Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

All about seed grown plants. How-to information, progress reports, show of your results.
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Aiko
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Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:26 pm
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

Post by Aiko »

Some excellent warning advice regarding Pseudolithos has been given here: http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... os#p328184
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greenknight
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Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:18 am
Location: SW Washington State zone 8b

Re: Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

Post by greenknight »

I'm about ready to give Pseudolithos a try myself, after seeing now well they do in Vancouver. Keep them out of the hot sun? Sure, I can do that!
Spence :mrgreen:
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Aiko
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Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:26 pm
Location: the Netherlands

Re: Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

Post by Aiko »

So keep warm, regularly a tiny bit of watering for seedlings but don't drown them, no draft, and avoid sun burns. That should be about it for them. They are a bit picky, but not extremely. We would like to have the same treatment for ourselves!
IrisA
Posts: 44
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2015 8:11 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

Post by IrisA »

Glad if my cautionary tale can save a few psuedolithos! Considering what the seeds cost its painful to lose these guys. I think Aiko's advice is spot on, its pretty much what I have been doing and so far so good.

In other news, I've had a few more pots germinate, I've noticed germination has been a bit slower this year as it has been unusually cold out and I think my apartment is cooler than normal, I decided to buy another heat mat as I have found this can really speed things up especially for the Mexican cacti. I am thinking of sowing my difficult/tiny seeds later today, so wish me luck!

And given all the talk about LEDs here, I decided to check out the selection at home depot and I came home with this:
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For $15 for 2 I figured it was worth a try, they had some pricier specialty bulbs that were intriguing but I decided to start simple. Its a 5K not a 6.5K and I can definitely see the warmth compared to my CFLs but it seems decently bright. Worst case it goes on top of my gecko tank.

While most of my other seedlings aren't looking too interesting just yet, the monster mesemb has sure been growing. Any ideas iann?
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IrisA
Posts: 44
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2015 8:11 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Re: Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

Post by IrisA »

It's been a while, but I finally took the time to upload some progress photos of this year's seedlings:

Agave parrasana- had great germination, just repotted as the initial pot was overflowing:
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?Alinopsis? had a fading issue with my labels this year
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Psuedolithos migurintus- week old sprouts, canada post/cbsa is currently super slow processing parcels from asia, took 5 months in shipment!
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Aztekium ritteri- looks like I got a few new late sprouts
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Obregonia denegrii- found these were quite photosensitive moved them to weak light
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?Copiapoa tenuissima? label issue again
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Eriosyce mix- biggest seedlings of the year
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Lophoria - from my own seed -lost all but 1 of last years batch to rsm (they seem to pick on the lophs)
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A. Asterias - after a string of failed attempts I'm trying a more pH neutral soil and more time in the bag
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? - I'm stumped here, can't read the label, it's looking quite columnar
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Pachypodium sandersonii
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Parodia ayopayana
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Gymnocalycium
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Lapidaria
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Mystery Mesemb:
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Strombocactus disciformis - growing pretty fast relative to their initial seed size
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dwood5513
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:59 pm
Location: PNW

Re: Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

Post by dwood5513 »

really good stuff, iris. you give hope to a newbie.
jonhabir
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Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2019 4:53 pm

Re: Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

Post by jonhabir »

Hey Ronald!

Great comment. I agree with your logic, but there’s more that meets the eye than simple color of plants. That’s why we need to turn to science rather than working off of the assumption that if an object is a certain color, than it is reflecting all of that color and absorbing none of it. If plants reflected all green light, they would look like tiny green mirrors.

Plants absorb all colors of light as you can see in the graph on point #2. They only absorb slightly less green light than all other colors (Look at the “Whole Leaf” line). Most of the green light actually goes through the plant rather than being reflected.

Total absorption of light is not the goal, since green light is able to pass through more of the leaf it’s able to light up more cells from the top to the bottom of the leaf, and also to the leaves below so the whole plant gets light.

Here’s another great article that touches on this: https:http://allledgrowlights.com/best-led-grow-lights/

kabir
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