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[PinkTarantula]

So I'm interested in a particular cutting of trichocereus but it's only available as an 8" long, very thick, and expensive cut. I'd have an easier time biting the bullet and getting it if I knew whether or not it was possible and/or plausible to cut that in half to root two ~4" cuttings. The cutting would be about 3.5-4" dia.

[LIBERTYNY]

 A 5-6" clean trich. cutting will reliability root,  Less than that and it starts getting questionable,  But not impossible.

1 Like Chicsa likes this.

[Inyan]

If your going to graft...all you need is an areole. It just all depends on how you plan to grow your cut piece after it is cut.

[Auxin]

When I've seen that done the cuts are often planted on their side.
Half of the disk under soil, the other half up and able to make new branches. This gives more exposed areoles to pup and more green area to photosynthesize, also water wont try to pool on the cut surface.
Pups can then be cut in half and grafted to something expendable like PC to speed their growth to plantable size.

Whatever you do, make sure the cuts are calloused well before planting. After callousing some people even put a old sock or newspaper over the area that will be planted and give it a month to start realizing where the roots will be growing.

[ONandONandON]

almost got these but decided against it, as it's questionable what they are...
described as "mix of pachanoi and puruvianus 12 tips 40$"
but looks like lighter length is exceptable.

[Inyan]

Not to beat a dead horse, but these two seedings are much larger than when I started them. Learn to graft and size will not matter all that much. With that said, the larger the cutting the less experience and expertise one needs. Learn to tissue culture and it really won't matter. But for the average grower grafting is something they can learn and it takes little more than a bit of patience and some grafting stock.

[Auxin]

almost got these... "mix of pachanoi and puruvianus 12 tips 40$"

You would be much better off getting seed of known parent hybrids from an outfit that deals in those, like misplant or sacredsucculents [I didnt get paid to say that ], getting some pereskiopsis off someone here or ebay, and learning to graft seedlings. A successful peres\trich graft will get the trich to the size of a medium zucchini in like 8 months. You then degraft, callous, root, and bam- cactus.
If your totally new to grafting and want to see your technique work before trying it on choice hybrids just also get some bridgesii seed as they are cheap and usually correctly identified, or I could send you some spare PC X bridge seed that should still be viable.
Be very suspicious of anything thats just labeled pachanoi or peruvianus.

1 Like Inyan likes this.

[Inyan]

 I tend to go very inexpensive when dealing with learning.

Misplant seeds $2-10 for 30-100 seeds. Minimum order $20 + 5 dollars shipping

Sacredsucculent  $2.50-4.00 for 25-70 seeds + 3 dollars shipping

Cactus store  $1.25-1.50 for 25 seeds  up to $20-24 for 1000 seeds no minimum order +5 dollars shipping

Koehres-kaktus 100 seeds 2.40-xxx euro. 10K for 45 euro.  2.50-4 euro shipping

Mesagarden 20 seeds for $1.20- $1.40 or $3.05-5 for 100 seed $8-$16 for 500 seed + $3.50 postage

With all of that said, each place does have some very nice choices to pick from in my opinion. I've dealt with all of these companies over the years and so far, I've never been disappointed in any of them. Some of them I've even made trades with in the past so some are or were open to barter. You really can't go wrong with any of these companies.

[ONandONandON]

Thanks for the info guys.. medium zucchini in 8 months, iam convinced, must try some grafting!
i was planning to do so anyway, i got peris and baby cactis, i've lost some cool looking seedlings.

Once i tried grafting, didn't use sterile technique or provide humidity, so they died i lost interest..
i'll research and try doing it right next time.. and Inysn thanks for that seed review, very helpful!

[Inyan]

No problem on the review. I can honestly say that it is and has been very pleasurable to do business with all those places at one time or another and it is hard to visit any of them without dropping some money.

As for the grafting, I know many people will graft at all times of the year. I personally prefer to grow when my plants are growing their fastest and have no anticipated slow down in the next 3-4 weeks. With that being said, 90% of my most recent grafts were all done on unrooted Pereskiopsis so while not ideal, it can still be done. I also  realize many don't use anything to hold their seedlings down when they graft. This method below though is one I like to help ensure seedlings don't float off my Pereskiopsis. Parafilm is my number one preferred method of holding seedlings and young grafts in place. Cling wrap would be a number two when it comes to cacti grafts.

Remember, no matter how small the tip is, if it has an areole, it can be grafted. Something like a parafilm wrap not only keeps those small grafts in place, it helps hold enough moisture in that they don't dry out before the graft can take. It also allows you to push your grafts harder by allowing you to water throughout the grafting process.