Aztekium ritteri seedlings

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dvg
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Aztekium ritteri seedlings

Post by dvg »

These seeds were sown on Feb. 19, 2007, and suffered the same fate as my A. hintonii seedlings, in that both batches of seeds were placed in Ziplock bags, pushed to the back of a table and forgotten about...until just today in the case of the A. ritteri.

I took the pot out and gave them a quick drink by setting it in a bowl filled with water and letting the pot absorb some water up from the bottom.

I was actually surprised to see that I had 6 small A. ritteri seedlings in one of my four inch pots.
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And here is a pic of the largest one.
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I'm going to start giving these seedlings more light as well as keeping a more watchful eye on them, but these obviously have a very long way to go, with them being such notoriously slow growing plants.

dvg
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TimN
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Post by TimN »

Wow, good save! It's hard to appreciate how truly tiny those seedlings are! I have some from November that are not a lot bigger than those. I've also got another batch from about two weeks ago. They are seriously small. Maybe 1 mm? My three month old ones are probably 2 mm. Tiny little green balls.
Disclaimer: I'm in sunny Arizona, so any advice I give may not apply in your circumstances.

Tim
Gypscoprotheres
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Post by Gypscoprotheres »

Nice! They look healthy to me.

I've heard they're kind of sensitive the first year(s). What are you doing to keep them alive? How often do you water and how much sunlight do they get?

I'm curious, because within some weeks I'll plant 40 Ritteri seeds. :)


Good luck with them! Post some more photo's when they're bigger please. ;) (good reference for me)
Tony
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Post by Tony »

I have a few left as well from a dirty sowing I did two years ago.
I thought they were all toast after a year or so, but when I went to toss it all out a few months ago, I found they were just covered in algae. :(
Forget the dog...Beware of the plants!!!

Tony
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TimN
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Post by TimN »

I'm starting to see a thread here. The key to success with "difficult" species is to put them aside and forget about them. :lol:
Disclaimer: I'm in sunny Arizona, so any advice I give may not apply in your circumstances.

Tim
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JustSayNotoCactus
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Post by JustSayNotoCactus »

I have heard that the key to Aztekium seedlings is to not overheat them in the first two years. I think it was a CSSA article I read which stated that keeping them around 80 degrees is the key and not going much over. I would try searching the CSSA website for more info if I still had any questions.
Jade plants are for sissies.
Gypscoprotheres
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Post by Gypscoprotheres »

This is the article you were talking about (I think) :

http://www.cssainc.org/index.php?option ... Itemid=212
dvg
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Post by dvg »

I try to keep the media just slightly moist and then allow it to dry out some before water is given again.

These plants were kept away from bright lights and didn't see any sun.

dvg
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Post by Gypscoprotheres »

Do you think fine turface(seramis in my case) would work out well?
dvg
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Post by dvg »

Gypscoprotheres wrote:Do you think fine turface(seramis in my case) would work out well?
I'm not sure, I haven't used either turface or seramis before, but they might be worth a try.

I dug out an old care sheet for Aztekium seedlings:

Low light....under lights or just off to the side of the lights for the first two years.

Soil Mix:

25% Coir
25% Loam
25% Vermiculite
25% Sharp sand plus some traction gravel

The plants can either be grown in bags or they can be grown in the open in pots that are misted once or twice daily and then allowing the surface to dry out.


I think the bag option allows better growing condition's control for these particularly fragile seedlings.

dvg
dvg
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Post by dvg »

Of the six small Aztekium seedlings, all, but one, of them is spherically or ball shaped.

The sole uniquely shaped little greenish-yellow blob is noticeably convoluted in it's shape.

I had quite a difficult time trying to get some detail on this oddly shaped little mutant.

Does any body think that this seedling is already differentiating to it's more mature shape or is something more sinister ocurring here.....

.....maybe a two or three headed monster? :alien:

Because it was so difficult for me to get a very clear shot of this seedling, I decided to show a few different shots in light and shadow, to further flesh out the deep grooves and convolutions that already define this uniquely shaped seedling.

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This angle shows what appears to be a crevice in the seedling.
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And this photo, with the help of the sun, reveals a fissure running along the seedlings's surface.
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Another look at this raised ridge that resemble's the shape of a ram's horn.
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The ram's horn shape, which reminds me of the ribs on the parent plants, seen again on this seedling.
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This isn't the clearest shot, but it does show the convolutions in the seedling's shape.
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One final shot of this seedling.
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I am not quite sure what to make of the shaping of this little seedling...have any of you seen this before?

Doug
dvg
Gypscoprotheres
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Post by Gypscoprotheres »

Isn't it cresting or something? I don't have any experience with it, but these forms are weird. :P
iann
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Post by iann »

That doesn't look nice. They should be smooth balls.
--ian
Tony
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Post by Tony »

I have seen weird ones like that before, If they don't develop areoles they don't ever do anything.

Here are my only two plants left.
They were grown in sand, kept enclosed (pot with a lid), under lights for two plus years. One is about 2mm, the other maybe 3mm.
Image
Forget the dog...Beware of the plants!!!

Tony
dvg
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Post by dvg »

Wow Tony, I can see that your Aztekium have already started to differentiate from being round globes to having that geometric patterning that this species is known for.

I was searching around for some images of Aztekium seedlings to see how they transition in shape as they mature.

There were a few images of young Aztekium seedlings with geometric designs already being displayed.

But your seedlings are the earliest that I've seen the patterning on a seedling at that size, so now I'll know what to be looking for with mine.

These cacti grow on average about 1mm per year, so growing them on their own roots is a real badge of honor.

I noticed that your plants look quite green, did you fertilize them?

Your Aztekiums are looking great Tony...good luck with getting them up-sized a few more precious mm's. :wink:

And for curiousity's sake I'll have to wait and see how the mutant seedling turns out. 8)

dvg
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