Aztekium ritteri seedlings

[liisa8800]

These seeds were sown on Feb. 19, 2007, ...seeds were placed in Ziplock bags, pushed to the back of a table and forgotten about...until just today in the case of the A. ritteri.
dvg

Did i understand right that you forget them 4 years and they are still alive :O?

[dvg]

Hi Liisa, yes it is true that seeds were sown on Feb.19, 2007 and that six plants are still alive today.

Now for some details for the middle part of the story.

I was checking in on this batch of seeds for a short while and there were two pots in the bag, one with a peat /mineral mix and the other with my Aztekium coir based mix that my plants survived on.

These were watched for about six months to maybe a year's time and then they were moved to the back of a table where they got minimal light and even less attention.

I can't remember when that bag was last watered, but it may have been around two years ago, possibly sooner, and I may have just poured some water into the bottom of the ziplock bag and let the pots absorb the water..

I was surprised to find that the pot with the peat mix in it was soaking wet, very heavy and covered witrh moss.

There were no cacti seedlings living in the peat pot, but the wetness of that pot was no doubt helping with the moisture levels of the coir mix pot sitting next to it, and it is probably one of the main reasons why those seedlings were able to survive.

The coir mix was barely moist and had no algae, moss or any other green things growing on it other than the yellowish-green blobs.

Liisa, I apologize if my wording mislead you, I was a very excited guy when I found those babies still alive just a few days ago.

dvg

[liisa8800]

Thast realy neat how they did survive.

[Tony]

dvg wrote,

I noticed that your plants look quite green, did you fertilize them?

They get misted two or three times a week with acidified water and 1/4 strength fert.

[dvg]

Tony, you said your Aztekium were grown enclosed under lights for two years...just curious to know how old they are now?

I'm wondering when mine will start to develop some of the Aztekium patterning that your plants are already showing.

dvg

[Tony]

They were sown at the end of feruary, 2009.

Here they are only a few days old.

[PapaBearJay]

Is that after a fresh misting, or is that just all standing water Tony?

[Tony]

Is that after a fresh misting, or is that just all standing water Tony?

Its standing water.
I sow alot of seeds in containers with no holes in the bottom and clear lids that snap on and I like to keep the seeds soaking wet until most of them start to germinate. Then I wick out the extra water with a paper towel and seal them up for several months, sometimes longer.

[dvg]

Your plants are looking very nice for two year olds.

Those two Aztekium still have a bit of the algae surrounding their bases, it looks like you may have extracted them from their previous container and repotted them up into some fresh sharp sand.

Haha, I spotted a snail shell at Six o'clock and Eight o'clock respectively to your upper and lower Aztekium seedlings...always looking for that little extra calcium...

Tony if you did repot them, were you able to see their roots...I was wondering how much root development they would have at this stage in their lives.

dvg

[Tony]

Nope, they are still in the original container I just top dressed them for the photo.
There is some nasty stuff undeneath.
I collect some of my top dressings from a river bed so that is an aquatic snail.

[dvg]

Haha, good to see you got them top dressed and presentable again Tony.

I was looking at mine again today and saw what looked like a couple of fibres sticking out the side of my mutant seedling.

Once I got the magnifiers out and gave the seedling a nudge with a tooothpick, I realized that there were two roots coming out of the side of the seedling.

So I carefully set it right-side up with the roots side down and lo and behold there was an areole...so there might be hope for this little guy yet.



I also found another couple of seedlings that had a few small roots visible underneath them as well, so that is a promising sign.
dvg

[dvg]

Another pic of the Aztekium ritteri seedlings after they have been given a drink.



Maybe it's just my imagination but they seem a little bigger to me...but then again maybe just wishful thinking.

dvg

[dvg]

Since these Aztekium ritteri seedlings have been growing in a Ziplock bag for over four years now and are still very tiny, only growing on average about 1 mm in diameter per year, I was curious what kind of root system they might have under them after four years of growth.

So I uprooted them and took a pic with a penny placed for scale.



The seedling shown on the very right hand side is the oddly shaped one that had been growing on it's side before I noticed and righted it.

And here is a pic with them repotted again.



It's reassuring to know that in 25 years, I should have plants that are approaching 1 inch (25 mm) in diameter.

One should probably start these seeds when he is a young man if he wants to see them at 2 inches in diameter, grown on their own roots, in his lifetime.

dvg

[Gypscoprotheres]

I have a question about my Aztekium seedlings. I've sown them at April 1st and from the forty seeds I've sown, only 8 came up.

I've sown them in plastic containers covered with plastic foil. (BTW: all my other seeds are doing pretty well)

When should I start to make holes in the foil to decrease the humidity?

Maybe it's better to wait a little bit to see if the other seeds will germinate too.

[Arjen]

dvg, you've probably repotted them way too early, at this stage the tiny roots are very vulnerable. the slightest damage will cause them to stop growing. they probably won't make it or will take very long...