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[Inyan]

Like most days, I'm grafting today, but today is special as I'm leaving these grafts outside to greet Hurricane Florence. Lets hope we all survive and yes... lets hope these grafts survive the hurricane as well. These seedling grafts will be left out without any protection to be pounded on, rained on, and generally abused by Florence. Hopefully, I will be back with an update for you guys and gals.

I'm fairly confident that if we make it out alive, so too will these grafts. With that being said... let the Hurricane begin.

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[Inyan]

Another day in the life of a hurricane and another graft

[Shamichael]

What are you grafting and what did you cover them with?
I was gonna try micropore tape, I have been using it to hold my trichocerous cuttings in place while they root.  I will post pics next one I do I think it's great and them peels away nice and easy with no residue.

[bosqueberg]

Unless they get washed away by storm surge or flooding, they should be okay. Especially if the grafts are not high up. Hurricane/tropical storm winds usually damage stuff about 10 - 15 feet or taller.

After Irma, we had a bit of tree limbs broken on larger trees, but all small and short stuff was fine. All potted plants were in place after the storm, even small ones left out in the open.

Good luck with those grafts! You will always remember when they were started.

...and wishing you the best in getting through the storm safe and sound!

[Inyan]

What are you grafting and what did you cover them with?
I was gonna try micropore tape, I have been using it to hold my trichocerous cuttings in place while they root.  I will post pics next one I do I think it's great and them peels away nice and easy with no residue.

I graft with cacti seedlings wit parafilm. And so far, seedlings grafted this way have indeed proven their resilience. Having had tray fulls of grafted specimens just done tossed across the yard, beaten by rain, and strong winds... nothing short of fire seems to get them to fail when grafted this way. I invite you to try a graft like this. Drop kick it across your yard and so long as the scion does not come in contact with the ground first... you will find it grafts fine this way.

Iktomi and parafilm stood guard over these grafts it looks like this time and no real damage was seen.

[Shamichael]

Sorry what is Iktomi?
Parafilm I have, do you wrap it around?  It is hard to see from pics.
I also have read that you should offset your grafts, yet yours look centered is that correct?
Thanks so much!!

[Inyan]

Parafilm is first wrapped around the diameter of the Pereskiopsis/Trichocereus/stock plant and then one slices through the parafilm to provide a nice place to place your scion/seedling off center.

Wrap the top with an additional piece of parafilm. Grafting couldn't get any easier. You can literally play football with your grafted Pereskiopsis and so long as you don't touch the tip...  your graft will be fine.

Iktomi = spider

[Shamichael]

I have some Trichocerous seedlings that germinated a few days ago, when would be a good time to graft them?

[Inyan]

I have some Trichocerous seedlings that germinated a few days ago, when would be a good time to graft them?

My guess, they are already large enough to graft with a 95-98% chance at success with the parafilm method if they germinated a few days ago. Look at my very first picture in this thread and if they are already that size... you could graft them very easily.

Waiting can increase your odds a bit, but that is a personal choice. If it is a rare batch of seed and I only have one or two germinate then I might wait a full week before grafting to increase my odds of success. Just remember, each day your seedling is not grafted is a day your seedling is not growing at its full potential.