Pompoms first seeds

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Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by Pompom »

ElieEstephane wrote: Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:47 pm You can use tweezers or hold the cactus with thick gloves or a piece of cloth and lift it a few cms to pick the pod. I'd go with option 1
With tweezers I'll try then! I really hope they are small enough since I really don't want to move the plant itself. I was also thinking about dropping the fruit onto the soil and then move it with a chopstick to the other side of pot where there is more space to pick it up. I also thought if I could use a needle to pierce the fruit and lift it out. And I also thought to wait for the growing season to start and harvest while changing the soil. So many options, so hard to decide what to do... :lol:
Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

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Two more fruits has poked out! I'm considering to sow all seeds from the first fruit in the same pot since there are more to come anyways and I'm lacking of space. I think there is room enough for three pots so three fruits, three pots. What do you think?
There will be coming about 4 fruits (if all flower bases will form the fruit) more at some point and I'm not sure what to do to those. Should I taste them?
I also was wondering if it's OK to sow the seeds in a transparent pot? Boxes with mini tomatoes I buy from store are just perfect sized. They are 7x10cm and 6cm deep. The plastic is PET plastic so for sowing the material should be safe at least.
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by ElieEstephane »

Good to hear! Transparent pots are not such a good idea as mould and algae will develop further down the soil if they see light. And the size is too big. You want something around 5x5 per fruit. Smaller pots help regulate excess water better. If you must use these boxes:
1. Wrap the box till the soil line with opaque tape or something similar. I'm assuming the box has drainage holes.
2. Plant 3 fruits in the box and 1 fruit in a small container as a backup
Btw, i heard that mammillaria fruits should be delicious.
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by Pompom »

Thanks again Elie! I don't have to use the tomatoe boxes, so I just buy salad in a pot. That should be proper sized. (I try to save the nature or something, so in my opinion it would be such a waste to buy only the pots if I can buy something and get the pot with it) But if I use the big box, I'll follow your introductions.
Looking forward to the tasting!! Btw, it feels it's taking forewer for the fruit ripen. It's touching the soil now, such a wrong way to grow. I'm afraid the other fruit poking out next to it does just the same, it's growing even slightly lower... what a pain
Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by Pompom »

I planted the first seeds today (even when you told me to wait). Checked the first fruit and it was starting to shrivel, so I decided it's its time to get off.

It was pretty easy to get the fruit out, got it out with tweezers. The fruit was soft and saggy so I believe my timing was good enough. I was expecting the seeds are tiny BUT THEY WERE SO TINY! At first I didn't even notice they were there. Overall in the fruit had 18 seeds (or 19. Made a mistake, took only one picture from where I thought I can easily count them, and didn't check the quality. Don't know if one in the middle is one or two. And didn't count when sowing). Planted the seeds in a 6cm diameter pot.
All went well and now I start waiting for the germination. Wish me luck!
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by ElieEstephane »

The cactus growing bug is creeping slowly into your life =D> Next thing you know you'll be surrounded by cacti!
If all goes well, you should have sprouts between 1 and 2 weeks.
You sterilized everything right? And washed the seeds?
Good luck!
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by Pompom »

ElieEstephane wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:15 pm The cactus growing bug is creeping slowly into your life =D> Next thing you know you'll be surrounded by cacti!
If all goes well, you should have sprouts between 1 and 2 weeks.
You sterilized everything right? And washed the seeds?
Good luck!
Surrounded indeed... I have two pots to go so there will be, if I'm lucky, approximately 30 seedlings. What in the world do I do with 30 seedlings :shock:
I tried to sterilize everything as well as I could. Microwaved the soil, boiled the water, washed everything I use, washed the seeds as well as possible (I hope I didn't lose some on the table, they were sticky...)

And yeah... My friend got some kind of aloe which has babies and asked if I want one. Of course I want.
Oh the aloes. I'm not sure if I like them or not, they are too hard for me. I killed one and the one rooting has painful story behind. It feels like the first time I give the rooting one a bad look, it just dies. These plants are not as forgiving for me like the others are. They just die. They don't feel anger or have a fighting power, they are just depressed and just give up if something goes wrong.
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by ElieEstephane »

The seedlings won't be a problem before at least 2 years :lol: the grow painfully fast ](*,)
As for aloes, i love them and i find them very forgiving! It's one of my favorite genera and can deal with cooler weather than cacti.
I have a balcony full of them and plan to have more!
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There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by ElieEstephane »

No germination yet?
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by Pompom »

ElieEstephane wrote: Mon Feb 19, 2018 7:51 am No germination yet?
Oh yes! The first ones germinated a week ago! In a week 16 have germinated one after other. They are so precious and I'm so clumsy, so I've been afraid if I moved the pot to better place to take a picture I'd accidentally knock the pot over.
I'll take the picture soon, move the pot with two hands, move steadily, try not to shake. My hands shake a lot if I handle something small and fragile. You should've seen me sowing the seeds, I'm surprised if I really got all the seeds in the pot :lol:
Some of the seedlings seem to have no green, but they are still so young I believe it's nothing to worry about yet. They look great to me. Also sowed second batch on 11th, did put seeds from two fruits in that one. Those haven't germinated yet, which is surprising as the first ones germinated in a week.
Stay tuned! :mrgreen: Picture is coming soon!
Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

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There you go! Seems I've counted one twice, since in picture I see only 15 seedlings. The one little white spot in back is also tiny seedling. Three light ones in the middle worry me little, but they'll be alright? If they really lack of chlorophyll, will they just die and rot and make all the others sick? Anyways, I'm proud I succeed to get them even germinated. There is no nasty growth visible yet, so I did kinda well sterilizing everything, I believe, I'm not sure though since this is my first time.
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Armen Tsirunyan
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by Armen Tsirunyan »

You can sow them as soon as you clean them and they will germinate very fast (my record is 2 days)
My record is 6 hours (Astophytum asterias seeds :) )
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by ElieEstephane »

Great progress Pompom! I like your little seedlings! The yellow ones could have lots of chlorophyll. At this stage nothing can be too clear. Don't worry about about them dying, i have a variegated echinopsis that's still alive since aughust. It's just sitting there, the same size it was when it germinated, refusing to die. Gotta admire its spirit!
Best of luck with your seedlings!
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by ElieEstephane »

Armen Tsirunyan wrote: Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:42 am
You can sow them as soon as you clean them and they will germinate very fast (my record is 2 days)
My record is 6 hours (Astophytum asterias seeds :) )
Wow! Thats crazy
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
Pompom
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Re: Pompoms first seeds

Post by Pompom »

ElieEstephane wrote: Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:36 pm Great progress Pompom! I like your little seedlings! The yellow ones could have lots of chlorophyll. At this stage nothing can be too clear. Don't worry about about them dying, i have a variegated echinopsis that's still alive since aughust. It's just sitting there, the same size it was when it germinated, refusing to die. Gotta admire its spirit!
Best of luck with your seedlings!
Thanks! You see right, they are so precious little things :love10: I really don't want to ruin them by moving the pot if it's not necessary, so no frequent pictures. Maybe one in couple months. I really love the one in the middle, light one. It's so round and perfectly ball shaped, it's super cute.
I'm curious what they're going to end up looking. The fact is, it has flowered somewhere else. I can't be 100% positive if they are just karwinskiana or do they have something else with their genes, only time will tell.
Nice to hear about your echinopsis! You'll have to graft it or something, sounds like it wants to stay with you. :lol:

Do I remember correctly, now they start to settle down and don't grow as fast they've grown past two weeks? Some of them have that little depression on the top so I assume they start to develop spines next? Tiny, mini, precious spines... :D
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