Grafting Copiapoa griseoviolacea variegated seedling

[jellycacti]

Hoping to pick some expert brains here in the grafting area. In my one-year-old batch of seedlings, I have four Copiapoa griseoviolacea, one of which appears to be about one-third variegated red/pink. It still seems firm and healthy, but is growing very slowly, looking more like the others did at three months than they do at one year.

I've been pondering whether to graft it. I don't mind it growing very slowly, but I wonder if it might eventually expire if I don't graft it? I haven't heard of anyone grafting this Copiapoa before, and I also prefer the more natural flat form and heavy spination of an open-grown own-root cactus, so I don't want to jump the gun and chop off its roots if it might make it given time and patience. What's the general consensus on my best approach? And if I graft it, should I use pereskiopsis?

Normal Copiapoa griseviolacea seedling on right, variegated on left.

c gris variegated and normal one year.jpg (149.52 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

c gris variegated.jpg (105.46 KiB) Viewed 2778 times

[crispy224]

If it's a year old it probably will continue to live. I would assume at a year if it wasn't making its own energy it would have died. That's not to say it can't die from other things that would not kill a healthy seedling. So just be careful with changing how much light it receives. Variegated can burn much more easily. I actually have a trichocereus seedling similar to that, being half pink that I sowed last year. I was going to graft it but partially variegated cacti on their own roots look much cooler. Just think if you play your cards right you could eventually get pollen/seeds from your plant and eventually create your own variegated seeds like some have done with astrophytums.

[jellycacti]

Thanks for the advice! I will keep it on its own roots then, and definitely keep an eye on its sun exposure. Getting seeds from it eventually would be amazing!