To graft, or not to graft...

[danskibsted]

Echinocactus horizonthalonius PAN183, seeds from 2005.

Grown on own roots since 2005:


Grafted on pereskiopsis in 2005, regrafted on trichocereus in 2009:


The nametag has the same size on both plants, it gives a good indicator of the size difference.

Dan

[marazz53]

Hi danskibsted, nicely grown...

[mikey]

Hi guys,
looks like ther's no presentation forum, so i'm gonna introduce myself here 
I'm from Italy (southern Italy) and have been playing with cactus (ferocactus and echinocactus) for a couple of years !!!
Possibly I'm the youngest grower in this forum and this is fine anyway,
I want to learn as much as possible and hope you gonna give me your advices 

Recently I have been sowing horizonthalonius, and thanks to this forum have seen there is a way to speed their growth up
I have lots of questions for you guys . . . but let's make the first big one :
Once I'have grafted (and mybe regrafted an horizonthalonius) is there any way
to make it have its own roots once the plant has reached a nice size  ??
Hope you say: YES

[danskibsted]

Hi Mikey,
Welcome (:
You can cut the horizonthalonius down and let it dry... after 1-2 months you plant it in sand, and after a few months small roots will emerge. I have tried this method, but it only give around 50% success for horizonthalonius.
Dan

[mikey]

Hi danskibsted,
I'm very glad to hearing from you, 
I received the answer I was looking for, but I doesn't look to be very good  ! ! !
50% is really a low success rate  ,
It's a shame to waste plants like horizonthalonius just to make them reroot . . .
I was wondering if rooting hormones could be helpfull in this case, have you ever tried ?

One more question what kind of stock did you choose to graft this PAN 183 ?
I cannot figure it out from te picture above 

[danskibsted]

Maybe you have better luck than i do! Your climate is alot warmer than mine, that should help you. Rooting hormone might also help.
I graft all seedlings on pereskiopsis. After 1-2 years I regraft on trichocereus or harrisia. The plant in the picture is on Trichocereus peruvianus.
Good luck! (:
Dan

[malospine]

homalocephala texensis, same seed

[danskibsted]

Very impressive!
Thanks for sharing.
Dan

[danskibsted]

Another example... Habitat seeds from E. horizonthalonius, Guadalupe Pass, Culbertson County, Arizona. The little plant was grown from seed since 2006 on it's own roots, and the big plant was grafted as a seedling in 2006 first on pereskiopsis and then on echinopsis later on.
Dan

[Carlo & Daniele]

hello Dan, great Plants, how large are they?

[marazz53]

Homalocephala texensis (27 years old from seeds and on it's own roots)

Homalocephala texensis (27 years old from seeds and on it's own roots)

Homalocephala texensis (27 years old from seeds and on it's own roots)

[danskibsted]

hello Dan, great Plants, how large are they?

The big one is 7cm diameter and the little one is 3cm diameter. These are some of my first pereskiopsis grafts I made back in 2005-2006, since then I have developed my growing skills with pereskiopsis so the grafts I make today grow faster... 7cm echino should be possible in 3 years if you treat it the correct way.
I expect to see flowers on the big grafted plant this year. Hopefully the echinopsis stock will soon become invisible as the plant grow a bit larger in the next years.
Dan

[danskibsted]

Very nice work Mario! I like the flowers (:
Dan

[marazz53]

Hi danskibsted, THANKS for your appreciation.