Learning to Grow from Seed

[Vipassana]

I planted another crop on 09/01/2016 using a potting mix of Sonoran desert sand/loam soil and pots inside of a 1020 humidity dome.

Seeds planted:
Arrojadoa dinae
Mammillaria ericantha
Ferocactus emoryi
Corypantha palmeri
Gymnocalycium ragonesii
Mammilaria sp. mix
Notocactus sp. mix
Echinopsis sp. mix
Trichocereus terscheckii
Submatucana sp. mix
Ferocactus glaucescens
Ferocactus harrerae

Results @ 7 weeks:
Arrojadoa dinae - Strong germination
Mammillaria ericantha - No germination/Dead seeds
Ferocactus emoryi - Strong germination
Corypantha palmeri - Decent germination
Gymnocalycium ragonesii - Strong germination
Mammilaria sp. mix - Strong germination
Notocactus sp. mix - Poor germination
Echinopsis sp. mix - Poor germination
Trichocereus terscheckii - No germination/Dead seeds
Submatucana sp. mix - Strong germination
Ferocactus glaucescens - Strong germination
Ferocactus harrerae - Strong germination

Many with the poor germination or no germination were from cactusstore.com, which was disappointing. I've planted each twice and had similar results so I don't think it's anything I'm doing.

Planted 09/01/2016, Shown 09/15/2016

[Vipassana]

I planted another crop on 09/01/2016 using a potting mix of Sonoran desert sand/loam soil and pots inside of a 1020 humidity dome.

Seeds planted:
Pilosocereus pachycladus
Rhipsalis baccifera
Rhipsalis fasciculata
Echinocereus knippelianus
Echinocereus palmeri
Echinocereus pamanesiorum
Echinocereus pentalophus
Echinocereus subinermis
Echinocereus viridiflorus
Arrojadoa penicillata
Echinocactus grandis
Echinocactus ingens
Ferocactus latispinus v. flavispinus
Ferocactus robustus
Frailea species mix
Pygmaeocereus bylesianus

It's only been a few weeks, but I'm pretty certain a few of these are dead seeds. But from other I'm seeing great germination. All were from cactusstore.com.



Rhipsalis puniceo - Planted 09/18/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


Echinocactus grandis - Planted 09/18/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


Pygmaeocereus bylesianus - Planted 09/18/2016, Shown 10/18/2016
+

Corypantha palmeri - Planted 09/01/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


The crop of seeds planted back in January of this year:


Melocactus sp. mx & Echinofossulocactus sp. mix - Planted 01/23/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


Ferocactus wislizeni - Planted 01/23/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


Mammillaria grahamii - Planted 01/23/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


Echinocereus engelmani & pectinatus sp. mx - Planted 01/23/2016, Shown 10/18/2016

[Vipassana]

A bunch of my seedlings planted 03/03/2016 or 04/21/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


Echinocactus platyacanthus - Planted 04/21/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


Cleistocactus lanicepts (front) & Sumatucana sp. mx (back) - Planted 04/21/2016, Shown 10/18/2016


P. pringlei, E. grusonii, C. peruvianus v. monstrous - Planted 11/27/2015 or 01/23/2016, Shown 10/18/2016
The heat of the shed really beat up the C. peruvianus, but the other two thrived.


C. peruvianus v. monstrous - Planted 11/27/2015, Shown 10/18/2016


Here's my new indoor seed/seedling growing station for the winter months. I was using shop lights as you can see on the upper two shelves, but just installed a custom built LED fixture on the bottom shelf. The LED allows more overhead space for plants/humidity domes and saves me about $2 a month to operate versus the shop lights with standard fluorescent bulbs.

[Vipassana]

A bit of an update. I planted a bunch more seeds in September and October. Many of the seeds I ordered from CactusStore.com did not germinate and I'm led to believe they are damaged/dead before I got them. I'm really not happy with the higher rate of bad sed batched from CactsuStore. I'll be looking elsewhere in the future.

Some of my older seedlings from January 2016 and April 2016:


Gymnocalycium hybrid seedlings:


Echinopsis sp. mix:


Arrojadoa dinae, these seem to be grooving very slowly, but I think I let them dry too much at a couple points.


F. emoryi, growing briskly:


Coryphantha palmeri, mixed results with a lot of damping off.


G. ragonesi, strong germination followed by lots of damping off and slow growth:


Mamillaria sp. mix:

[Vipassana]

F. herrerae, I lost over 60% of these to damping off.


Stetsonia coryne:


F. glaucescens, even after loosing 50% of the germinated seedlings, I still have many growing strong:


Faucaria, this is one of my first non-cactus from seeds. Really neat looking:


Astrophytum for days:

[Vipassana]

Arrojadoa penicillata


Gymnocalycium bodenbenderianum


Gymnocalycium hybrid from Keith (thank you!)


