I am going to de-graft quite a lot of cactus, not sure if it will work as expected, it will be good to record all the progress here for future reference. Please feel free to give any comment, input, suggestions etc. tx.


They are the candidates for de-graft, the one circle in pink is excluded as the cactus is too small, and blue circle also excluded as the cactus has growing downward, if I were to de-graft this one, there will be 2 cm gap between the cutting and the media.

The cactuses in the photo plus 1 parodia:
- 1 Oldman Cactus
- 1 Gymnocalycium Hibotan
- Some Gymnocalycium '3 color'
- 2 astrophytum myriostigma
- 1 copiapoa hypogaea ?
- 1 Parodia
- 1 Rebutia Heliosa
- 1 Rebutia Krainziana
- 2 Sulcorebutia Rauchii

Parodia


Plus a couple of old cactus cuttings, just to let them root, if the space permit

I am watching this thread

@Kaktus
I know I already posted this, but maybe someone will find it helpful?

There are 3 methods for degrafting.
-Regular De-grafting
-De-grafting on a short stock
-De-grafting with a vascular bundle

1. Regular De-grafting
The scion is cut off from the rootstock. Any piece of the rootstock is removed from the scion. To do this, a concave cut has to be made into the scion. The scion is left to dry out for at least a month. Once roots begin to appear, a damp mixture of sand is put into the calloused area. This helps prevent any new developing roots growing from the cambium from drying up. The graft is then planted in soil.

2. De-grafting on a Short Stock
This method is primarily used on stocks of Harrisia Jusbertii and Pereskiopsis. The scion is cut off the rootstock with a 1 inch piece of the rootstock remaining attached. This piece is left out to dry for a month (in the case of Harrisia Jusbertii). For the pereskiopsis, this piece can be planted right away. The short stock is pushed into the soil.

3. De-grafting With a Vascular Bundle.
This technique is used for stocks with a woody vascular bundle such as Hylocereus and some Selenicereus species. The scion is cut off with a 1 inch piece of rootstock still attached. The flesh of the rootstock is removed, except for the woody vascular bundle. The flesh of the rootstock is removed into the concave where the scion and rootstock join. If any flesh is left, it can lead to the rotting of the scion or the remaining rootstock. It is not necessary to let this piece dry out, but if done, only for a few days. The piece is planted with the vascular bundle pushed into the soil

Yes, thanks for the info Evan, I will apply the first method, as I want a clean own-root cactus. And base on what I read in the net, the first one will have the strongest cactus / roots. But the success rate for de-grafting is the lowest.

For me the 2nd and 3rd method is still a grafted cactus, 95% of the people in Indonesia apply the 3rd method for de-grafting. In here some people call it down graft.

And the result of the de-grafting cactus they call ex-graft cactus, to differentiate them from seed grown cactus.

One of the challenges for this project is that a lot of them are colored cactus, not much chlorophyll, and they are slow grower also. I rooted some gymnos from cutting before, difficult.

6th Feb 2021 , A almost 2cm, B &C 1 cm, D 1.5 cm


Today 16th Feb 2022, 375 days later. A died after 6 month, B & C 1.7 cm, D 2.7 cm, maybe the size of the starter make difference

I have chopped all the cactus on the 10th of Feb. Applied some rooting hormone
As of today, 6 days later..



This one is worrying, the hole is so deep.



Expect more challenge on these 2, not much chlorophyll. But they are the most beautiful.



Finally has to cut this one also on the 15th Feb, the rootstock had some rot, applied the 3rd de-grafting method. Such a beautiful gymno cluster.



This 3 will join the rooting process if space permit. Not from gafted cactus, just some cuttings. They are the nastiest cactus that I ever had, just got poked by their spines again.

Cactus need enough stored reserves to grow roots. For tiny ones like A, B, C, D, let them grow on the host plant for a couple years until they gain some size. That will give them a better chance of survival.

If the hole in the bottom of the cactus is too deep, build a mound of dirt in the middle of your pot and put the hole over the mound of dirt. Let the whole thing sit a little high in the pot. Put skewers around it to keep the cactus from rolling off the mound.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the variegated Gymno with the vascular bundle. BTW, whole vascular bundle is it?

If there is a deep hole in the scion, fill it with a damp sand mixture (make sure it is properly calloused). That way, the emerging roots won't dry up. I do agree with Daisy about the size before rooting. That being said, it is possible to root such pieces. It would be safer to let them grow to a decent size before de-grafting.

Thanks Baja for the

I do not really understand about the vascular bundle thing, if you are asking whether I'll root the gymnos by themselves without any part of the rootstock attached, then yes, they will not be any rootstock left, except the last multi head gymno, I still keep 1/2 inch of the 'toothpick' from the rootstock.

