Opuntia pulchella

templegatejohn · Post by **templegatejohn** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:14 pm

Hi all,

This is a post primarily for Charles, who seems to have cornered the market on Opuntia pulchella.

My own plant is grafted on Opuntia compressa (not by me). It would appear that one cladode (stem) was grafted on to a rooted cladode of Opuntia compressa and you have seen the result in the July photograph.

It was sent to me by a nursery owner friend, Valentino from Cactus Art Nursery in Italy and he is convinced that this method takes all the heartache out of growing this and many other difficult plants. If you are interested look up his method with the link below:

http://www.cactus-art.biz/technics/Graf ... _index.htm

I hope this is of some interest to all of you but particuarly Charles.

P.S. I am sure another type of Opuntia could be used if compressa is not available.

Best wishes

John

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 12:42 am

Very interesting reading material. I would have never guessed your O. pulchella was grafted

Not really my cup of tea but an interesting way of growing cacti never the less.
Well, back to reading some more so I can fully grasp the idea.

Bill

blossfeldia · Post by **blossfeldia** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:31 am

This is my own experience on O. compressa grafting. It seems that O. compressa is really different from other Opuntia species, as it has higher compatibility with non-Opuntia scions.

templegatejohn · Post by **templegatejohn** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:25 am

I believe you are correct in saying that compressa does seem to have an 'affinity' with other species when they are grafted to it.

John

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 9:51 pm

I have to admit that grafting is an interesting way to grow cacti. But my question is this: I'll use John's pulchella as an example.
Is this cactus actually a Opuntia pulchella or is it now a hybrid

Not picking on ya John, being a new field of study for me I have to ask questions even if there dumb

Bill

Post by **daiv** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 10:01 pm

Bill,
The two plants are still two seperate plants. They actually share no genetic material at all. You can easily separate them and grow both parts as seperate plants if you wish. I did this with a L. principis and S. alamosensis graft that I was given. I prefer non-grafted specimins, myself, but grafting does have it's place. Particularily if you want to get lots of pups to make new plants.

Daiv

kari · Post by **kari** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 3:10 am

My addition to this topic is the grafting species involved.

Opuntia compressa (or O. humifusa), the eastern prickly pear, is found in a variety of habitats throughout the eastern United States and is extremely hardy, able to do well in alkaline or acidic soils, even the same specimen (think limestone ledges with juniper or pines: the soil pH can change/drop dramatically in a single rainfall). It is probably this nature that makes it so well-suited for grafting, not to mention the fact that it is a prickly pear, which most species take well from cuttings. It is also quite plump-natured, so cuttings root well when grafted. I have info on this topic and I'll try to research it more and pass it on... hopefully!

Hope I got it right!

kari

Opuntia pulchella

Opuntia pulchella

grafting on O. compressa