31 replies to this topic

[kocos]

I was fiddeling about with a few old petri dishes when the thought came to me. Why not secure and maintain RH for the young grafts using parafilm.

I did a test run with one single L. williamsi seedling about 2 months old, grafted to a P. spatula. After about 10 days the seedling was starting to tear open the parafilm which I then gently removed after a few days. The graft is now in a humidity dome, and has shrivelled a bit but is most certanly alive. I havent watered to this point so as the stock wouldnt push the graft off.

Furthermore Iam fighting off some sort of tiny mites. There will be a picture of them. Ive sprayed down the collection a few times and they are starting to disipate now.

So since this method seems to be succesfull here is a short pictorial as to how I went about using parafilm for grafting.

First of all, this isnt a graft :D But I just had to share. This is my Brahyphelma vagans after sheding.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703329

http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703329
And the old skin
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703329


So back to grafting, here is what we need for the process. Half a razorblade, some tissue, Iso alcohol, tweezers, a square of parafilm, a stock (peres) and a graftie (yote).
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703329

Here are the little ones grown from my own seed, waiting for a new source of life other than their own roots.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

The stock
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

We begin with cutting off the top of the stock. And a note must be made that the razor is wiped with alky inbetween each cut made with it.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

Damn glochids... :mistrust: They arnt as bad as I thought but ive got some thick skin on my hands...
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

I then pick the best looking specimen and clean the dirt off of it.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

It should be nice and clean, note the baby tap root :love:
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

I then take the peres and cut a few mm below the first cut, leaving the disk of peres in place.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407
I then carefully cut the baby yote trying to make a clean horizontal cut
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

Then as quickly as possible, I lift the disk of peres from the stock, and carefully slide the yote on the freshly exposed flesh. No picture of the process as I only have 2 hands as of yet.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

I then take the parafilm and stretch/wrap it around the tweezers. Thus creating a small bell shaped hood.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

This hood is then gently pulled over the graft, pulling downwards to create some downward pressure on the graft thus keeping it in place. The parafilm is then twisted and pinched secure.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

Here is a whole bunch I did about a week ago. Anyone know why they are getting so yellow? The peres that is. It may be from that mite infection...?
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

Here is a specimen done about a week ago
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

A close up of the same specimen reveals the parafilm tearing as the graft starts to grow.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

So here are the mites, and the first graft I did about 2 weeks ago. It seems in good shape all in all as it hasnt been watered since then and those damn mites. They are tiny, you can just make out those orange red specks... Not sure what they are but ive sprayed things down a few times now with some pestecide I got from my mom. Its supposed to be organic. Any recomendations as to what to do about the problem would be great!
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276703407

So anyhow this is my new little method which seems prety damn reliable for now. Ill be doing updates as we go along, lets hope for the best.

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[kocos]

Bump and update. Snaped two pictures of that prototype graft I did a few weeks ago. Now that I have watered it, it seems happier and plumped up a tad!

http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276847114

http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1276847114

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[paph]

Awesome grafting pictorial kocos.:bow::thumbup:
Archive material.

[pharmer]

well, you can't argue with success.

but my gut reaction was that the film would smother the new graft. apparently it lets the little guy breath somehow.

is parafilm a brand name or a generic name for specific product?

I ask because I'll be taking a short vacation in Toronto soon and intend to visit the nice man with the yote' seeds and will be getting busy with this very tek.

thanks for putting it up.

[Bulk]

What is P. spatula?

[kocos]

well, you can't argue with success.

but my gut reaction was that the film would smother the new graft. apparently it lets the little guy breath somehow.

is parafilm a brand name or a generic name for specific product?

I ask because I'll be taking a short vacation in Toronto soon and intend to visit the nice man with the yote' seeds and will be getting busy with this very tek.

thanks for putting it up.

As far as I know its a brand name! Its normally used for sealing petri dishes and flasks, as it allows for air exchange and retains moisture. Thats the reason I thought about using it.
I wont call it a full succes untill these little guys start putting on some good growth. It does seem good though.

What is P. spatula?

Its Pereskiopsis spatula, the graft stock.

[kocos]

Awesome grafting pictorial kocos.:bow::thumbup:
Archive material.

