Close-up of grafted E:
Some parts are more green than others, but still have variegation.

This post was edited by rina_ on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 13:37

I know nothing about grafted plants or what to do with them, Rina, so you'll have to wait for some other nice soul to come along to help you with that. :P (too bad you didn't put "grafted" in the title of your post)

I will say, however, that I believe it is a variegated, crested E. lactea (not flanaganii). The green part is the reversion of the crested form...back to normal look.

Maybe Cactusjordi will swing by & chime in on grafted plants! Neat plant!

Thanks rosemarie, I realized about the title but can't fix it now... And thank you for the proper ID.
Here is the photo of E. I have that came with the name E. flanaganii cristata 'Green coral' - to me they are the same - but it is obviously mislabeled; it should be E. lactea cristata variegata.

Rina

This post was edited by rina_ on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 18:08

Rina, the last picture is Euphorbia latea v 'Gray Ghost'. And as Rosemarie has said, the first picture has Euphorbia lactea as the stock plant with the crested form on top and the new growth is the non-crested form.

Crested euphorbia sometimes reverts back. Yours shows reverting back to normal type at the very top. It will grow tall and take over the plant. Most people cut out the reversion and plant it on it's own. I have done this several times on mine. This one is reverted to 'White Ghost'.
Stush

Thank you Howard, and thank you Stush.
I was thinking about cutting reverted part, there is actually more than just one; the part at lover left & also
lover right in second photo shows some of it.

I'll probably try it anyway...wil be a major surgery!
Rina

Rina, note in Stanley's picture at the bottom of the red oval, the reverted growth is very narrow. If you are able to get a VERY sharp knife blade into this area of your plant, it should be easier and leave less of a scar. REMEMBER this is going to "bleed" LOTS of latex, so be cautious and have some water available to wash everything on the plant. This will help slow the weeping of the latex. Allow the cutting to callous for at least a week to 10 days before planting.

I use one of those long fireplace type lighters to seal the cuts.
Those reverted sections sure take off and grow quickly don`t they? You don`t check on a plant for a month or so and then it takes you a bit to figure out what is sticking out of the side of it.
An exacto knife works great for getting down in the tight spots to cut out growth.
Tally Ho!

yeh, its' Euphorbia Lactea Crested (cristata), i've had one for ...oh...close to 20 years? you need to cut off the reversion pieces regularly, they pop out quite often. i'd be curious to know if there's any way to reduce that? sometimes i pop them off while they are very small - for smaller scar, other times i let them grow into a little plant and then plant those separately or in groups. they tend not to grow at all, just sit for many years. eventually they'll develop into reg candelabras. one became so large - much bigger then mama, i had to give it away, have no space left.
the scars are quite ugly, also the wooded parts get very brown. so i take green waxy crayons and sort of brush them on in places to conceal the cuts. the crested parts grow very slow.

Thank you all for suggestions.
If/when I try, I will post photo follow-up.
Rina

just wanted to add, if you want to conceal the cut and paint with crayon wax let it heal and callus first. i usually wait sev months.
then shave a bit of wax crayon of matching color and heat it in the metal spoon over candle to melt (just to merge the flakes, don't overheat) and then apply with a cotton swab a little at a time. for a more natural look you can melt a few flakes of diff matching green into orig color and apply that on a second/third pass. you'll see with time that older parts of the plant take on a diff hue. so try to match that.
i read about this technique some time ago, florists use it.
don't worry, it's not bad for the plant, it's actually better then unsealed cut. and if your plant heats up in the sun, some wax will evaporate/melt off, so it'll look even better with time.
just don't apply too much. i'll post a pic of what mine looks like after a fresh spring paint job ;).

here's a pic where you see a rather big double cut. the right portion is slightly rubbed with olive green crayon and is less visible, but still an eye sore.

here's after melted wax crayon
painting with a swab, sev passes, color variation - cut barely visible, especially at a distance of a few feet.

this is an overall pic - you see 2 clearly visible large white spots one on top, other at the very bottom near the stem. is not pretty. and it's just from 1 year - usually sev sports start every year. without 'overpaint' it would look rather unsightly after a few years. this one is about 20 old.

petrushka

Thank you for excellent pictorial - interesting idea (I am sure I'll try it!)
Rina