Riblet Propagation Tek Progress and Latest Video

I Just posted the latest vid/update on this experimental propagation project.

https://youtu.be/OKGKiKdOv98?si=822xw-TefQOFnWdZ

There are several other videos and lots of Instagram content @teamwachuma https://www.instagram.com/teamwachuma/

The basic concept is to cut the cactus into individual ribs on the standing plant to allow the cuts to heal while still getting water from the stock. Then cut those into small sections and root them to grow new plants.

This is sort of an ideal example, healed on the plant for two weeks here. I’ve pretty much abandoned the horizontal cuts as unnecessary, not working out anyway and problematic. That will save work and open up the possibility for a better system for propping open the ribs for better air circulation, healing, and support. That experiment is already planned next season.

In principal everything has been shown to work now. The big questions remaining are around whether the timing I'm trying for will work. There may be other tweaks required to dial that in. So in the last round, I divided 8 standing columns on the plant into individual ribs. Those varied from around 18 inches to 8 inches. I did not record a total length of cactus cut. Altogether they produced 219 sections for rooting. If we were to assume for the sake of speculating on some possible results, that 10% will fail for some reason, that is still in the neighborhood of 200 new plants. the longest cutting which was maybe 18" max 20" produced 54 chips. Again at 10% loss somewhere around 50 new plants if all goes well. I think a significantly higher failure rate would be acceptable, given the above numbers, but I suspect it will end up well under 10% as things get dialed in and some care is taken. I’ve approached this very sloppily on purpose just to test limits and gather data.

219 riblets from 8 cuts ranging from about 18 to 8 inches. 54 from the largest cut, Stubbs, 24 from a 9” 6 ribbed King Tubby. Pretty impressive numbers.

In contrasting this to more traditional propagation methods, it is obvious what advantages there could be that might be applicable to certain scenarios. The question has been asked why not just graft. The answer is space. Grafting requires larger plants in larger pots. They also have to be degrafted and then rooted. The two methods are complimentary and useful in different contexts. They are just different tools in the tool box to use depending on goals and applicability. To take the propagation of a new seedling as an example, grafting can be used to grow columns to divide into riblets which will propagate lots of new rooted plants with minimal space.

The plan this fall was to test the following timing:

Cutting the columns in mid August

Allowing them to heal for 4 weeks.

Cutting into riblets.

Callous for 4 weeks.

Stick in soil and start watering

Hopefully having roots by late fall and pups by early spring.

Grow for the following season which winds down here in October in a greenhouse, but can go later.

So that is about 14 months or so from start to finish for plants that could be potted up or put in the ground in a suitable climate the following spring.

There has been some speculation that they will not grow fast enough. That could be the case. Given that I can grow a 1 or 2 inch seedling with very small roots to a pretty big cactus in one season, if they will root in the fall and pup early in the season, it seems more than possible to get a 5” or larger pup over one season and quite possibly some much larger. We just won’t know til we get there. In some situations, bottom heat and lights could help move things along. I would prefer not to go there if possible.

When I looked at the cut surfaces of the ribs at 2 weeks they seemed well healed and ready to cut. I cut half of them at 3 weeks and the others at 4 weeks. I suspect that 2 weeks healing on the plant and 2 weeks curing before planting will work, shaving considerable time off of the time line I was testing. That could move the cutting date up a whole month, allowing the columns to grow more, but with weather concerns and wanting them to root before winter sets in if possible, I think no later than late August will probably be what works best, and likely will still go with about mid august or just within the last two weeks of August. The weather has to be warm and dry enough to heal the cuts quickly without molding.

If this works out, I think it has good potential in many scenarios, such as large scale nursery work, and individuals rapidly propagating out new cultivars for distribution. I would like to present it to large nurseries as a potential means of efficient production. I don't see big box stores and mega nurseries as ideal scenario, but I'll take it if it gets more cactus out there in the ground. This method could also bring cactus prices down very fast, which I see as a good thing. I'm also very interested in being able to send out chips like this for people to root at home. If one would pay 55.00 lets say for one nice cut, at even 5.00 apiece, which seems high, a person could get quite a collection of genetics for the same amount of money. If the loss rate is 10% again, or even a little higher, so what? That is exactly the kind of option I would be more inclined to choose were it available. More genetics over quicker gratification. I've also speculated in the past about how to mail small graftable pieces and this would be the obvious solution for that as well if the chips remain plump enough. So that could be a thing. Some cactus definitely dry out much more than others, so there could be some limitations created by that fact.

By half way through or the end of next season I'll hopefully know a lot more about how this timing works and how big I can get these things in a season. I'll post updates on my instagram @ teamwachuma otherwise, I'll probably do youtube vids in the spring and fall next year. All in all though, things are going very well and again, in principal, it works. Once I get things dialed in enough, maybe in a couple of years, I’ll make an easy reference page as a sort of how to, so that it is easy to refer people to a complete presentation of the method with all the details.

I asked for help on Instagram naming this propagation tek and got some good and fun suggestions. Any more input would be welcome. I was inclined to go with Rib Division Tek, which is not fun but it is precise. That is until about 15 minutes ago when I saw someone suggested Riblet Tek, so maybe Riblet Propagation Tek.