A Wish has been Granted

[Robb]

There seems to be a great reluctance to set cactus seed Ian, everybody wants mature plants but by the time they get one they could have raised it from seed.

I totally agree with you, Dave. I have seen "Rare" plants go for highly inflated prices on Trade me, as very few nurseries stock those kinds of plants. Because of the scarcity of the the plants I want, I have to grow almost anything I want from seed. I must say that although I would always prefer a fully grown plant, nothing can rival the satisfaction you get from growing plants from seed, and the joy you get from the first flowers of a species.

[KittieKAT]

I agree Robb that's why i grow the majority ofmy plants, Thoe lophs are kinda hard to find in my region but now that i have found people that sell some kinds of lophs via seeds on sites ...except for a few i can't find online, but i find you can buy multiple seeds for less then you can pay for one plant, and u can get prob 2 or 3 outta the seeds depending on how much you sow

[DaveW]

If you have a lot of Lophophora seeds of the same species sow them in smaller batches over a couple of years or so KittieKAT, that way you spread the risk as some years seed seems to germinate better than others, often depending on the seed age as well as climate. Some seed germinates best when young, whereas other seed needs aging before optimum germination occurs.

What Lophophora species are you after as seed, as some on the Forum may know of a source?

[Onzuka]

Take a look at this link.

http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 31&t=33990" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's really not a lot of reason why anyone wanting a L.w should not have one. I have lots of plants, many around 25 - 30 mm diameter and some have flowered already. I also have seeds from 2014 and will have lots and lots in the spring when the weather warms a bit.

So, PM me and let's talk!

Steve

[DaveW]

Make sure you do not cross pollinate different species Steve so isolate them before flowering and don't return them to the greenhouse until after flowering to avoid open pollination from other species in the same greenhouse, that is unless you only grow L. williamsii or you will finish up with nondescript hybrid seed. I think I have around 14 plants now and most of the supposed species including L. alberto-vojtechii and most came as seedlings with habitat localities that somebody on the BCSS Forum raised in the UK from seed.

Don't know if your odd Lophophora at the end of your link has flowered, but it looks more like diffusa on the right of my picture below?

Left to right L. williamsii, L. frickii, L. diffusa.

lophophora's.jpg (99.21 KiB) Viewed 1956 times

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/LOPHOP ... iffusa.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Onzuka]

Hi Dave

Thanks for the pics. All of mine that have flowered are williamsii and have the pale pink flowers with the slightly darker pink centre stripe. The oddball, which certainly looks a lot like your diffusa has never flowered, but it must be about old and big enough now. Just by chance, it lives in my other greenhouse, well away from the williamsiis, and after your comments, it will remain there! I never intervene with the williamsii pollination, so either its being done by insects or utilising the self-fertility of williamsii. Either way, I get lots of seeds and they are well fertile.

Steve

[Onzuka]

I've just noticed your link, Dave. The diffusas are certainly well varied, ranging from negligible tufting to really quite heavy. The common feature is the white flowers, so I'll keep a lookout for those. If everything is as it should be, I'll not get any seeds. My understanding is that the diffusas are self-sterile and I only have the one plant.

Steve

[DaveW]

I sometimes wonder just how many real species of Lophophora there really are Steve since most could simply be considered flower and body variations of a single species. The main division seems to be between the williamsii group and the diffusa's:-

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/LOPHOP ... hresii.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/LOPHOP ... _frici.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't have the following one, but often many of the E. European new species or varieties get quickly reduced to synonymy, being little different to already described ones:-

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/LOPHOP ... ubesai.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

L. diffusa often has a rather sickly green epidermis that is characteristic of the species when compared with the more blue of L. williamsii. But dark green in the case of kohresii is it was nearly named viridis because of this I believe.

[savant]

Here is the picture of my Solisia pectinata or Mammillaria pectinifera, whatever it is called. It arrived this morning and I am very, very happy with it.

[savant]

When I first posted this thread I also said the next on my wish list was a Pachypodium namaquanum and how I missed out on one that I had bought. Well, I went for the first one that came on the internet and went the whole hog and splashed out. Here is a picture of my top of the list and I'll now keep a low profile for the time being. (Some hopes)

[DaveW]

Nice S. pectinata!

[DaveW]

A few Lophophora seeds here:-

http://www.succuland.com/onlineshop/cac ... lophophora" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pygmaeocereus bieblii v kuehhasii too:-

http://www.succuland.com/onlineshop/cac ... -kuehhasii" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DaveW]

Malej Jarda has a few Lophophora's as seed, however I don't know how good there deliveries are at the moment as last I heard they were quite a time dealing with orders. There is a currency and language tab at top of page:-

http://www.gerardo.cz/en/199-lophophora" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[KittieKAT]

If you have a lot of Lophophora seeds of the same species sow them in smaller batches over a couple of years or so KittieKAT, that way you spread the risk as some years seed seems to germinate better than others, often depending on the seed age as well as climate. Some seed germinates best when young, whereas other seed needs aging before optimum germination occurs.

What Lophophora species are you after as seed, as some on the Forum may know of a source?

Thanks for the info Dave, looking for the more hard to find species and vars of lophs, i have fricii seeds, diffusa seeds, dif . Types of Williamsii from different places, i now have decipiens seeds! And koehresii seeds as well as a unknown mix of lophs seeds. Any ideas on what i should sow NOW and save for later?

[KittieKAT]

And if anyone has any loph seeds that i don't have listed pm me maybe we can figure something out