Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Multiplying your cacti vegetatively.
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Driller64
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Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

Alright, so some more of my Pereskiopsis just started growing, and rather fast at that. There is now a sizable sprout of growth on it that got there in about three days. But the rest leave something to be desired. Where is the insane growth of 1 inch per week that everyone raves about? How do you guys keep your Pereskiopsis, such as temperature, light exposure, soil, etc.
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Hanazono
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Hanazono »

As shown on the attached photo, I keep Pereskiopsis on the corner of my greenhouse.
An organic base potting-mix for cactus sold in market is used.
In early spring, September I cut back old shoots grown last season and give a plenty of matured chicken pellet manure.

The photo shows current situation, waiting new offshoots growing.
96 pots are under semi-shade.
The temperature is around 30 'C and offshoots will grow aggressively soon.
The growth of 1 inch per week is possible by frequent watering.

I cut offshoots for the grafting stocks when they reached to 15 cm.
Image
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

Hanazono wrote:The growth of 1 inch per week is possible by frequent watering.
Yeah, I noticed that one of my Pereskiopsis started growing about a day after being aggressively watered. Also one of my other Pereskiopsis plants, after being ripped out of its pot and having a large amount of root material removed and being repotted, the first thing it did was start growing lol.
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

Been semi experimenting with different soils for Pereskiopsis, and it seems that they actually do better in store bought seed starting mix with no sand. They seem to be growing twice as fast as the ones in the store bought cactus soil. It seems I will be able to jump start my Pereskiopsis supply quite fast now :)
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coldcactusmontreal
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by coldcactusmontreal »

Took about a year, but I had 7 or so 6" cuttings last year, and now I have something like 30, all of the about 10" long. Getting hard to manage.
promethean_spark
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by promethean_spark »

I've found that it grows best for me in my propagator, I think because the temperatures don't fluctuate as much and the light level is lower, which causes etoliation. Pereskiopsis in my greenhouse generally grows fatter with the leaves closer together, smaller yet thicker leaves, and much slower.
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

image.jpg
image.jpg (64.57 KiB) Viewed 7841 times
This may look like your typical Pereskiopsis cutting, but it isn't. Rather than taking a cutting from the top portion of the Pereskiopsis, I removed a little extra stem from the bottom of an existing Pereskiopsis cutting and removed the roots on it where appropriate. Thus this cutting already has roots on it. All it has to do is use them. Also don't worry, I left a reasonable amount of root on the plant I took this cutting from so it won't have to do too much root regeneration.
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Hanazono
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Hanazono »

I posted the photo of Pereskiopsis on 30th September.
The following is the current situation.
I have made 82 of 15 cm length cuttings and 64 of them have already used for grafting.
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snarfie
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by snarfie »

Wow cool, i have my peresks for almost four weeks now, and all have rooted, most already growing ^^
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

Hanazono wrote:I posted the photo of Pereskiopsis on 30th September.
The following is the current situation.
I have made 82 of 15 cm length cuttings and 64 of them have already used for grafting.
Image
I am almost as green as those Pereskiopsis with envy looking at that picture. I wish it was the summer right now so I could have that many cuttings on my stock plants. I'm thinking of buyinging a heat mat so I can increase the level of Pereskiopsis production because I have quite a few seedlings in need of being grafted and not enough Pereskiopsis.
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

Alright, my Pereskiopsis have been slow growing for far too long. It's time to break out the big guns: bring in the Miracle Gro fertilizer!
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snarfie
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by snarfie »

I think heat also works. A cutting on 21°C only needed two weeks to grow as much as a rooted plant on 17°C in four weeks(the cold one had even three times as much leafs as the cutting).
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

Just bought this heating mat: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004PAGPVO" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; . Hopefully it will be enough to get my Pereskiopsis into full production.
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

The heat mat does appear to helping the Pereskiopsis grow a little, some of them started growing soon after being placed on it. One plant has yellowed leaves emerging from its growth areas, almost as if it wanted to grow, but the cold was holding it back.
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Driller64
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Re: Getting Pereskiopsis into overdrive

Post by Driller64 »

Hmm, I think I've figured out the secret to getting Peresk to grow. Don't water frequently when they are not growing actively, and when they do start to grow, load them down with water and never let the soil dry out, the most that you can do is only slightly let it dry. With my new policy of watering the Pereskiopsis everytime the soil appears even slightly dry, I will see how this affects their growth rate since many of my stock plants are putting out new shoots :D
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