Mammillaria bertholdii from seeds - tips

[Jenya]

I soon will become an owner of M. bertholdii seeds - my mammillaria has several fruits.
In this case I'd like to start the topic where we can share personal experience on growing this beautiful mammillaria from seeds.
Anyone?

[Aiko]

I soon will become an owner of M. bertholdii seeds - my mammillaria has several fruits.
In this case I'd like to start the topic where we can share personal experience on growing this beautiful mammillaria from seeds.
Anyone?

I think hardly anyone up here has had their hands on Mammillaria bertholdii seeds. If you have enough to spare, I would be happy to swap some with you for anything on my free / swap seeds list: http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... ds#p324660" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

As this Mammillaria is cryptocarpic, I think you should expect the seeds to better germinate when they are old(er). So if you sow now, it could take several restarts for them to finally germinate if not now than maybe in a few years' time.

[toadstar]

Are they difficult plants? A quick image search show pretty much all of them being grafted.

[Jenya]

Well, hope I'll have enough seeds to experiment with. Cause I've heard there's almost 0% germination without scarification. Even with it's near 20-30%.

[greenknight]

From what I've read, Aiko is correct, the seeds germinate better after they've aged.

[Jenya]

Well, talking about me, I don't have so much patience to wait several years. LOL
I had a positive experience this year with fresh seeds of M. saboae group- especially roczekii; also theresae and deherdiana.
And there're some good results from cacti lovers I know.

[Jenya]

My precious!
27 seeds.
Now I put them into fridge for 1 week at least.
And the first portion will be drained and scarified.
The rest, well, the rest will be resting

[Fatich]

Any update?

[Jenya]

Yes. Unfortunately (or lucky me) only 5 seedlings from 27 seeds.
6 months passed after germination.
First of all, they are very very slow. They are 6 months now and still very very small.
I tried different techniques - more water, less water; more light, less light - but that doesn't change much.
In brighter light the seedlings tends to become more reddish. So I shade them a little. I grow them under LED light with full spectrum 50W - pretty bright one.
So during winter I will keep them in the same conditions. Hope they will grow faster after all.

If anyone has their own tips, I would appreciate them.

[Aiko]

I don't think many will have experience with them yet. Some that have tried have just gone through the phase of grafting them, so probably even less experience growing them on their own roots. I will only try to grow them myself when the seeds are more easy to obtain. Should not take long, as I already have seen many grafted plants on sale a month ago in a succulent fair in Belgium. Some of those where already flowering, even though still small, about one or one and a half centimeter. Maybe next year or the year after that seeds will become easier / cheaper to obtain in Europe.

[mdpillet]

No more difficult than M. theresae in my opinion! Much more beautiful grown hard on own root.

[Aiko]

No more difficult than M. theresae in my opinion! Much more beautiful grown hard on own root.

Have you tried it already?

[Jenya]

Actually, I sowed M. theresae last year, and might say it's faster. Even M.goldii is much faster than bertholdii.
But as always with grandiflorae group you have to watch carefully as they prone to die suddenly. I lost nice 1.5 year old goldii, and barely saved, grafting, M. deherdiana.

[mdpillet]

No more difficult than M. theresae in my opinion! Much more beautiful grown hard on own root.

Have you tried it already?

Yes, someone in town has two grafted clones which have been heavily propagated already. I degrafted mine and rooted them. New growth is now much less bloated. I hope to have seed next year.

[Fatich]

No more difficult than M. theresae in my opinion! Much more beautiful grown hard on own root.

Have you tried it already?

I ve also tried theresae but couldnt manage to germinate them.
But last year i managed to germinate some luethyi seeds.
I talked with a japanese guy on instagram, he sowed 60 bertholdii seeds and only 2 of them germinated, he said the seeds are from his own plants.