A. ritteri seedlings for sale on Ebay

[Driller64]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/aztekium-ritter ... 3394b56fd1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gah, it's so tempting to buy one (or ask Dad to buy one) but I'm not sure I have the space or he will agree to it because of the price. I have some seeds I recently sowed but they still haven't come up yet. Is it worth it?

[Aiko]

Recently sowed? Maybe a bit too late in the year. I always sow Aztekiums in april. They come up nicely. But I do use the socalled 'baggy method', and leave them in the bag for at least two years. Have not had success 'just' sowing them without precautions like the bag and very well sterilised soil. It's not hard to sow Aztekium or to sterilise the soil (just use an old pan and cook the moist soil well for a few minutes, maybe more). Then place a clean pot with the sterilised warm (but not hot) soil, place the pot in some cooked water so it will absorb moist, sprinkle the seeds on top and place it in a well closed up bag (maybe use an additional bag for extra safety) and leave the pot in there for a year or two (don't open the bag in the mean time!), occasionally peak through the transparent bag to see how the seedlings are doing.

[Steve Johnson]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/aztekium-ritter ... 3394b56fd1

Gah, it's so tempting to buy one (or ask Dad to buy one) but I'm not sure I have the space or he will agree to it because of the price. I have some seeds I recently sowed but they still haven't come up yet. Is it worth it?

Nope, not tempting at all. If the seller were in the US, I'd buy one in a heartbeat with that price under the "buy it now" option. Getting cacti from Europe means having to pay for the plant plus shipping plus whatever phytosanitary cert costs you'd have to pay for. Then how long would it take for the item to hit one's doorstep? As much as I'd like to get an Aztekium ritteri on its own roots, I'm not holding my breath for an American nursery on this one.

[Aiko]

If they are tiny enough to fit a normal post box slide, you can ask the sender to wrap the plant(s) in a match box or an other small cardboard box or anything else that is firm, stick that in an envelope and getting that one mailed as an padded envelope and not a parcel. Mailing to the US for an envelope will be maybe two or three dollars (depending on weight) for most European countries I reckon, and an envelope can be with you within in a week. Safes you the trouble of phytos or anything else. I have done this many times before with seedlings and seeds, sending them like that all around the world. So your main problem would be if the plants are small enough and the seller is willing to send them to you in an envelope.

[Driller64]

I don't really pay attention to when I sow my seeds. I don't really see the point to sowing at specific times, your house is warm all year round and as long as you can simulate the suitable temperatures for germination, why wouldn't they germinate? Aztekium is by far one of the difficult cacti to grow from seed IMO. For some reason whenever I sow Aztekium seeds they always get attacked by fungi and none of them make it. But then again that was when I was using miracle Gro soil so that might change with my new soil. I currently have one well growing Aztekium hintonii seedling that was tough enough to survive a fungal attack that killed all its "brothers". I hope it lives to maturity.

I sowed the A. ritteri seeds with the intention of grafting them. They will be used for seed production if the grafts take. When does A. ritteri typically flower when grafted on Pereskiopsis?

[Saxicola]

If they are tiny enough to fit a normal post box slide, you can ask the sender to wrap the plant(s) in a match box or an other small cardboard box or anything else that is firm, stick that in an envelope and getting that one mailed as an padded envelope and not a parcel. Mailing to the US for an envelope will be maybe two or three dollars (depending on weight) for most European countries I reckon, and an envelope can be with you within in a week. Safes you the trouble of phytos or anything else. I have done this many times before with seedlings and seeds, sending them like that all around the world. So your main problem would be if the plants are small enough and the seller is willing to send them to you in an envelope.

Do be aware that while this might work, it is flat out illegal. You would be violating US law and the international CITES agreement and could potentially get a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. The seller would also be violating the law of their home country.

[Aiko]

I don't really pay attention to when I sow my seeds.

Then you should start to pay attention. Aztekium is not for the ones not interested in putting in some effort when sowing.
Why would you sow late in the year when there is no light to get them growing once germinated? Sow them in spring or very late winter, then at least they can get to a decent size (relative speaking) before dormancy of next winter arrives.

Aztekium is by far one of the difficult cacti to grow from seed IMO. For some reason whenever I sow Aztekium seeds they always get attacked by fungi and none of them make it.

It is a hard one to start from seeds. The only real successful method I know of is the baggy method. Even with good sterilisation and clean sowing your pots might end up with fungus or algae. The latter is not that bad. I have a few pots that are in a bag for two years and the seedlings inside are still fine. But then again, some pots ended up with something black and nasty on top of the soil, and these I could throw away. Some pots just get algae, no matter what. But this only goes for about half of the pots I have sowed Aztekium or Blossfeldia in. The other half of the pots are filled with very very very slowly growing seedlings. I think I have about twenty pots of very little fluffy Aztekiums by now, both A. ritteri and A. hintonii.

