Will the absence of green on the forming pups stop them from surviving on their own?

[u/Crassula_pyramidalis]

[u/Lightoscope]

Maybe? I would expect it to grow slower, at least, but you should be able to graft it onto green rootstock.

[u/sadrice]

People have given you a lot of bullshit answers. They think this is the classic grafted. It is not. They are also misusing the word variegated.

You have the chimeric form. The classic moon cactus are fully achlorophyllous and grafted onto green understock. Sometimes that partially fails, and you get two different cacti growing through eachother, with different parts expressing different parts of the two parent halves.

That’s what you have. The palest parts are unlikely to revert to green, but it’s totally possible there is a trace within it that might expand on another branch, they do that sometimes.

Be prepared for monstrose and downright ugly growth, I love chimeric messes like this.

You have something comparable to Gymnocalycium ‘Polyp’, but still somewhat more restrained in growth form. It might get weird, it might stay stable, these things have a lot of individual variation.

[u/Crassula_pyramidalis → u/sadrice]

Oh wow, is it weird that that sounds like it more interesting? It'll be fun to see what weird way this little guy will end up growing 

[u/Crassula_pyramidalis]

Just got this little moon cactus today, hes got some pups growing that have absolutely 0 green on them. Do i have to graft them onto a different succulent/cactus, or can they survive on their own? Is there a chance they might get some green if i let them get a bit bigger before removal?

Additionally, as you can see, the parent plant has very little green on it as well. Should it get longer, or more direct light to make as much food as possible, or would that not give it enough time for respiration? Could keeping the pups attached to get bigger take too much from the parent plant?

Sorry for all the questions, succulents are new to me, and i am definitely still learning

[u/Amelaista → u/Crassula_pyramidalis]

No, the fully variegated plantlets will not survive on their own. This goes for any fully variegated plant, they have to be connected to other plants in order to survive.

If grafted to a compatible green plant, it may survive if it is not rejected. Since the plantlets are growing off of parts of the parent that have no green on them, I would not expect the plantlets to develop any green in the future. Chloroplasts are specialized little organelles inside each plant cell. They used to be independent algae that got integrated into ancient plant cells and are now no longer able to live on their own. This means a plant only can pass the chloroplasts down to cells if the parent cell had them. The variegated areas have no chloroplasts, so cant pass them down.

As far as the mother plant goes, give it as much light as you can. These species developed in areas with burning sunlight all day long. They need plenty of bright light to grow normally. The climate in these areas is months of dry weather, followed by monsoon storms that dump a bunch of water on them and then dry out again. So your watering should follow the same pattern. It needs to be in a well draining soil, and Never let it sit in water for more than the time you are watering it. When you do water it, let it soak for an hour or two to absorb and store the water it needs, then let it drain and dry out. Dont water again until it looks like it needs it. The accordion shape will draw in and you can see it lose volume when it has used up the water stores.

ETA, Make sure if you get a plant light that its not on 24/7. Cactus respiration requires a dark cycle in order to perform half the needed functions.

[u/Crassula_pyramidalis → u/Amelaista]

Thank you for the detailed explanation, that was extremely helpful. Do you know if there is anything i can do to help prevent rejection once i decide to graft it?

[u/Amelaista → u/Crassula_pyramidalis]

Grafting succulents is not something I have gotten into sorry.
Just be aware that the store display 'moon cactus on a stalk' type plants are grafted onto dragon fruit, and that will fail eventually. Nothing can be done as the host plant will wall off the parasitic graft.

[u/Crassula_pyramidalis → u/Amelaista]

Good to keep in mind, thank you for letting me pick your brain 😁

[u/war_rv → u/Amelaista]

thank you for such a detailed answer, although I am not the author of the post, but it was very interesting for me to read it! tell me, how does this happen with, for example, Philodendron ‘Birkin'? I've heard that it produces variegated leaves that then turn green. I can't understand how this is possible.

[u/Amelaista → u/war_rv]

Its hard to say, especially with a mutation. Variegation is a mutation caused by lack of chlorophyll, but the cause of that lack could be a hundred different things. Seeing as the leaves get darker as they get older, which is common in lots of plants to some extent, maybe its just bad at making chlorophyll and makes it in the in-between areas first, and fills in the veins last.

[u/Polinskee → u/Crassula_pyramidalis]

You're probably not in the right subreddit for this kind of question. I'd go for one relating to houseplants or cacti care.

[u/Crassula_pyramidalis → u/Polinskee]

Thank you, honestly wasn't sure if i could get help here or not. I asked in r/succulents as well, but thought the questions i had may have been a bit out of scope for that subreddit

[u/Doxatek → u/Crassula_pyramidalis]

No if you gave it much more it would just burn the rest. If you took off non green pups I doubt they would survive

[u/Crassula_pyramidalis → u/Doxatek]

That's what i was afraid of. Guess they're going to stay for now. Thank you!