E. Pachanoi/Peruvianus Hybrid Seedling

[globose]

This type was the first cactus I got and I killed it by overheating on a cold night when I was trying to keep my seedlings warm. I know seedlings are hard to take care of but I think I might be killing my new one too. It's about an inch tall and I bought it on ebay.

I thought San Pedros liked lots of sun and heat so I set it out in a shadier spot with my big cactus during the day to soak up the rays. I think it's still getting too hot. It's not sunburned but some days it takes on a slightly reddish hue. Watering helps a bit but I'm scared of over watering, especially as the new soil I got doesn't have nearly as much pearlite.

Now it's getting some wrinkles on one side. It's been naturally bent on that side since I got it but I don't think they where there before. I can't tell if it's soft or not since it's so small and thin but it does seem a little easily bendable. There are no obvious marks on the skin.

My hunch is that it's on a downward slope but the best thing would be to leave it in a cool, shady windowsill for a while.

I guess I got jealous because I saw someone on Youtube with the same cactus from the same seller that tripled in size in a month and mine is still itty bitty but now I paid too much attention to them.

So my question is, is it saveable or should I not expect to see this guy get better?

[globose]

anyone? I've been leaving it in and it's looking a little better

[greenknight]

Then you're probably on the right track.

Young seedlings are not as tough as old established plants, and that's a pretty small seedling - but you knew that. You'll just have to judge by how it responds to the conditions, and adjust accordingly. Nobody here know knows as much about those conditions as you do, and you haven't even posted a picture of the plant. In any case, no one can predict the future, just give it your best shot.

[globose]

Then you're probably on the right track.

Young seedlings are not as tough as old established plants, and that's a pretty small seedling - but you knew that. You'll just have to judge by how it responds to the conditions, and adjust accordingly. Nobody here know knows as much about those conditions as you do, and you haven't even posted a picture of the plant. In any case, no one can predict the future, just give it your best shot.

I was more looking for general thoughts based on others' experiences with sick seedling care. I was really worried and wanted to know if anyone else had seen a seedling recover from similar conditions. I would have taken a picture but I don't have a camera and my phone's too blurry to see anything.

Not to sound snippy, I understand where your coming from. Thanks for the reply.

[greenknight]

Doesn't sound like it was really sick, just showing a little stress. All you can do is change the conditions it's in to try and make it happier. You did, and it's looking better, so you seem to have the problem figured out.

It may be that it was too abrupt of a change,you just need to harden it t outdoor conditions more gradually. Once it's perked up, try putting it out in a more sheltered location. You have to subject a plant that's been grown under cover to some stress in order to harden it, the tricky part is judging how much it can take without hurting it.

[globose]

Doesn't sound like it was really sick, just showing a little stress. All you can do is change the conditions it's in to try and make it happier. You did, and it's looking better, so you seem to have the problem figured out.

It may be that it was too abrupt of a change,you just need to harden it t outdoor conditions more gradually. Once it's perked up, try putting it out in a more sheltered location. You have to subject a plant that's been grown under cover to some stress in order to harden it, the tricky part is judging how much it can take without hurting it.

that's actually really good to hear, I haven't been at this long and was thinking these reactions would make it weaker in the long run. It is an extremely touchy little guy.

[greenknight]

What color is it when it's not turning red? Both parent species are somewhat glaucous (ie, blue-looking), this appearance is due to a waxy coating on the skin which helps protect it from the sun and retain moisture. They need good light to develop this, If it hasn't that would make it more vulnerable to sunburn and dehydration.

It should be a fast grower, though, the fact that it's not growng well is somewhat worrying. Did it have enough time to get established in its current pot before you introduced it to the outdoors?

San Pedros are vulnerable to sunburn, you'll still have to be careful about that even when it's older. It's natural to assume that sunburn would be less of a problem in a place like Seattle (I've read your other posts), but that's not the case. Plants here get little sun over the Winter and much of the Spring, by the time clear weather arrives the sun is high in the sky and very intense. This makes it easy to sunburn cacti in late Spring/early Summer. I sunburned my Echinocereus pentalophus this year, a species that should be able to take full sun, by not being gradual enough at getting it used to the sun. This climate poses special challenges to growing cacti, so don't feel bad if you have failures - even after many years of experience I still get it wrong sometimes.