[Brunãozinho]

It's not hard to sow Aztekium or to sterilise the soil (just use an old pan and cook the moist soil well for a few minutes, maybe more). Then place a clean pot with the sterilised warm (but not hot) soil, place the pot in some cooked water so it will absorb moist, sprinkle the seeds on top and place it in a well closed up bag (maybe use an additional bag for extra safety) and leave the pot in there for a year or two (don't open the bag in the mean time!), occasionally peak through the transparent bag to see how the seedlings are doing.

Hi Aiko,
I cook the soil too, I wash the seeds with bleach before sowing. But I put some bleach in the bag and I believe this prevents fungi.
I have done experiments without using bleach and results were good too.
So you don't use anything other to prevent fungi? no fungicide or anything else?

I don't really pay attention to when I sow my seeds. I don't really see the point to sowing at specific time (...) For some reason whenever I sow Aztekium seeds they always get attacked by fungi and none of them make it.

That's why attention to details is needed!

[Aiko]

I cook the soil too, I wash the seeds with bleach before sowing. But I put some bleach in the bag and I believe this prevents fungi.
I have done experiments without using bleach and results were good too.
So you don't use anything other to prevent fungi? no fungicide or anything else?

Good you asked. No, I don't use anything else, so no fungicide, and I don't further clean the seeds (they are tiny!).
My soil is very mineral, a mix of 50% loam and 50% sand with big particles. I have a pan filled with this, add a lot of rainwater and mix that up. I then boil the entire content. It is a boiling soup of loam. At some point most of the water has evaporated (or I will try to pour out most of excess water) and I have a gooey loam/sand mix left. I fill the pots with the still boiling hot mix with the use of a clean spoon, and place the filled pots in a tray with still warm water (I had boiled in a tea cattle while the soil was boiling in the pan). This water is not rainwater, but tap water. Maybe not much of a difference, but I think tapwater is a bit on the safer side when it comes to fungi and such. I let the pots soak the water up for a minute or so, until I can clearly see on the top of the soil it is very moist again. By then the soil has cooled down a lot, and I can sow the seeds. Immediately after I place the label and put the pots in the bag and close the bag (with a zip lock) up. You can immediately see the inside of the bag getting foggy. That's it. Now the seeds can try to germinate and the seedlings will have enough moist to last a few years if the bag is properly closed.

[Driller64]

Then you should start to pay attention. Aztekium is not for the ones not interested in putting in some effort when sowing.
Why would you sow late in the year when there is no light to get them growing once germinated?

I use gro lights to start seeds and grow cacti. Never would I rely on something as unpredictable as The Sun.

[DWDogwood]

And you wonder how nature ever let's these things grow in habitat!
I had 6 little calcified 3 year old smaller-than-a-pea-sized seedlings that just turned plumpy green with a transplant and then 5 shriveled up and died. The water in the original seed pot used to pass right thru the grit. They must not have liked the fresh mix much.
Meanwhile another one I'd grafted early on onto opuntia basilaris has made a presence of itself in the greenhouse.

[DaveW]

When you see how they grow in habitat you wonder why we need the baggie method. However what proportion of the millions of seed produced actually germinate in habitat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_voav4dEWg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Driller64]

When you see how they grow in habitat you wonder why we need the baggie method. However what proportion of the millions of seed produced actually germinate in habitat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_voav4dEWg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why not the bigger question, how many of the ones that germinate actually make it to maturity lol

I think the reason Aztekium species are so hard to grow is because of their small range. They are only native to a small valley in Mexico right, so they have disallowed - see forum rules to grow under the conditions of that valley. However this makes them unadaptive to the new conditions in cultivation and makes them hard to grow.

I'm gong to graft my A. ritteri seedlings in the spring to Pereskiopsis so I won't have to wait 15 years for them to flower and set seed. Let's just hope I can even see them by then lol

[Driller64]

What you've all wanted to see:

image.jpg (44.96 KiB) Viewed 2426 times

My A. hintonii seedling! I didn't write the exact date of sprouting down, but I just checked my seed sowing records and I think it sprouted around May or June. The seeds were sown in May. It's actually grown larger than I expected considering it's the second slowest growing cactus in the world. At least my grandkids will be able to enjoy growing it's seeds though lol

[Brunãozinho]

Good you asked. No, I don't use anything else, so no fungicide, and I don't further clean the seeds (they are tiny!).
(...)
Now the seeds can try to germinate and the seedlings will have enough moist to last a few years if the bag is properly closed.

Hi Aiko, thanks for the answer.

considering it's the second slowest growing cactus in the world.

which is the first one?