Grafting Shlumbergera on Opuntia humifusa outside?

[CactusBoss]

Can it be done?

[CactusFanDan]

I don't see why you'd want to try this, since Schlumbergeras grow fast enough on their own roots (most of them anyway) and aren't overly rot-prone, but in reponse to your question, a skilled grafter could probably graft any two cacti together, so you could give it a try! I've seen Epiphyllum's grafted onto Opuntia pads before, so it's not completely crazy. Give it a go. I'm not sure what kind of grafting method would be best, though. Maybe a slant graft or a wedge graft, I'm not sure.

[CactusBoss]

I don't see why you'd want to try this, since Schlumbergeras grow fast enough on their own roots (most of them anyway) and aren't overly rot-prone, but in reponse to your question, a skilled grafter could probably graft any two cacti together, so you could give it a try! I've seen Epiphyllum's grafted onto Opuntia pads before, so it's not completely crazy. Give it a go. I'm not sure what kind of grafting method would be best, though. Maybe a slant graft or a wedge graft, I'm not sure.

It's for an outdoor cold hardy experiment! And I also never grafted before so I figured I'd use Schlumbergera cause I can afford to lose a few cuttings.

[sluefoot]

Not O. Humifusa, (I think it is O. Macrorhiza), but the results should be about the same, I believe.

I have tried to use the "stab" graft. It kind of works, but I should have put the segments in so they pointed downward. The tape is on there because the grafted piece got heavy enough to pull it downward. (All started out as single segment pieces.) Also, I believe pointing them downward will prevent water from collecting in the graft and causing rot.

I put five segments into one pad. The schlum was dying and these pieces were not in very good shape. Best growth seems to be closer to the top, with the two lowest showing little or no growth. The second picture shows growth from the side areoles. I don't believe I have seen that before.

Left outdoors, this opuntia would most likely shrivel up as they do every winter. I don't know what that would do to the graft.

Best of luck,
John




IMG_8084 by billykain, on Flickr


IMG_8086 by billykain, on Flickr

[CactusBoss]

Left outdoors, this opuntia would most likely shrivel up as they do every winter. I don't know what that would do to the graft.

Well that's the experiment.

[CactusFanDan]

Grafting doesn't make a plant capable of tolerating being frozen, if the scion can't already tolerate being frozen. However if you don't get any frost and you want to give the Schlumbergera roots which can tolerate being cold and wet, then it might work. The Sclumbergera will still be sensitive to cold though, grafting doesn't magically protect the scion from frost damage.

[paulzie32]

I have several that I grafted onto Pereskiopsis. Some pics from last year below but they're MUCH bigger now.

photo 1.JPG (30.86 KiB) Viewed 3894 times

SchlumbergeraGraft2.jpg (223.98 KiB) Viewed 3894 times

Here's some images I made for someone to explain how to do it on to Opuntia.

SchlumGraft.jpg (101.13 KiB) Viewed 3894 times