Tephrocactus geometricus seedlings

[dvg]

Tephros are some of my favorite cacti.

I'm thinking of starting some more from seed in the next day or two.

Here are a few pics of some of my T. alexanderi var. geometricus DJF319 seedlings.








dvg

[cooky173]

Nice, they are some of my favourites along with melocactus.

Is there any tricks to growing Tephro from seeds?

[dvg]

Thanks Cooky173,

I've had success with the paper towel method.

But it helps my success rates if the seeds are fresh.

I'll soak my Tephro seeds overnight in RO or distilled water.

The next day I'll put the seeds into a damp paper towel.

The damp paper towel with seeds inside is then placed inside a clear ziplock bag. Then I'll label and date the baggie, if I'm germinating more than one type of seed, just to keep track of them and what they are.

I like to germinate Tephrocactus seeds inside a seed propagator with a seedling heating mat.

I also use a ceramic reptile heating bulb suspended just above my domed enclosure where the seed bags are kept during the day.

Between the ceramic bulb and the heating mat, the temperatures inside the dome stays a warm 95F.

The seeds are kept in those warm temps during the day.

At night I move them to a cooler place in the house, aiming to find a place around 60F.

After a week I start to check for germinating seeds.

When I find them, I quickly move them over into a pot with some cacti potting mix.

If some of the seeds haven't germinated after about three weeks, I let those seeds dry out for about a month, and then I'll start the process over again.

dvg

[Sulcofan]

Very nice young plants

[daiv]

Good looking plants and nice tips on sowing the seeds. I think most Tephro seeds are on the larger side aren't they?

[dvg]

Thanks Sulcofan and Daiv,

Good looking plants and nice tips on sowing the seeds. I think most Tephro seeds are on the larger side aren't they?

Yes these seeds are definitely some of the larger cacti seeds out there.

And that makes sense because the largest cacti seeds I've ever seen and sown were from an Opuntia species, and Tephrocactus are classified as one of the Opuntioid cacti.

These Tephrocactus seeds are about the size, or just slightly smaller than an unpopped kernal of popcorn.

I have just over two hundred Tephrocactus seeds soaking here overnight.

Of those, there are four different types of seed, with three of those being different varieties of geometricus.

If I have time, I'll post a couple of pics tomorrow using a penny for scale to show their size, before I put them into their paper towels and ziplock bags.

dvg

[promethean_spark]

I have some of those from last year, and one that's about 4 now (4 segments), that I got at a C&S sale.

Last year I sowed half my tephro seed in my propagator, and half in my GH under the shade cloth. The ones in the propagator were covered w/ plastic as other cacti seed, and the ones in the GH were uncovered but watered regularly (along with veggies I was starting). I had the same germination rates in both groups, so in the future I'll just start them in the GH in the spring with the vegetables. Since the seedlings are large they are quite rugged and don't need high humidity like some more diminutive seedlings.

I had similar results with Mahueniopsis boliviana, which has seed that looks like slightly smaller tephro seed.

[dvg]

That's good to know about those greenhouse results PS.

I tried some Tephro seed in open clay pots along a sidewalk up against the south-facing side of our house last summer.

I'd water the pots in the morning, but I didn't get very good results at all doing it that way.

I think the pots dried out too fast during the day and it would get very hot there on sunny days.

So back to the paper towel method...

Here are some of the seeds that I had soaking overnight.

T. alexanderi geometricus DJF319


T. alexanderi geometricus 1250.277 from Mesa Garden


T. alexanderi geometricus DJF320 Also from Mesa Garden. I'm excited about these ones. Apparently the cladodes look like pink soccer balls.


T. alexanderi 1250.18 Fat round stems with super black spines according to the MG description on their site.


And this is what the bags look like before they go into my propagation chamber.


I'll leave them in there for about a week and then I'll start checking in on them once every couple of days or so.

dvg

[iann]

They're great plants aren't they, and really quite fast to mature. I've started them this way too, but now just plant them and give them some warmth. At the end of the day they seem to come up one way or another. They do seem to be sensitive to temperature. I had some last year or the year before and they did nothing for months. Then one day, several seedlings in several different pots all came up together in the greenhouse. It was a fairly warn day, but not the hottest.

[daiv]

Wow, those are even bigger than I thought.

[Peterthecactusguy]

haha,
and I thought that the seeds I got from a C. acanthocarpa were big ! Those are the biggest ones I have ever seen.

[dvg]

Ian, these may not be the rarest of plants, nor are they some of the more difficult to grow out there, but they are some of the favorites in my collection.

I've found Tephros to be fairly quick growing, pest resistant and not as prone to etiolation as some other species, especially in our winter, light deprived northern latitude.


Daiv and Peter, the largest cacti seeds I've sown were Opuntia basilaris.

Tephro seed is nice sized as well and a lot more managable to handle than the tinier Aztekium ritteri or Blossfeldia seeds.

dvg

[Peterthecactusguy]

DVG, haha I see. Saguaro seeds are tiny compared to most of the other cacti around here, minus maybe Fero seeds which are kinda on the smallish side as well. I am going to work on sowing some of my seeds for the first time. The cholla seeds I through down a cliff to see if they would root naturally. I can get the fruits this year if I actually want to grow some from seeds, which I actually might do

[dvg]

Peter, even though cacti have a reputation for being slow growing, and some species definitely are, I'm sure you'll find that growing them from seed will turn out to be a very satisfying accomplishent.

dvg

[Peterthecactusguy]

DVG, thanks. I have been sorta putting it off, because I know that it will take a long time, however there is something to seeing the life cycle. I will probably sow all of the saguaro seeds even if I plant them I know they will never be as tall as the ones I am around right now, but maybe in the future someone will see one that I planted and be inspired the way how I am now. I sometimes lack confidence in things, but to hell with it, I will give it a go. I got some yard work to do this weekend but maybe I can squeeze in a little time to build a light box. I have a pretty good idea what I want to do with it. I just need to figured out how to set up the sockets for the lights or what type of lights I am going to use.