Astrophytum myriostigma grafted onto Pereskiopsis

[meizzwang]

Been grafting quite a bit and have some photos to share! I've read online where many growers say it's a sin to graft astrophytum myriostigma because they're hard to degraft and root. Oh well!


It was surprising to see how beautiful this variant is, I had no idea what to expect! A. myriostigma El Naranjito, Nuevo Leon. Seed sown 9/2/16, photo taken 10/17/16:



Astrophytum myriostigma columnare K.S. Selection El Coyote, seed sown 8/2/16 and grafted 8/25/16. Photo taken 10/17/16:



These are all clones from the scion pictured above from El Coyote. When I took these pups off, the original mother plant above went crazy and every areole has a new growth popping out:



Close up of an El Coyote clone. fortunately, these aren't pupping like crazy:


A. myriostigma 'Onzunka' recently grafted. Okay, what's weird is that 3 days after grafting this, the scion was totally deflated and looked way dehydrated despite being in near 100% humidity, but about 10 days after grafting, it finally perked up and then started growing:


Here's an example of a deflated scion. Any ideas why? It started off very turgid and happy prior to grafting. Please note, I know this isn't lined up with the cambium layer all that great, but even scions that were lined up perfectly have done this. The graft union heals very well and is all good, this is 3 days after grafting, and the scion is in the humidity chamber and is kept warm:


Another shot:




And another A. myriostigma graft, from South of Las Tablas, San Luis Potosi:

[Onzuka]

Good work, meizzwang.

Where does it say that A. myriostigma are difficult to get back onto their own roots?

Steve

[meizzwang]

Thank you Steve! I can't find the site, but I think the point was once you degraft them, it takes quite a while to root, and some claim to have troubles rooting them. Another issue is the pereskiopsis goes deep into the scion, so you have to gouge it out if you want your astrophytum to be frost tolerant. Other conflicting reports say to cut the pereskiopsis 1-2 cm below the scion and root the pereskiopsis. This method seems to e very easy since pereskiopsis roots very easily. It'll serve as "training wheels" and over time, that rooted pereskiopsis stub supposedly dies off and then the scion's roots will take over.

What's your experience?