grafted Aztekium forming pups

[evelyn]

Hello cacti peeps,

My grafted aztekium is forming a few of pups at the top (see pic). Visually, I am less than thrilled with this behavior. There's nothing I can do about it now, but is there anything I can do in the future to prevent this from occurring?

[CactusFanDan]

Grafted Aztekiums offset far more readily than plant on their own roots, as you can probably tell. Maybe try regrafting the plant onto a rootstock which causes the scion to grow closer to their natural form. Hylocereus is meant to be good for this. If that doesn't work, then you could graft onto a slower growing rootstock, such as Cereus jamacaru.

Not sure if either of those would help, but I hope it gives you some ideas.

[hoteidoc]

Very nice job, Evelyn! Might have to rethink my opposition to grafting since I germinated some hintonii back in Jan. -- tiny round balls that have grown a "tiny" bit since then, right up there with columnars & living long enought to see a real plant or flowers on columnars!

[cactus2001]

neat cactus! keep up the good growing

[tudedude]

I have two aztekium grafts that are pupping like crazy. My theory is that since it's naturally a slow grower, once it's reaches a certain size it will start pupping as the grafting stock keeps trying to push it to grow. Maybe less watering and fert, plus a slower growng stock will reduce the chances of pupping?

[evelyn]

Yeah, yall must be right. Even though he's a happy cacti, I'm bummed about the pups. What happens as they grow? Is it possible to chop them off without too much scaring on the mother plant?

[promethean_spark]

If you pamper it less it may grow slower and pup less. Aztekium have a relatively dry stem and have a lowish grafting success rate, I would try to graft the pups but not regraft the mother plant.