@Kaktus, I came across an old youtube video awhile ago about watering grafted cactus. I think you will like the collection of grafted cacti shown on the video. I think maybe it was intended to be sold later on.

https://youtu.be/dc2p6Q1KB6Q

Thanks a lot Tarev.
Yes, bottom watering, I used to perform bottom watering when my collection were less than 100 pots, now its too much, and I didn't dip the pots for that long, 5 to 7 seconds only at the depth of 1 inch was my standard. I am not a true believer of water until the water is dripping from the drain holes, I water only 1 pass, but I can assure you, if you add another spoon of water as second pass, most likely there will be water coming out from the holes.

Its not about how much water came out the drain hole but rather how much water stayed in the pot.

Depending on the size of the pot, watering in one pass may leave the soil dry enough to slurp up way more than a spoon full of water. In the example below, the water absorbed during the first pass was actually less than the water absorbed in all the subsequent passes combined.

The thread "Sunday afternoon experiment: watering in multiple passes" in Gardening Ideas forum

But then again Kaktus is living in the tropics so dryness is not really the problem so much as wetness, I would imagine.

Kaktus said: I have chopped all the cactus on the 10th of Feb. Applied some rooting hormone
As of today, 6 days later..



This one is worrying, the hole is so deep.



Expect more challenge on these 2, not much chlorophyll. But they are the most beautiful.



Finally has to cut this one also on the 15th Feb, the rootstock had some rot, applied the 3rd de-grafting method. Such a beautiful gymno cluster.



This 3 will join the rooting process if space permit. Not from gafted cactus, just some cuttings. They are the nastiest cactus that I ever had, just got poked by their spines again.

"A" looked like it didn't have enough chlorophyll - bright red
The currently 2 beautiful you say: Gymno might not make it, but the other one on the rigth will probably make it. I think it's some Rebutia? The one that might be rebutia looks like the color is just stress, not variegation.

Watching this thread with interest.
Is there a way to determine the level of chlorophyll in a plant . Is it guesswork . I find that some variegated plants seem to be almost completely yellow but I have read it's because the variegation is not deep that allows them to survive. I see a lot of moon cactus here . I would be happy to give degrafting a try but how select good candidates . Is it as simple as less variegation and more green = better chance of survival
Steve

ketsui73 said: Watching this thread with interest.
Is there a way to determine the level of chlorophyll in a plant . Is it guesswork . I find that some variegated plants seem to be almost completely yellow but I have read it's because the variegation is not deep that allows them to survive. I see a lot of moon cactus here . I would be happy to give degrafting a try but how select good candidates . Is it as simple as less variegation and more green = better chance of survival
Steve

Variegation is somewhat a "parasite" to the plant. Well, at least chlorophyll variegation where there are sections of complete no chlorophyll.
The regular pink and neon yellow and neon red orange moon cactus areFULLY variegated gymno, the spotty ones are the half variegated ones. The purple ones are not really "fully variegated"; th just have some trait that makes them have lots of purple colloringn, so those purple ones can live on their own. The neon color ones though , cannot make their own cholophyll and food, so that's why they are grafted onto a green root stalk .

Sometiems if a plant is highly variegated it will abort the variegated leaves

@sedumzz , the brown cactus that you mentioned earlier is capiapoa.

When I selected the gymnos for de-graft, I tried to balance the green and variegated colors, the more green color then higher the chance of survival. I don't want to de-graft a full green gymnos as I have a lot of seed grown gymnos with me.

These 2 are de-grafted gymnos, I believe the left one is easier to grow than the right one, being said that, I have kept the right one for more than 1 year, not much growth, hope it is ok.


Don't try to de-graft a moon cactus that look like this, it will not work

Kaktus said: @sedumzz , the brown cactus that you mentioned earlier is capiapoa.

When I selected the gymnos for de-graft, I tried to balance the green and variegated colors, the more green color then higher the chance of survival. I don't want to de-graft a full green gymnos as I have a lot of seed grown gymnos with me.

These 2 are de-grafted gymnos, I believe the left one is easier to grow than the right one, being said that, I have kept the right one for more than 1 year, not much growth, hope it is ok.


Don't try to de-graft a moon cactus that look like this, it will not work

Yes!
Full variegated will not grow, it can't make its own food

More variegation = less food made = slower, more sensitice

The moon cactus that you showed has a Chimera portion. Because that part has chlorophyll, it can be degrafted. As for the actual Gymno head, it cannot.

I also saw this video last night..the guy wanted to graft his cristated cacti.
I was just curious how he plans to do it...learning things as I go. somehow it felt brutal at first when he separated the cacti from the rootstock.
😲
https://youtu.be/Bxj7oBSkrK8