Seedling grafting on Pereskiopsis

Two weeks ago I rooted 4 Pereskiopsis spathulata cuttings and they are now in full growth.

I’ve grafted 4 plants from this year’s batch of Lophophora seedlings on the Pereskiopsis plants – 2 seedlings each of L. williamsii (RS 428A; Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila) and L. diffusa (RS 1193; Peña Miller, Queretaro).


Two Lophophora williamsii seedlings grafted on Pereskiopsis

The Living Rocks web site describes seedling grafting on Pereskiopsis in great detail.

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The power of grafting

One year ago today, I grafted a 50some days old Lophophora williamsii seedling on a well established Trichocereus pachanoi stock. The Lophophora scion has now grown to a height of 3.3 cm (~1.3’’) and a width of 3.2 cm (~1.25’’). The barrel shape is not very becoming to the Lophophora, but hopefully it will flower soon.


Lophophora williamsii (SB 854; Starr Co, Tx) - One year old graft

The grafted Lophophora’s siblings (all sowed February 29, 2004) still growing on their own roots are all less than 1 cm (~0.4’’) in both height and width.

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Lophophora williamsii v. jourdaniana 'Weiss'

I just received a batch of plants from Uhlig Kakteen – mostly winter hardy cacti but also a couple of white flowered Lophophora williamsii v. jourdaniana. As usual the Uhlig plants are of an excellent quality and well worth the price (€14.00 ~ $18.00 per loph).


2 x Lophophora williamsii v. jourdaniana 'Weiss'

Gerhard Köhres has a couple of photos of white flowering Lophophora williamsii v. jourdaniana: weiß 1 and weiß 2.

Strombocactus from seed - III

My Strombocactus disciformis ssp. esperanzae (S. pulcherrimus) seedlings are enjoying the spring and bursting with growth. After two months they have reached a staggering size of 1 mm in diameter.


Strombocactus disciformis ssp. esperanzae seedling (the spent seed shell is visible in front of the seedling)

The seedlings are still kept in a closed plastic bag in the window sill – apparently the bright, humid atmosphere is becoming them well.

Approximately 40 out of 60 seeds germinated.

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Lophophora from seed – II

A month after sowing the Lophophora seeds the germination rates are:

• 17/30 - L. diffusa (RS 1193; Peña Miller, Queretaro)
  
• 13/30 - L. williamsii (La Soledad, Coahuila)
  
• 23/30 - L. williamsii (RS 428A; Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila)
  

Not impressive rates compared with previous years. I’m using a new seed supplier and a new sowing method – both could be the culprit. Lophophora williamsii seedling a month after sowing Anyway, the seedlings are doing well. Most are growing their first areoles like the L. williamsii (RS 428A; Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila) seedling pictured above. < previous |

Happy Vernal Equinox

Let’s all celebrate today’s vernal equinox (anyway, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere). Anything from a silent contemplation of the renewed growth of your cacti to a bacchanalian spring rite will do ;-)

It’s getting better all the time...

Obregonia and Ariocarpus from seed - III

Very few of my Ariocarpus fissuratus seed have germinated. Currently I have 3 thriving seedlings - and a corresponding number that dampened off. I'll keep the seedlings in a varm, humid environment for a while; hopefully more seed will germinate. I'm not sure if I'm treating the seed wrong, if the quality of the seed were inferior, or if A. fissuratus is just hard to grow from seed.

The germination rate of the Obregonia denegrii seed is close to a 100% (the seed were treated in exactly the same way as the A. fissuratus seed). The seedlings have been moved to a slightly cooler location, and soon I'll slowly introduce them to the harsh world outside the growing bag.

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Huntington Botanical Gardens

Saturday (March 05, 2005) I visited Huntington Botanical Gardens with high expectations. Initially I was a bit disappointed by the Desert Garden – the focus seems to be more on gardening than on botanical aspects, i.e. the plants were primarily grouped by appearance instead of by biotopes, many of the plants were unmarked etc. I should have been warned by the welcoming sign saying: The garden before you is hardly a desert ;-) Also a lot of the paths were closed with “do not enter” and “no admittance” signs! That being said, I ended up spending more than 3 hours studying the various species of cacti.


An impressive group of Echinocactus grusonii

Unfortunately very few of the cacti were blooming – I would like to return in a month or two when the flowering is in full swing.


Flowering Ferocactus echidne var. victoriensis

I took a lot of pictures. As time permits I’ll process and upload them to a photo gallery.

Lophophora from seed

Tomorrow my work is taking me to the USA for 9 days, so I decided to sow my Lophophora seed a bit earlier than planned. 30 seeds of each of the species mentioned below were sowed.

• L. diffusa (RS 1193; Peña Miller, Queretaro)
  
• L. williamsii (La Soledad, Coahuila)
  
• L. williamsii (RS 428A; Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila)
  

The seed were handled as described in “Growing cacti from seed”. Later in spring I'll sow another batch of Lophophora seed in a cold house. | next >

Return of the red bastards

I recently lost all of last years Lophophora fricii seedlings (and a lot of the L. diffusa and L. williamsii seedlings as well) because of too prudent a watering scheme – or so I presumed.

To my dismay the withering of the surviving seedlings continued, even after generous waterings. After a closer inspection of the seedlings, using a x10 magnifying lens, the reason became clear: a bunch of red spider mites were feasting on the plants.

The plants were promptly sprayed with insect soap and the treatment will be repeated in a week. It probably won’t kill off all of the spider mites, so the battle is now on. Last year I fought the spider mites using soap, predator mites, cinnamon and garlic brews, and by raising the humidity levels and increasing the air circulation – apparently some survived.

I wonder if I would have been able to save my L. fricii plants if the mites had been discovered sooner.