The grafts in this post were actually performed before the grafts in the previous article, part 2 the Wedge Graft. However I wrote them in this order because I thought part 2 followed part 1 from a continuity perspective.
In this post I initially used 2 areole grafts and 2 slab grafts making sure I included the tip in one of the slab grafts.
But first the donor of the scion material.
I purchased it as a cutting on ebay in Feb 2023. The headline read . . . .
“Tricho Variegated Hybrid. Could Have A Coloured Flower . FAT !!!”
From memory, it came from a lost label seedling grown from Misplant seed. It was also a bit dehydrated and looked like it had been without roots for awhile. So when it came in the mail I don’t think I bothered taking any photos.
There were 2 small patches of variegation at the base of the cutting. So the initial intention was to use these 2 pieces as scions to try and grow a pup with a better spread of variegation.
When it came in the mail though, there were roots starting to form right where the variegation was.
So rather than pot it up I decided to just plant it straight into the garden.
It started to grow nearly straight away. And a piece of variegation started to appear on the tip.
It continued to grow over winter and by the end of spring there was a nice variegated rib just demanding to be propagated.
As you can see, there was only a slight amount of etolation, so regardless of it’s initial condition it recovered well.
Therefore the next step was to plan how it would be cut to maximise the variegated section. As you can see, there are 4 variegated areoles below the tip. So I decided to cut the tip just above the bottom areole and then angle the cut downward from there. The theory was that pups usually appear from the highest areole. So hopefully this areole would produce a variegated pup as well.
After I cut the tip, something occurred to me which I hadn’t considered before. When you angle the cut in this manner (so water drains away), you remove the connection between the areole and the vascular ring. So maybe now I’ve just shot myself in the foot! However I reassured myself with my True Blue stump on the right. It was cut away in the manner but still managed to form a pup!
Interesting! I thought it would still need to be connected? But apparently not. Afterall, an areole graft scion is cut away from the original vascular ring! So it can potentially form a pup but whether it is likely or not is probably more the question!
Next up is how to plan to divide up the tip to maximise the material.
Firstly I cut the tip through the centre along the vascular ring being careful to maintain the end of the variegated tip on the half to be used as the slab. You can see on the right, the variegated rib on the bottom, which will continue to grow with the rest of the tip. In fact I possibly could have divided it further to encourage a pup from the areole at the tip. But decided not to.
Then with the remaining material I created 2 areole grafts. 1 with two areoles and the other with one.
You might also be wondering why I didn’t divide the 2 and make an extra graft. The single one on the right is quite thick and was the bottom areole on the rib. Whereas the double one on the left was thinner as it was closer to the tip. If I’d cut it in half I was concerned the two pieces may have been too small and dried out before they had a good connection. You might notice it is also a little squashed from the rubbers bands. So being larger helped with securing it.
So here are the results.
As for the original tip/slab graft . . . .
Therefore, the plan is to now allow the graft to become really established. Then recut the tip above the variegated areole and regraft the tip once again. Over time the join will callous and become slightly raised. I’ll wait until then, as the remaining piece of scion will be relatively thin.
Interestingly, I found you can’t really predict if an areole surrounded by variegation will in fact produce a variegated pup.
As for the mother plant . . . .
Therefore, the plan now is to just let the pup grow out over winter. I’d really like to get it to flower. The ebay description mentioned one of the possible parents may have been a Variegated Red Grandiflorus, so fingers crossed it may have a coloured flower. Nevertheless, whether it is variegated with a coloured flower or not, it’s still quite an attractive clone. It has quite shallow ribs with nearly straight sides, grows for most of the year and has a Cordobensis look about it. So maybe it will grow quite tall, fat and fast!!!
In the meantime, I’ll update this over time. Thanks for reading.
