Cacti Collecting!

[Driller64]

Unfortunately I have lost my San Pedro cactus seedlings due to a failed grafting attempt on one of my Opuntia plants. My knife blade I was trying to use was dull, so instead of cutting through the seedlings, it crushed them and ruined them :wall:. Well, time to wait another three months for a new batch to grow. I bought a sharpening stone to sharpen to the knife so hopefully I will have a sharp knife for the procedure next time.

 

[edgeofthefreak]

Have yet to see anyone's pics of their cacti collection! *hint* *hint*

-JohnD.

Thanks for the hint! I knew there was something I needed to do....
I know nothing of grafting cacti, which sounds awesome, but I am learning about growing cacti from seeds, which sounds awesome as well. These little guys only took a few days to sprout, but they've been super slow growing since then.

That's a standard BIC lighter (not a mini) to show size of the pots.


Most of these aren't leaning as much as the picture would have you believe.


The closeup shows how red the base is, compared to the top. There's a tiny, nearly dead, not really growing sprout on the side of the egg. If it is still alive, it is the slowest of the bunch. I frequently forget it's there.


These three have little wings or ledges or fins... they're much darker than any others.


And these three are the best and worst of the collection. The biggest one is thriving, as is the smaller red-based one. The tiny one in this pot has been found uprooted twice (including this morning) and we keep just poking it back into a hole.


Absolutely no idea what kinds are what. These are from a single DuneCraft kit, which boasts five different kinds of cacti. They outgrew the little eggs in a matter of two weeks.
Anyone hazard a guess from this list? Carnegia gigantea (giant saguaro), Lemaireocereus thurberii (organ pipe), Echinocactus grusonii (golden barrel), and Ferocactus wislenzeni (Fishhook barrel). The package only lists four Genus/species, but then clearly states five different kinds... lol.

Anyway, there is my ENTIRE collection of cacti! Enjoy!

 

[Driller64]

I know nothing of grafting cacti

Neither do I, it was my first attempt at grafting. I thought I had researched enough to carry it out, but I guess not

 

[edgeofthefreak]

Neither do I, it was my first attempt at grafting. I thought I had researched enough to carry it out, but I guess not

I have a friend in horticulture. He's insanely busy, but has promised me that he'll teach me grafting someday. If he knows anything about cacti grafting, I'll post my findings here.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

I tried grafting with the live "cactus flowers" that are occasionally grafted onto green cacti as novelty items.
Since the live "cactus flowers" are actually tinted mutants that produce no chlorophyll fallen "flowers" cannot grow by themselves...
but,when I grafted scions from (red) "flowers" into young plains cacti cells from the scions dispersed throughout their new hosts' anatomy until they produced botanical chimeras whose intermingled cells are something that cacti
are positively not supposed to do...I have never heard of anybody else ever chimeracising any kind of cactus...all of the other cactus grafts that I ever heard of either died out or grew in place.

 

[Driller64]

I have never heard of anybody else ever chimeracising any kind of cactus

http://www.cactuspedia.info/schede/CHIMAERAS/Ortegopuntia/Ortegopuntia_PERCY/Ortegopuntia_percy.htm

This species is VERY high up on my wish list by the way

 

[pitbulllady]

I have a strange obsession with epiphytic and tropical cacti

Me, too! I have a pretty decent collection of Rhipsalis, Lepismium, Schlumbergera and a few other genera of tropical cacti, though I'm always looking to expand their ranks.

Pitbulllady

 

[Galapoheros]

If it didn't freeze here, or had a greenhouse, I'd try to grow Dragon fruit, I've seen the "fruit" in stores, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya I'll take some pics of some stuff I have later.

 

[ratluvr76]

I'll post my cactus/ succulent garden tomorrow. My prize cactus is a split rock mimic plant. I love it's uniqueness.

 

[Driller64]

Also apparently Opuntia doesn't even need roots to have something grafted on it, so grafting it rootless might give me more control over the graft rather than having to work with a cumbersome pot in the way

Also I've identified the cactus cutting I took from the nursery plant as Cleistocactus winteri. It's an okay grafting stock apparently, but it offsets frequently.

 

[ratluvr76]

here are some of my plants. The purple ivy looking stuff, I think it's a type of wandering jew? and the split rock succulent are my faves.

 

[Driller64]

Here is most of my cactus collection:

Aztekium hintonii, around 2 months old

Ariocarpus trigonus, around 2-3 months old

Ariocarpus fissuratus, 1 month old, probably

Mixed seedlings, 6ish months old

Ariocarpus retusus, 1.5 YEARS old

Mixed seedlings, 1.5 years old

Geohintonia mexicana, 2.5 months old

 

[Driller64]

Stuff that hasn't germinated yet:

Aztekium ritteri:

Bowiea volubilis:

The Bowiea volubilis seeds I sowed today, and I have a little story about them. After putting the label on the pot, since it was early in the morning I must have miscalculated the height of the plant shelf, because I banged the pot into the shelf, causing the pot to make a full 180 degree turn upside down and spilling the soil inside :wall:. So I painstakingly searched for the seeds inside (which is a difficult task because the seeds are the same color as the soil and they look much like specks of wood) and amazingly managed to locate two of the three seeds I sowed. The pack I received contained six seeds, so I used one of the three seeds left over to replace the lost seed leaving me with only two seeds left. I am still shaking with rage as I type this, especially since it costs $8.00 for five seeds on Amazon (including shipping).

 

[ratluvr76]

is there a cheaper way to get the seeds? o.o... these must be a very rare plant?

 

[Driller64]

is there a cheaper way to get the seeds? o.o... these must be a very rare plant?

Yeah it is kind of a rare plant, at least you can't buy it at Home Depot. There is a cheaper way of getting the seeds: buy seeds, grow the plant to maturity and have the flowers self pollinate and produce seeds. Unless the plant is dioecious, this method will get you all the seeds you will ever need

 

[Driller64]

Just forc- I mean had my dad order some Pereskiopsis spathulata cuttings on Ebay since there are no sellers on Amazon that sell them. I'm planning to do an experiment in which I graft one of my Aztekium hintonii and ritteri seedlings onto a cutting and compare the growth rate to one on its own roots. I know there will be an huge difference in growth because of Pereskiopsis' growth boosting properties, but the experiment will take place over 2-3 years at least. But of course Aztekium is ridiculously small as a seedling so I will get some experience with grafting larger seedlings first obviously.

 

[ratluvr76]

One of my mango seeds has a shoot coming up finally. I'm super excited.

 

[Driller64]

What's new with the cacti:

I took seeds off a cactus in a nursery about two weeks ago. I planted the seeds the day I took them. Here is the parent:

And here are the seedlings of the same plant:

So is should be interesting to watch them grow as big as their parent. Also new San pedro seedlings came up, just waiting to be grafted

 

[Driller64]

I am attempting to turn an ivy cutting I took last year into a bonsai. It was the result of an experiment in which I took two spare ivy clippings while I was pruning an ivy plant outside and stuck them in a pot with another plant. No rooting hormone, nothing. One of those two rooted. However, I did not appear to have any use for it until I thought to turn it into a bonsai. So here is my progress so far. There are some wires on some of the branches if you look closely

 

[ratluvr76]

the ivy is kind of a neat idea.. . plus those cacti seedlings are super awesome!