Asclepiad grafting

All about grafting. How-to information, progress reports, show of your results.
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JustSayNotoCactus
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Asclepiad grafting

Post by JustSayNotoCactus »

In the last few years, I have tried Euphorbia, Cactus, and Asclepiad grafting with differing amounts of success.

I have found Euphorbia grafting to be the most difficult what with the poisonous sap and the fact that it has to be washed off the cut faces several times before they are put together. Some sort of bacterial slime has rotted both stock and scion the few times I have tried grafting Euphorbias, so I guess I will have to try harder next time. Maybe if I used 45% isopropyl like I do on Asclepiads I could get some good results with Euphorb grafting.

I have had more luck with cactus, but still find them to be tricky because the flesh isn't all that juicy and tends to shrink away from the graft union.

Asclepiads on the other hand, are, in my opinion, the easiest of all succulents to graft. Their flesh is juicier on average than that of most cactus and seems to be sticky like a glue, which holds the scion in place until the cut sews together over the next few days. Also, it seems like it only takes about three days for the graft to bond from Hoodia to Pseudolithos, where as it seems like at least a week is necessary for Cacti.

Anyway, here is what I have been working on this season:

Today, I grafted a bunch of Pseudolithos caput-viperae onto Hoodia gordonii and Ceropegia woodii seedlings. The back row is the C. woodii grafts, I can hardly wait to see if this works. Can you imagine a clump of clump of caput-viperae with a nice show caudex under it? I also had a couple of other Pseudolithos hybrid seedlings I grafted as well. As an afterthought I also grafted the tip of a Ceropegia adriannae vine onto a C. woodii tuber, that should also be a lot of fun if it bonds successfully..
asclepiadgrafts002.jpg
asclepiadgrafts002.jpg (167.32 KiB) Viewed 3990 times
Here is a picture of the grafts I made about six weeks ago, they are starting to grow faster and faster every day with offsets appearing everywhere. The few grafts that didn't make it all dried up during our last 102 degree heatwave, the lesson learned here is to not let them get much above 90 in the first couple of months. In the back row are three Hoodia-Whitesloanea grafts I made a couple of years ago, plus a couple of one year old Psl. caputviperae grafts.
asclepiadgrafts001.jpg
asclepiadgrafts001.jpg (193.75 KiB) Viewed 3990 times
I will post more detailed pictures soon.
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snarfie
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Re: Asclepiad grafting

Post by snarfie »

Cool post ;)
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Saxicola
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Re: Asclepiad grafting

Post by Saxicola »

That looks great!

I'm getting really big into Stapeliads, so I've been dabbling into this myself. It started mostly as rescues of things like Pseudolithos mccoyi. When that starts to rot you are left with such tiny branches that it is hard to get them to root. I just sliced them and stuck them on some Orbea variegata and they've been doing well. It isn't meant to be a permanent home, but I'm hoping next year I can degraft or at least make it a short graft with the rootstock buried. I got a P. caput-viperae recently too and while the main plant is potted up on its own roots a tiny side branch broke off in transit so I did a similar graft. It seems to have taken. I actually need to slow down now that it is becoming winter, but in the spring I hope to do a lot more with the rare ones. Also I hope to try out C. woodii since that seems like it would give you the best "hidden" graft.

I'm also going to try Euphorbia grafting in the spring. I have heard others, like you, say it is tough, but I've gotten ahold of some rare species that I want to propagate so I need learn.
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Driller64
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Re: Asclepiad grafting

Post by Driller64 »

Very cool. Too bad you apparently have to grow Hoodia jordanii rootstocks all the way from seed rather than cuttings. That must be a little more difficult even if they are fast growing. Still I might try this if I can get my hands on some H. jordanii seeds or plants.
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