Monday, May 01, 2006
Grafting techniques in growing cacti.
Cacti are almost unique in the fact that they can be easily grafted. This is the process of joining the stem or a piece of a plant on to the rooted section of a different plant. Trichocereus make an excellent grafting stock for slower growing cactus. Grafting is best performed in the springtime, when the plant is growing at its most vigorous. The process is as follows:
With a sterile knife, (either by alcohol or flame) cut the top off of the plant that will be used as the base. Bevel the edge of the top slightly, to form a shape like an upside down pie plate. Make sure to trim off all of the spines along its edge to prevent misalignment. Sterilize your knife and cut a thin slice off of the top of your base Cactus again. Leave this slice in place as it protects the cut surface. Next, un-pot the plant that is going to be on top and slice off its roots a small way up the stem (remove any dead, dry areas). Again sterilize, and bevel, and cut a protective slice just like before.
Just before you join the two pieces (the scion and stalk), discard the protective slices. Be careful to align both plants sets of growth rings. You should push them together firmly because you want to be sure that all air bubbles are squeezed out. Carefully secure the plants in place using twist ties, rubber bands, or string weighted down with bolts. Do not over tighten, you don't want to strangle it, just hold it firmly together.
Do not water your plant or place it in the Sun for a few days to a week, give the graft time to seal. Then remove the bindings and slowly acclimatize your new friend to its surroundings.
Peyote has been known to increase its growth rate markedly if they are grafted on to the tips of faster growing Cacti like Opuntia. That leads me to an interesting question. Has anyone ever grafted several Peyote buds on the tips of a large, multi-branched San Pedro? It would probably look something akin to a scraggly X-mas tree, with a general conical shape, but a dozen or so thick arms, each tipped with a large cluster of bulging buttons. Hmm, gets one to thinking.
