Brooklyn's Seed Growing Journey

[brooklynbridge24]

Hi all. I've been reading member's seed growing stories for a while now and it's inspired me to grow my own cacti and succulents from seed. So a bit about myself, I'm 19 and live in student dormitories during the university term but move back home during holidays. This makes space and transport a bit of a problem with my plants, so growing seedlings while at uni means I'll still be able to keep some of my plants with me. I bought my first cacti in June last year so I'm fairly new to growing cacti and succulents and might make quite a few novice mistakes. I'd really appreciate any advice or comments on what I might be doing wrong and how I can fix it. Hope you you find my journey a little interesting...

So living in Australia makes buying seeds a little difficult for me. I have no idea what the laws are for buying seeds from overseas so I played it safe and bought from OzCactus and OzLithops. I ordered the following on the 22nd of April:

OzCactus
- Aloinopsis luckhoffii
- Aloinopsis malherbei
- Aloinopsis rosulata
- Astrophytum capricorne
- Astrophytum myriostigma
- Astrophytum ornatum
- Cheiridopsis peculiaris
- Echinocactus grusonii v. albispinus
- Ferocactus coloratus
- Ferocactus glaucescens
- Ferocactus latispinus
- Gymnocalycium baldianum
- Gymnocalycium chubutense
- Gymnocalycium saglionis
- Mammillaria candida
- Mammillarai hahniana
- Mammillaria plumosa
- Mammillaria Zeilmanniana

OzLithops
- Conophytum limpidum
- Conophytum maughanii
- Conophytum simplum
- Conophytum violaciflorum

My setup is very simple. I used round plastic takeaway containers approximately 7cm wide and 4cm deep and placed 11 of these in a plastic tub with a lid to make transportation easier and avoid any being knocked over.

My seedling mix consists of 1 part coir, 1 part potting mix, 2 parts perlite, 1 part gravel, and 1 part zeolite. All parts were sifted through a 4mm sieve beforehand and afterward the mix was soaked with water.

Seedling mix

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I half filled the containers with the wet seedling mix and then microwaved the entire tub setup for 3 minutes. After the mix had cooled I sowed approximately 10 seeds per container.

All my seeds had arrived by the 28th so I decided to sow on the 29th. There were 22 packs that were said to contain 20 seeds but it appeared as if most packs had 25 seeds so I decided to split the packs into 2 sets of each species with approximately 10 seeds/species/set. I'll run the first set of each species for a few weeks then later start the second set, so if I make any mistakes with the first I can adjust my method with the second.

On the 29th of April I only got round to sowing 1 batch of seeds. The 11 species I chose to sow first were:
1. Astrophytum myriostigma
2. Astrophytum capricorne
3. Astrophytum ornatum
4. Ferocactus latispinus
5. Ferocactus glaucescens
6. Ferocactus coloratus
7. Mammillaria plumosa
8. Mammillaria hahniana
9. Mammillaria zeilmanniana
10. Mammillaria candida
11. Echinocactus grusonii v. albispinus

Seedling setup

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[mdpillet]

Excellent idea to split in two! Please keep us updated with results!

[brooklynbridge24]

Thanks mdpillet. Seems to be already paying off. I have checked my seeds this afternoon and to my great delight the Astrophytum capricorne, Astrophytum ornatum and Ferocactus coloratus have started to germinate. However, I am very displeased to find that several of the containers have a spiderweb-like growth in them which I'm assuming is a kind of fungus. It seems to radiate from several of the seeds so I assume they were carrying the spores before they entered the containers. I've read about sterilizing seeds before and after sowing with a fungicide but I'm still uncertain as to what products I should use and at what concentration. I've also read that some fungicides reduce germination rates so would I be better off just leaving the seedlings to try and survive the fungus or should I invest in a fungicide for my future seeds?

[brooklynbridge24]

So it's been a week since I sowed my first ever batch of seeds. I'm amazed at how quick the Astrophytum germinated. The species that have germinated so far are:
1. Astrophytum myriostigma = 4/10
2. Astrophytum capricorne = 8/10
3. Astrophytum ornatum = 6/10
4. Ferocactus latispinus = 1/10
6. Ferocactus coloratus = 9/10
I'm hoping the Mammillaria will start soon.

I also sowed my second batch of seeds...
12. Gymnocalycium baldianum
13. Gymnocalycium chubutense
14. Gymnocalycium saglionis
15. Aloinopsis luckhofii
16. Aloinopsis malherbei
17. Aloinopsis rosulata
18. Conophytum bilobum
19. Conophytum limpidum
20. Conophytum maughanii
21. Conophytum violaciflorum
22. Cheiridopsis peculiaris
Since the Conophytum seeds were so small, I sprinkled a layer of sand over my seedling mix before sowing them.

Hopefully I will have some photos of my seedlings in a couple of weeks.

