Cacti Collecting!

[Driller64]

Pereskiopsis cuttings came today. Sorry I didn't take a picture before planting them. I was just too enthusiastic about planting them! Hope to do grafting with these soon

 

[ratluvr76]

Those look pretty similar to one of the ones I have in my little succulent planter.

 

[Driller64]

Those look pretty similar to one of the ones I have in my little succulent planter.

Well they probably aren't, because these are quite uncommon. Believe it or not, Pereskiopsis are actually cacti, not succulents. They are one of the few cacti with leaves. Apparently it is the leaves that gives them their fast growing abilities as it allows them to photosynthesize at a much more rapid rate than normal cacti. Also it is believed that Pereskiopsis is what cacti looked like before they evolved to their current state.

 

[ratluvr76]

That's pretty cool. Honestly though I didn't think they'd be the same plant, just that they looked similar.

On another note.. another Mango seed sprouted and 4 more of my avacado seeds sprouted.. yayy!!
(pics tomorrow or sunday).

 

[ratluvr76]

as promised, these are my mango seedlings.

 

[Cavedweller]

Well they probably aren't, because these are quite uncommon. Believe it or not, Pereskiopsis are actually cacti, not succulents. They are one of the few cacti with leaves. Apparently it is the leaves that gives them their fast growing abilities as it allows them to photosynthesize at a much more rapid rate than normal cacti. Also it is believed that Pereskiopsis is what cacti looked like before they evolved to their current state.

That's super cool!!! What kind of environment are they native to?

 

[Driller64]

That's super cool!!! What kind of environment are they native to?

The tropical parts of Venezuela, I think.

 

[Driller64]

The Pereskiopsis are showing signs of rooting. I potted them up separately yesterday as I did not want them to get too established. The roots break easily it seems when they are young, so I was really careful while repotting. Here they are:

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Mango is related to both "Indian lemonade," aka "staghorn sumac," and to poison ivy.

And all three of these can be grown as chimeras.

I first found this out when I tried to "tame" poison ivies by grafting them with staghorn sumac.
Their transforming leaves revealed that their new cells were very much alive: but that the plants had become two-in-one botanical chimeras that are not species pure.
They were,however,poisonous from the poison ivy...so I tried to "tame" them forever by grafting them with tropical mango cells whose death by cold would presumably be fatal to the chimeras' normally hardy
consituents shortly after the first hard frost...but,although transforming leaves revealed that the mango cells had taken hold,the poison ivies kept them alive!!! Through hard frost!!! Through that winter!!! Through
the NEXT winter!!! Until I was compelled to permit my "noxious weeds" to be completely destroyed!!!

I have wondered ever since...Whether these experiments might be repeatable...Whether other mango cells could be wintered in "poisugo" plants...Created like mine.

P.S.

I tried to propagate mango cells in "unpoisoned" grafts to "plain" staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina))
None of my three "sumangoes" survived one winter...And my "poisugos" survived more than one.

If somebody else tried creating "sumangoes" and "poisugos..."
I wonder what would happen: Is my work repeatable?

 

[Driller64]

The Pereskiopsis are showing signs of rooting. I potted them up separately yesterday as I did not want them to get too established. The roots break easily it seems when they are young, so I was really careful while repotting. Here they are:

While I was testing out an old container to see if it would be a good humidity chamber for grafts, I took the Pereskiopsis in picture #2 out to see if it would fit. While taking the lid off the lid banged into the Pereskiopsis with a flesh crunching sound :wall:. The Pereskiopsis looked unhurt, but why did it make a flesh crunching sound then? I pulled on it lightly to test for root damage. It resisted, so I assumed it was undamaged. But still, I am going to be keeping an extra eye on it now

 

[The Snark]

How about an ID?

Our neighbor gave me a 4 inch chunk of stem which I haphazardly shoved in the ground. It started growing. The stem is cacti with spikes. Then it started growing succulent leaves. Where I planted it was on the drip line from the roof. Seems it doesn't mind swamp 4 months out of the year. And it grew. And grew. Finally I was visiting a friends garden which was nicely shaded. 50 feet across with lots of places to sit. It's a restaurant. The shade 'tree' was one of these in monster proportions. They are wonderful patio type plants since they don't shed leaves but don't even think about touching the trunk or branches unless you like ouch. I would advise not planting one in your terrarium. This one is about 12 feet tall now.

 

[JohnDapiaoen]

Our neighbor gave me a 4 inch chunk of stem which I haphazardly shoved in the ground. It started growing. The stem is cacti with spikes. Then it started growing succulent leaves. Where I planted it was on the drip line from the roof. Seems it doesn't mind swamp 4 months out of the year. And it grew. And grew. Finally I was visiting a friends garden which was nicely shaded. 50 feet across with lots of places to sit. It's a restaurant. The shade 'tree' was one of these in monster proportions. They are wonderful patio type plants since they don't shed leaves but don't even think about touching the trunk or branches unless you like ouch. I would advise not planting one in your terrarium. This one is about 12 feet tall now.

Definitely looks like a Euphorbia drupifera which resembles a cactus but it's not a cactus. This plant's actually pretty rare here in the states, I would consider yourself lucky, I bet you think it's just another random plant lol. Where was this photo taken?

 

[The Snark]

Definitely looks like a Euphorbia drupifera which resembles a cactus but it's not a cactus. This plant's actually pretty rare here in the states, I would consider yourself lucky, I bet you think it's just another random plant lol. Where was this photo taken?