Gymnocalycium stellatum


Gymnocalycium schickendantzii


Echinocereus viridiflorus (waiting for those green flowers!)


Ferocactus robustus


Echinocactus grandis


Echinocactus ingens


Rhipsalis puniceodiscus


Pilosocereus pachycladus


Pygmaeocereus bylesianus

[keithp2012]

Looking good!

[Wilk]

Nice pictures. I had a pot of Echinocactus Grandis like yours once. Only 2 survive. They don't seem to like a lot of moisture.

[ricelg]

Wow - these are great? What was your mix composition and did you use the same for all?

[Vipassana]

Looking good!

Thank you. I will keep you posted in the seeds you've sent me. The first batch had slowed down dramatically. I think it is time to repot them for their first birthday.

Nice pictures. I had a pot of Echinocactus Grandis like yours once. Only 2 survive. They don't seem to like a lot of moisture.

I will keep that in mind. I have no experience with them. I have so many seedlings, but many probably will be lost due to my inexperience. Plant excessive amounts and plant often I guess. Though I know you know that!

Wow - these are great? What was your mix composition and did you use the same for all?

My mix has been e volving. Initially it was baked desert loam and sand. Maybe some sifted organic soil in top. Recently I've been using the Napa oil dry with desert sand and a bit of desert loam. With larger sifted mix of sand and oil dry in top top to hide the seeds. The oil dry is really helping to keep the moisture up longer than the sand did.

[Wilk]

I'm impressed with your powers of recollection! Yes, plant as many as you can. If you plant 100 packets of 25 seeds you could get 2500 plants. But you only get 50% germination = 1250. 10% of these damp off in the early stages. Another 10% mysteriously die when an entire pot goes wrong. 10% die in a nasty accident when the pot gets dropped whilst being moved. 10% die of shock when transitioned from baggie to greenhouse. 10% get scorched and die a slow death. 10% die of overwatering. 10% die of underwatering. 10% die of mealy bug infestation. 10% die from no obvious cause. That leaves about 250 plants, 50% of which will survive to adulthood. That's still cheaper than buying plants AND FAR MORE FUN !!!!

Here are my remaining E. Grandis, one of which is rather stunted but the bigger one is trying hard to live. They germinated really well but then gradually started dying off for no obvious reason. It was only when I repotted into something less sandy and more mineral that the few still alive began to "thrive".

[keithp2012]

Looking good!

Thank you. I will keep you posted in the seeds you've sent me. The first batch had slowed down dramatically. I think it is time to repot them for their first birthday.

Nice pictures. I had a pot of Echinocactus Grandis like yours once. Only 2 survive. They don't seem to like a lot of moisture.

I will keep that in mind. I have no experience with them. I have so many seedlings, but many probably will be lost due to my inexperience. Plant excessive amounts and plant often I guess. Though I know you know that!

Wow - these are great? What was your mix composition and did you use the same for all?

My mix has been e volving. Initially it was baked desert loam and sand. Maybe some sifted organic soil in top. Recently I've been using the Napa oil dry with desert sand and a bit of desert loam. With larger sifted mix of sand and oil dry in top top to hide the seeds. The oil dry is really helping to keep the moisture up longer than the sand did.

I'm so glad they germinated well, hoping they get some color for you! Now they are ready to get upgrades for repotting

[7george]

Good results, Vipassana! I am envy for your temps there in Phoenix, no heating is needed.

Yes, plant as many as you can. If you plant 100 packets of 25 seeds you could get 2500 plants. But you only get 50% germination = 1250. 10% of these damp off in the early stages. Another 10% mysteriously die when an entire pot goes wrong. 10% die in a nasty accident when the pot gets dropped whilst being moved. 10% die of shock when transitioned from baggie to greenhouse. 10% get scorched and die a slow death. 10% die of overwatering. 10% die of underwatering. 10% die of mealy bug infestation. 10% die from no obvious cause. That leaves about 250 plants, 50% of which will survive to adulthood.

That's why I usually divide seedlings of one species into several pots to have after at least some survivors.

[Vipassana]

I have been long overdue in picture updates. Here are some in no particular order.

Recent crop sown 03/05/17 including various Wilcoxia, Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium, and others.


Wilcoxia schmollii


Wilcoxia kroenleinii




Some updates on seeds sown 01/xx/2016. Mainly species mixes from cactusstore.com.

[Vipassana]

Some non-cacti species sown 03/xx/2017 & 04/xx/2017. Adenium, Pachypodium, Stapelia, Aloe, and Agave.



Stapelia hybrid:


Pachypodium saundersii:


Adenium arabicum on the left, Pachypodium rutenbergianum on the top right (tall ones), and Peroskia grandiflora in the lower right corner: