I read on the net that you can use them and that they'll just eventually disappear inside the cactus. Then I read that it's not true.
Well yesterday I used two spines just to pin down a scion so it didn't slip all over while I was taping it down.
It worked perfectly, but I pushed the spines all the way into the scion and stock. One may be sticking out a tiny bit so I can possibly pull it back out later if necessary.
Is it going to be a problem having the spines permanently in there?
Jefff wrote:I read on the net that you can use them and that they'll just eventually disappear inside the cactus. Then I read that it's not true.
Well yesterday I used two spines just to pin down a scion so it didn't slip all over while I was taping it down.
It worked perfectly, but I pushed the spines all the way into the scion and stock. One may be sticking out a tiny bit so I can possibly pull it back out later if necessary.
Is it going to be a problem having the spines permanently in there?
No problems. But spines (usually Opuntia spines)must be sterilized by ethyl alkohol before grafting.
Jefff wrote:I read on the net that you can use them and that they'll just eventually disappear inside the cactus. Then I read that it's not true.
Well yesterday I used two spines just to pin down a scion so it didn't slip all over while I was taping it down.
It worked perfectly, but I pushed the spines all the way into the scion and stock. One may be sticking out a tiny bit so I can possibly pull it back out later if necessary.
Is it going to be a problem having the spines permanently in there?
No problems. But spines (usually Opuntia spines)must be sterilized by ethyl alkohol before grafting.
Thanks again Skif. I should have asked before actually using them. I didn't use alcohol on them (and I always use alcohol to sterilize everything).
For some reason I just ran them under boiling (less than boiling) water.
I once found a piece of wire run through one of my cacti that must have been there for years (it had been an errant blow-dart shaft when I was a teenager), so the plant might be okay, but then again it might cause infection and rot. The stabbed plant of mine was a hardy echinopsis.
