis denudata!


Grafts on the Opuntia fragilis v denudata took very well...


but results with the O. fragilis v parviconspicua were poor... True enough, it's too early to make any conclusions as the number of grafts is too low.


O. humifusa seems to fit well for using as an Astrophytum rootstocks -both as seedlings...


...and as unrooted pads.


Pereskiopsis, of course, is probably the best choice for the youngest seedlings.

[robinast]

Some more pictures:


Astrophytum myriostigma cv 'Kikko Koh-Yo' seedlings on O. humifusa seedlings


Astrophytum myriostigma cv 'Kikko Koh-Yo' seedlings on Selenicereus rootstock


Astrophytum caput-medusae on O. humifusa seedlings

[danskibsted]

Very nice work!
I'm impressed with the growth of the kikko koh-yo. They seem to have started growing very fast already.

[Karlet]

Great job, congratulations!

[robinast]

I'm impressed with the growth of the kikko koh-yo. They seem to have started growing very fast already.

Yes, you're right - somehow, they seem to be in hurry indeed.

[robinast]

By now, the young Onzukas have grown quite a bit. Here, the initial observations of Astrophytum myriostigma f. tricostatum 'Onzuka' grafts on several rootstocks:

• not noticeable difference between Selenicereus hybr and Pereskiopsis in growth rates; or maybe, grafts on Selenicereus hybr grow a little bit faster
• growth rate on the Selenicereus pteranthus is a little bit lower than in case of the above-mentioned rootstocks
• grafts on Echinopsis stock grow more slowly
• grafts on Opuntia humifusa also grow slowly; nevertheless, their growth rate is higher than that of the ownrooted seedlings
• I did not notice a big difference in growth rates while comparing grafts on unrooted pads and grafts on growing seedlings
• Opuntia fragilis does not seem to be suitable for A. myriostigma: though the grafts generally took, their growth rate is even lower than that in case of own-rooted seedlings

It is too early to calculate the percentage of the three-ribbed seedlings as the rib number has not stabilized yet. Some grafts that initially seemed to have 4 ribs, are now losing the fourth one and some three-ribbed grafts have started to form the additional rib(s). Also, in some cases, it's not clear how many ribs there are.
Have a look at some photos (most of the grafts are around 15...20 mm in diameter and 20...25 mm in height now):

[Astrophytummaniacs]

Hi robinast,
Your little onzuka are very very nice, congratulation.
they are your own plants seeds?

[robinast]

Thank you, ibiza23!
Yes, the seeds were my own.

[Astrophytummaniacs]

ok good,
Do you have photos of mother plants?

[robinast]

The mother plants:

[Astrophytummaniacs]

Ah very nice!! I like I like 

[robinast]

Yeah, indeed - beauties they are!

[Carlo & Daniele]

those motherplants are great! and seedlings are very promising too!!!