A Truly Rare Cactus Borne In My Collection - Pediocactus Knowltonii Crest !

? Pediocactus Knowltonii Crest ?

** UPDATE *** 3/3/14

THIS PLANT MAY IN FACT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WRONG. POSSIBLE ID
Echinocactus Grusonii Variant Alba Inermis Crest

I planted the seed for this plant about 5 years ago, the germination rate was terrible from 20 seeds a single seedling germinated. I grafted the seedling to Hylocereus and after a few weeks I knew I had a special plant;

I have done a fairly extensive search of the web and spoken to everyone I know in the cacti industry and I can't find another plant in a collection anywhere, it could possibly be a truly unique plant. Over the last few years it has grown well;

About 1.5 years ago I did a semi degraft and potted the plant up to grow on it's own roots with the assistance of the Hylocereus whilst is establishes itself;

Before De-graft

Today

Today I took the knife out and have cut this plant up in an attempt to propagate this beauty and one day distribute it out to the cacti community :) I will post up some pics later on. 

De Grafting Astrophytum !!

Spring is finally here! winter felt really long this year even though it wasn't that cold, but it has made me even more motivated to do some serious cacti cultivation during this growing season.

First off I have done a few de-grafts, I use a modified half de-graft method I learned from a very experienced grower from Victoria Australia, he is known by the handle Hanazono but his name is Frank, he is a well known to the cacti community and a top bloke :)

This method is best used when Hylocereus or Pereskiopsis are the stock plant but can be done with some others too.

Here is my modified de-grafting method:

1. Find a suitable plant that needs a de-graft.

2. Cut the scion from the stock but leave 5cm of the stock, I.E cut 5cm below the graft union.

3. Using a sharp knife cut all the green fleshy tissue away from the stock plant leaving the woody yellow core. Try and scrape the last bit off using the knife and scraping away from the graft union. Once it is all off you will be left this this (see below). Now trim up the woody core so it is between 2 and 3cm long.

4. Now allow the exposed woody core to try in the sun (indirect sun), for about 24 hours and then you are free to pot the plant up as you normally would a plant with roots.

Here are a few I did today;

         

Winter Update.

Winter is finally over and its time for some serious growth and propagation this season :)
A few pics from over winter.

Ariocarpus Hybrids

Ariocarpus Retusus

Lophocereus Schotii Monstrose

Nice looking Tricho Peruvianus

Lophophora 

Trichocereus Peruvianus Hybrid (TPM X SS02) Crest

Two FREAKS; Trichocereus Peruvianus Monstrose Crests

Both plants are the result of a cross between Trichocereus Peruvianus Monstrose (Mother) X Sacred Succulents SS02 (Father). I only received 6 seeds from this cross and 4 germinated all of them are either crest or very strange monstrose growth.