Helping out with another member's over-watering emergency:

You mentioned in an earlier message that you were having trouble holding back on the water. Did you over-water, maybe? It so easy to do, especially when you see that fresh new growth! The problem is, cacti cannot tolerate over-watering at all. They are accustomed to receiving "flash-flood" watering from heaven (during "Monsoon" season) that will typically dry completely within days. They may go up to a year without rain in their native habitat. It's unreal how little water they require to thrive! That's great if you live in the desert, but a peyote that is in a plastic pot indoors just winds up sitting in water for a week or more, if you are not sparing. Their roots are so adapted to drought, that the roots actually drown if they are left with (wet feet). When the roots die, they leave the cactus without nutrients, without the means to hydrate, and the dying roots rot away and leave the plant open to fungal and bacterial attack. The rot typically spreads up through the xylem and up the growth tip. This is called "Root Rot" and it leaves the cactus yellowing on the outside, and rotting brown/black on the inside. There is only one way to save your plant if this is the case.

1. Carefully pull the peyote from the potting soil after you loosen the substrate with a chopstick.



2. Visually examine for ulcers and rot. Lightly squeeze the root tissues. Healthy tissue should be firm (like an old carrot that's been in the crisper too long) and spring back. If, however, it feels like a marshmallow inside a cantelope rind, then it is probably rotting inside. If so, don't despair.... take a sharp-assed knife or utility razor and clean it with alcohol. Now, cut the green cap away from the root. If the cap's interior tissues look green, fresh, and free of rot... you are fortunate.



3. If the cap has spots of rot in the center (or anywhere else, for that matter) then you need to cut an additional (THIN) wedge of tissue away from it until the cut looks clean. If the rot has traveled too far up the xylem, then your only choice is to dry that cap and whatever clean tissue you can salvage and store it for a future ceremony. Let's just assume that you have salvaged enough material to make a viable graft, shall we? Now set the cut peyote button on top of a clean paper towel in a cool, dry, dark place.


Run your ass to Home Depot a.s.a.p. and see if there are any San Pedros (Trichocereus pachanoi) or Blue Myrtles (Myrtillocactus geometrizans) in the nursery. Find one that is slightly larger in diameter that your peyote button. Pay for that bad boy and run yourself back home.


4. Now you will need a clean dishtowel, the disinfected blade, some big-assed rubber bands (or, barring that, duct tape).



5. Use the sterile blade to cut the top 1/2 inch to 1 inch of tissue at the tip-top of the newly purchased rootstock. Cut off any aereoles (spines) that are near the top of the cut by slicing them away at a steep beveled angle.



6. Retrieve your peyote button and cut a thin (THIN!!!!) slice of tissue from the bottom. Leave that slice in place to protect the bottom tissues from being exposed to air too much. Now, cut a similarly thin slice through the top of the rootstock.



7. Take a deep breath, remove the two slices of tissue from the respective cacti (with clean washed hands, right?) and place them together. You will have wanted to have taken note of the size and location of the central growth rings of each cacti. These to rings must overlap (intersect at two points) or else the graft will eventually fail. With light pressure, rub the two cut tissues together to push out any air bubbles. Remember... gentle pressure and movement. When you position them, be mindful that the two rings overlap.



8. Now, you will use either the tape or the rubber bands to keep the button snugly secured to the rootstock. If using giant-assed rubber bands, you will loop them around the pot and over the cacti, thus pulling the rootstock and scion together. Cross the rubber bands over one another like an "X", when viewed from the top. If you have no rubber bands or the cacti is simply too tall to accommodate their use, grab the duct tape. Peel off a thin strip (about 1/2 as wide as the scion) and pull it over the button and secure it down the sides of the rootstock (in between the ribs).
   
   Use two more strips the secure the button further. IMPORTANT...do not let the adhesive side of the tape contact the surface of the button! You can accomplish this by backing the the long piece of tape with a smaller piece of tape (shiny side facing the button). If you forget to back the tape, you risk pulling the graft apart when removing the tape later.



9. So, now you have cut the two stocks, quickly and deftly placed them together (keeping in mind the overlapping of the growth rings) and you have secured them together with rubber bands or tape. Now comes the most difficult part of the process....... Finally, put the graft in a cool, dry, dark place for one week and DO NOT MESS WITH IT! Whatever you do, no matter how tempted you are... do not mess with it. Go to the beach, fall into work, take your honey for a snowcone, just DON'T mess with graft for ONE WEEK.



10. If you said your prayers, gave to Jerry's Kids, or helped an old lady across the street that week, you may find that God smiled on you and your graft took and there is no rot or peeling away. If the graft fails... chalk it up to experience and buy some seeds from Australia.