Thanks bro! :heart:

[ou3308]

Great pics man. I have trouble with mite also and I got so frustrated I spectracided them heavily. 2 times a week apart to kill the new hatchlings. All my plants survived the chemicals and there are no mites anymore. I have many differfent kinds of plants but the mites seem to go straight for the perez. I get the same yellowing when they are around. Mites are everywhere and like dry conditions to produce. Misting helps to keep them down. In nature if there is a dry spell the wheat crops around here are devistated by mites.

[Burger]

Great work with the parafilm kocos! :eusa_clap

Way to think outside the box.

I hope they 'take' and start plumping up for you soon. :)


Good luck.

[tenjin]

Wow great thread kocos! :bow:
i've often thought about using parafilm for grafting to peres , but wasn't sure if wrapping a strip around the side of the stock and graft would work, but this 'hood' method looks great and easy enough! nice!

[koldj]

Great idea with parafilm.

As for the yellow leaves - normally I'd say that it's from overwatering but I'm no expert (as of yet :P).

[kocos]

Well finally the first graft is puting on some really fast growth. A few pictures and a few other grafts made. Looks like this method works too. Good thing about it is you dont need a humidity dome or anything just leave it out in open air :D

Lots of new growth as you can all see, turned a bit redish from all the light its getting but I think it should get used to it.
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943

http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943

There is some scabbing on the right side of the graft caused by those mites I guess. It should recover fast though. The thing is the size of my yearlings now!
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943

http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943

Here is a really silly mistake I made. Not only did I not remove the peres disk before placing the graft on, but for some odd reason I put two grafts on one stock. They seem to be happy for now though :headbang:
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943


If Iam not mistaken this is an ariocarpus graft
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943

A fresh yote graft with the peres puping
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943
Pinch that sucker off. Damn my hands are dirty :puke:
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943

A top view of the "mistake" graft :D
http://mycotopia.net...=1&d=1277908943

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[Theodore Blass]

very interesting.

amazing how nature works

[fucgubarn]

a very nice Russian forum,
concerning parafilm maybe the following would help :

http://cactuslove.ru...20,95414,page=1

and one old picture from me ,no para... was used here:

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[kocos]

Thx guys! :)

Damn I was kind of hoping this was a relativly unknown idea. Guess not :D Thx for the link man I got it bookmarked!

About that double graft, maybe Burger can chime in, Iam sorta afraid they are going to push each other off.

[Bulk]

Lol, if you search Pereskiopsis spatula on av.com, we're number one, and on google for this key word, we're number 2.... Awesome!:headbang:

[Burger]

About that double graft, maybe Burger can chime in, Iam sorta afraid they are going to push each other off.

Thats pretty neat kocos. Not only are there two buttons on the one stem, but the peres 'disk' re-attached itself too, Nice.

As they grow, it is possible one will eventually be pushed off...'survival of the fattest' :)

There is also the possibility they could coexist by forcing each other to grow to the sides of the stock, so the buttons are facing horizontally rather than vertically. It could go either way, only time will tell.

Re-grafting one to its own stock, will increase growth rate and the amount of pups that form, but I think you should leave them to see what happens :D If one gets pushed off you still might be able to re-graft it.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Edited by Burger, 30 June 2010 - 11:48 PM.

[Lookin 2 Grow]

Kocos, your work is amazing..

Thank you for sharing as I have just got my hands on some Pereskiposis recently & plan on grafting loph seedlings soon.

Your info is invaluable to us in practice :)

many thanks.

peace, L2G
:headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang:

[kocos]

Thats pretty neat kocos. Not only are there two buttons on the one stem, but the peres 'disk' re-attached itself too, Nice.

As they grow, it is possible one will eventually be pushed off...'survival of the fattest' :)

There is also the possibility they could coexist by forcing each other to grow to the sides of the stock, so the buttons are facing horizontally rather than vertically. It could go either way, only time will tell.

Re-grafting one to its own stock, will increase growth rate and the amount of pups that form, but I think you should leave them to see what happens :D If one gets pushed off you still might be able to re-graft it.

It will be interesting to see what happens.

Awesome! Thanks for chiming in. Ill leave the double graft alone, Iam also really interested to see what they will do :)