[mikej]

I've had issues with mold on seeds too, and my solution has been to pretreat the seeds with dilute bleach. I just take normal chlorine bleach and dilute it a bit in a bowl (I usually go something like 20/25% bleach and the rest tap water), I fold the seeds inside a paper towel, and gently swish it in the bleach for about a minute. Then I thoroughly rinse the paper towel several times, finishing with a soak in a bowl of fresh water to make sure I get the bleach off. (I've read a few scientific papers that mention sanitizing cactus seeds, and using chlorine bleach seems fairly common, though sometimes they use higher concentrations or longer soaking periods.)

I've only done a few batches of seeds so far, but since I started this, my issues with mold have been reduced, and my germination still seems good. It's worth a shot before going for a fungicide, in my opinion.

[brooklynbridge24]

Thanks mikej. I will certainly look into it because it seems like fungus is growing over most of my Gymnocalycium baldianum seeds. Only 1 has germinated and I feel like it's going to be taken by the fungi too. I have also lost 1 Astrophytum myriostigma seedling to the fungus. I did a quick search online and through some research articles and found 10 minutes in a 2-3% sodium hypochlorite solution to be rather common. I'll try it with my 3rd batch of seeds and hopefully it works out alright.

[brooklynbridge24]

UPDATE
Batch 1 Germination 2 weeks after sowing
1. Astrophytum myriostigma = 6/10 (1 was removed yesterday due to fungus)
2. Astrophytum capricorne = 8/10
3. Astrophytum ornatum = 6/10
4. Ferocactus latispinus = 3/10
5. Ferocactus glaucescens = 4/10
6. Ferocactus coloratus = 10/10
7. Mammillaria plumosa = 2/10
8. Mammillaria hahniana = 4/10
9. Mammillaria zeilmanniana = 6/10
10. Mammillaria candida = 0/10
11. Echinocactus grusonii v. albispinus = 10/10

Some students accidentally knocked over the batch 1 containers so I took the risk of opening them and fixing the buried seedlings using sterilized tweezers.

Batch 2 Germination 1 week after sowing
12. Gymnocalycium baldianum = 0/10
13. Gymnocalycium chubutense = 0/10
14. Gymnocalycium saglionis = 0/10
15. Aloinopsis luckhofii = 5/10
16. Aloinopsis malherbei = 2/10
17. Aloinopsis rosulata = 0/10
18. Conophytum bilobum = 4/10
19. Conophytum limpidum = 0/10
20. Conophytum maughanii = 1/10
21. Conophytum violaciflorum = 0/10
22. Cheiridopsis peculiaris = 2/10

The Aloinopsis seedlings grew tall very quickly and its kinda worried me. I read on a few other threads that I should reduce the humidity fairly early and increase the amount of sunlight for mesembs otherwise they etiolate. I'm rather unsure of what to do because my Conophytums seem rather ok in the high humidity at the moment. So any advice on what to do would be appreciated.

It's difficult to get photos through the containers but here's some dodgy pics of my seedlings

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[mikej]

Thanks mikej. I will certainly look into it because it seems like fungus is growing over most of my Gymnocalycium baldianum seeds. Only 1 has germinated and I feel like it's going to be taken by the fungi too. I have also lost 1 Astrophytum myriostigma seedling to the fungus. I did a quick search online and through some research articles and found 10 minutes in a 2-3% sodium hypochlorite solution to be rather common. I'll try it with my 3rd batch of seeds and hopefully it works out alright.

Good luck! Keep in mind that the bleach you buy usually ranges from about 5%-8% sodium hypochlorite, depending on the brand and if it's "concentrated" or not.

[7george]

Some remarks:
1. Microwaving works just with wet objects so bleaching or using peroxide is better option for pots, lids and seeds, plus rinsing with clean water after that. Also use clean or boiled water for keeping seed or seedlings wet.
2. The organic content in the mix suggests deeper boiling/steaming of the wet soil: at least 15 min.
3. Some seeds may need more than 1 -2 weeks to germinate esp. if temps are not high.
4. Hope the sun/light you will have to use there would be strong enough down there in Australia.

Good luck!

[brooklynbridge24]

Thanks for the advice 7george.
With the microwaving, I did my second batch for 8 minutes because I added a bit too much water than planned but it was already boiling after 3 minutes. I microwave my soil already in the containers so it's only a depth of 2cm with diameter of 7cm. Since this is a very small amount, it heats very easily which is why I don't feel it's necessary to microwave longer than 10 mins.
About the temperature and sunlight. We are going into winter but I keep the seedlings in a rather warm and sunny position but since you are from Canada our definition of warm and sunny are probably different. I think south east Queensland has temps and sunlight close to where many mesembs and cacti come from.

Also I bought bleach yesterday. The label says the following:
Active ingredient: Sodium Hypochlorite = 42g/L (Available chlorine = 4%m/v)
Since it is 4%, I assume I mix it with water at a 1:1 ratio to get a 2% solution. I hope this will be adequate to sterilize the seeds.