[globose]

What color is it when it's not turning red? Both parent species are somewhat glaucous (ie, blue-looking), this appearance is due to a waxy coating on the skin which helps protect it from the sun and retain moisture. They need good light to develop this, If it hasn't that would make it more vulnerable to sunburn and dehydration.

It should be a fast grower, though, the fact that it's not growng well is somewhat worrying. Did it have enough time to get established in its current pot before you introduced it to the outdoors?

San Pedros are vulnerable to sunburn, you'll still have to be careful about that even when it's older. It's natural to assume that sunburn would be less of a problem in a place like Seattle (I've read your other posts), but that's not the case. Plants here get little sun over the Winter and much of the Spring, by the time clear weather arrives the sun is high in the sky and very intense. This makes it easy to sunburn cacti in late Spring/early Summer. I sunburned my Echinocereus pentalophus this year, a species that should be able to take full sun, by not being gradual enough at getting it used to the sun. This climate poses special challenges to growing cacti, so don't feel bad if you have failures - even after many years of experience I still get it wrong sometimes.

It's very, very green. Not much blue to it at all. I actually moved it to a smaller pot fairly recently but it wasn't in it's old one for long. I just didn't have a better place to put it at first. It has pretty good roots but is probably not well established. I probably put it outdoors too soon after I got it (maybe a week) if that's the case. It has actually been a pretty intense summer for the Pacific Northwest, though most days don't get above the mid 90s. I have a number of other succulents that have grown like crazy, the only one that's died this summer is my other San Pedro, so I don't know what it is about me that they seem to hate. Probably just too small and sensitive to handle the transition between my apartment with little natural light to the hot sun.

I'm moving soon to a sunnier place and I just got an aquarium with a light to repurpose to a San Pedro seedling habitat over the winter. I also have 56 Pachanoi seedlings I grew that are only a few months old. I hope it'll be happier there.

Thanks so much for the help, I've learned a lot from your last few posts.

[greenknight]

You're welcome.

Yes, I would have waited a couple weeks at least. When it gets hot around here, the humidity is usually real low, sucks the moisture right out of the plants - especially when the east winds are blowing. Probably why that one was getting wrinkled.

Shoot, I have a Ferocactus about 4" in diameter that was moved into a 6" pot last year, started wrinkling in one of those hot spells. Only been about a week since it was watered. I wasn't even sure it would be needing water yet, and here it was starting to shrivel. Conditions here can be surprisingly harsh.

[globose]

That probably explains why my frailea castanea seedlings keep turning bright red when I set them out even when it's really shady... They grew in the same pot as the parent plant.

[greenknight]

It's actually normal for Frailea castanea to be reddish-brown, but not bright red. See this page: Frailea castanea

Same thing applies, though - if they've been under cover, they need to be gradually acclimatized to the harsher conditions outside.

[globose]

Well, they are turning reddish brown like a grown frailea, but at one point when they were outside they were bright green then a couple hours later bright red. Watered them and the next morning green again. Just moved all my very young plants to their permanent winter home, though and they are looking good.

[globose]

Hmm... So, I put this plant in a terrarium and it has been sitting there about a week relatively undisturbed, except when I just picked it up to look at it and it seemed pretty unstable. Weirdly, it seems to have detached itself from it's main roots. It has a couple little stub ones. The plant itself seems firmer and better colored than ever though, so it doesn't seem sick. It even seems like it's grown a tiny bit. I guess I'll just leave it alone and see what it does.

[greenknight]

There you go, that's why it was acting that way - the old roots didn't survive. Either they'd suffered too much damage, or you subjected the plant to hot, dry conditions before the roots had healed enough, and it sucked the moisture out of the roots to survive.

Now it's growing new roots, those little stubs you see. I'd expect to see the top growing, too - they start to grow as soon as they have any roots at all. I trust you put it in fresh potting mix, not the stuff full of dead roots.

It should be fine now. Keep it in the hospital until it has a good root system - so near the end of summer now, I'm sure that means the rest of this growing season. Since you've got it under lights, you could keep it growing over the winter, that way it may be ready to acclimatize to the outdoors by next Spring.