yeah i havnt had much luck with the baggy method because my dog keeps on jumping up and grabbing them off the hot water service. however in my humidicrib germinator that i made they are going great guns.

the seedlings that i grafted were 2 months old and still very small.

i also got some seeds from shortly (thanks again shortly) and have put them in yesterday

i am thinking that the ariocarpus will be my biggest challenge yet but i am up for it and going to study up. if anyone has any hints please let me know.

my home made propergator cost me $25 but cannot remember how much my homebrew heat pad cost


the contents of my propergator

How many hours do you run the light for Darren?
Thinking of hooking up a couple of fluros in my green house.

at the moment i am running it for 14 hours but not sure if that is the correct amount of time...it seems to be working

Looking good Darren
One question, what conditions do you grow your peresk in? Despite it 'growing like a weed', mine seems to have stopped growing (over the winter) and those grafts in your propagator make me jealous!

i have started with three cuttings which i put in my hothouse and water regularly. they go bananannas in the propagator!!!

Bobblybook,
Pereskiopsis doesn't grow like a typical cactus. To thrive it needs much heat, water and nutrients. Water and feed it liberally and it should come to life.

Lewis.

Thanks. I've been doing that - they're actually looking quite healthy, they've just stopped growing. I expect them to start growing again now as the weather heats up
Didn't mean to derail the thread, continue with the seed discussion!

can anyone tell me when the best time to pick the fruit for seeds is... do you just let them go until they fall off?

It depends on exactly what species you have?
I prefer to leave the fleshy fruits until they split open or will fall at the slightest touch, that way i know the seed is fully mature.
Some species have dry fruits that are held inside the spines untill dry seed is expelled often with rain.
Either way the most important thing is that the seed is fully mature before picking.

Yes, good advice shortly. Just be really careful of ants ! they will cart the fruit off if you're not careful

i know this is not the standard for grafting but is this ok? i thought the growth rings would meet up perfectly making them grow even faster? what do you guys think

and also it looks like they are pleading to god... "please please help me grow"... you never know it could help!!

Man those little grafts look epic. I think they will both grow well. I grafted a lophophora onto a pup of a t. pachanoi a little while ago. It is still hacking, and even though there is a new pup coming of the main 'trunk' (next to the graft), both appear to be charging.
Hey, where did you acquire the pereskiopsis plants from? I'm not sure if you mentioned that or not?
I would love some to try this sort of thing too. Onya Dazza, good stuff.

Darren,

The way you have done it is no problem. As a general rule the younger the stock growth the better the chance of a successful seedling graft. The only problems that arise are; with pereskiopsis once the scion gets heavy the "branch" can and will snap off. Having two scions on the same stock will slow growth rates and once they get bigger they will run into each other.

Good work.