Grafting stock: rooted vs unrooted

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:42 pm

I want to attempt some grafting in the next month or so, but i have not had a chance to root down all the stock i wish to use.

Would grafting before the stock has been rooted be a bad idea? Will it slow down the scion growth or not be able to give it the strength it needs?

The stock i have to use:
E. pachanoi (rooted)
H. justberii (sp?) (some rooted, some not rooted)
S. griseus (rooted)
M. geometrizans (rooted)
Selenicereus sp. (some rooted, some not rooted)
Pereskiopsis (not rooted...not even cut yet

still growing on the mother plant)

I also have a small P. marginata. Is this ok to use?

Loph · Post by **Loph** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 4:18 am

some people use unrooted opuntia, but honestly i think grafting to anything without roots is a bad idea...

It may take an extra month or 2 to get some roots, but it is by far worth the wait.

the pereskiopsis should root within days, and be ready within a week or so, they are fast!

the others i usually wait a month after i see the first root buds before thinking about grafting...it would probably work without roots, but i have seen nothing but low success and slower growth doing that.

ps. those are all my favourite stocks as well

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 4:25 pm

Thanks Loph!
I'll just practice on the stock thats already rooted.

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:44 pm

It would have never occured to me to graft something to a stock with no roots. I just saw mention of it recently and was kind of suprised. I suppose if you are doing massive quanties and you are OK with a certain amount of loss, it's probably not a bad way to go.

Until I get a few successes under my belt, I think I'll stick to rooted stock.

Tim

tvaughan · Post by **tvaughan** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 11:16 pm

Another reason for all of us to post detailed examples of our successes and failures. One season my crew grafted a third of a million grapes, and none of the stock was rooted, and that's industry standard.

So, keep up the detailed posts, all. Even failure reported here is very valuable.

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 4:33 am

Thanks guys.
I'll report back after this weekend on how i did

Arzberger · Post by **Arzberger** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:45 am

I´ve grafted small seedlings onto fresh cuttings of Selenicereus without roots, it was a great success. I´ve observed that the stock sometimes wipes the scion off because of too much watering. In the case of unrooted stocks, this never happens. The stock becomes rooted and starts to grow, just when the scion is also ready to grow. Give it a try, you'll be surprised.

Best regards
Alex