Looks like you bullseyed it. Just wonderful, the giant of the euphorb family. It's growing about 10 inches from the edge of our porch. I thought it was just going to be a slow growing cacti as it had no leaves at all when I got it. I'm lucky I killed the acacia that was shading it as it was forcing the little monster to grow sideways. But now it looks like it will grow up over the porch roof. I hope it doesn't have the toxins they are so good at producing.
Snerk snerk. A little tongue in cheek. Other wants me to clear an area to grow a garden. I tried for 2 years. Mingy nutrient free silt and clay for soil. So I planted a seedling tree and imported a stump from the forest. 4 years later the seedling is a 35 foot tall giant silk tree competing with an equally large broad leafed forest tree. The only remaining area where we could plant a garden has this monster shading it. Unfortunately, giving her the soulful puppies eyes for several years as I make excuses is now wearing as thin as her patience to get a garden growing. "Are you sure we can't just have a rainforest and buy our veggies at the market? Please?"

 

[Galapoheros]

My Avocado plants died but hose can be a little hardier than I thought. If you don't know where Del Rio tx is, look it up, I saw a mature avocado tree and a grapefruit tree next to each other next to a motel. They had been there many years and had fruit on both when I saw them. It's a dry hot place and freezes at times during winter, they of course give them extra water.

 

[The Snark]

My Avocado plants died but hose can be a little hardier than I thought. If you don't know where Del Rio tx is, look it up, I saw a mature avocado tree and a grapefruit tree next to each other next to a motel. They had been there many years and had fruit on both when I saw them. It's a dry hot place and freezes at times during winter, they of course give them extra water.

EXTREME frost and freeze intolerant, saplings more than mature trees. After a freeze it can be several years before they produce fruit again. They were grafts I assume. Do you know what root stock?

 

[Galapoheros]

I have no idea about the graft, almost a certainty for the grapefruit though. Yes it was very odd to me, a big mature Avocado and grapefruit, both had fruit at the time too. The manager didn't have much to say about it, didn't care to discuss it. They had been there for many years. They were on the south side of the building though which is very important in areas where there is a cold season, I should have pointed that out, and right next to the building. This is done as far north as central texas btw, some people put a citrus tree inches away from a south wall of their home. During the winter, a freezing wind hits the north side and kind of rolls over the house. I've imagined some barrel-rolling against the south side of the house, picking up some heat from the home. I planted a mandarin tree this way at my parents home in the Bryan tx area over 10 years ago and it has gotten into the upper teens since, the tree is still going strong. It's the only orange tree I've ever seen in that town planted in the ground and surviving winters with no problems.

 

[ratluvr76]

This all gives me hope for my little avocado seedlings. I have, I think six now, along with 7 lemon seedlings. I think I'll go take some pictures of everyone's progress sometime tomorrow and put together a new thread for this type of plants since we seem to have sidelined the cacti collecting thread..

 

[The Snark]

I have no idea about the graft, almost a certainty for the grapefruit though. Yes it was very odd to me, a big mature Avocado and grapefruit, both had fruit at the time too. The manager didn't have much to say about it, didn't care to discuss it. They had been there for many years. They were on the south side of the building though which is very important in areas where there is a cold season, I should have pointed that out, and right next to the building. This is done as far north as central texas btw, some people put a citrus tree inches away from a south wall of their home. During the winter, a freezing wind hits the north side and kind of rolls over the house. I've imagined some barrel-rolling against the south side of the house, picking up some heat from the home. I planted a mandarin tree this way at my parents home in the Bryan tx area over 10 years ago and it has gotten into the upper teens since, the tree is still going strong. It's the only orange tree I've ever seen in that town planted in the ground and surviving winters with no problems.

As memory serves... The mandarin orange, the satsuma and the owari are the fore-bearers of all sweet oranges and originated in China. All are adaptable to grow in cold climes. Satsuma is commonly harvested in the snow in northern Japan. The grapefruit is a hybrid of the satsuma, and possibly mandarin, and the pomelo.

Friends of my family owned a large avocado orchard in So. Cal. The trees are extremely labor intensive in order to keep a good crop going from year to year. They must receive an exacting amount of water, be carefully pruned, and protected from frost and hard freeze. Prolonged or heavy frost would pretty much stop the next years production. All commercial avocados are grown from a hearty hybrid rootstocks and are grafts, much the same as decorative roses. Avocados grown from the seed of commercial trees rarely produce fruit and even more rarely will the fruits mature. The tree will also be susceptible to branch breakage as the wood will be much weaker than the hybrid rootstock. (My info is 40 years old and things may have changed quite a bit.)

My mother in law here was the recipient of a royal orchard project avocado introduction. She had no idea how to prune and tend the trees. Subsequently over the years most of the trees died (Broken branches must be healed with tree seal immediately and so on.) The trees went unpruned and grew to mammoth proportions but yielded less and less fruit each year. When she sold the orchard 3 years ago the 6 remaining trees produced about 10 fruits each, each the size of a hefty cantaloup. It required being a very good catch and a 50 foot bamboo pole to harvest them.

South slope or south side (of the green house) is a common practice in colder climes for a wide varieties of fruits, veggies, shrubs and sapling trees.

 

[Galapoheros]

This all gives me hope for my little avocado seedlings. I have, I think six now, along with 7 lemon seedlings. I think I'll go take some pictures of everyone's progress sometime tomorrow and put together a new thread for this type of plants since we seem to have sidelined the cacti collecting thread..

But they're green like cacti haha, yeah OK, yeah that'd be a good thread. I still need to post some of pics of cacti I have here. The sinningia I posted a pic of is blooming. It's a plant 'cacti people' like but not a cactus either. I can't figure out what the sps is. I gave my parents a San Pedro cactus, it's 5 feet tall now and bloomed, it was huge. My 78 year old dad pulled the seed pod off before it matured, oh that hurt, he didn't know what it was.

 

[Driller64]

Mah Pereskiopsis cuttings have started to grow! Yay!