my seed growing adventure

All about seed grown plants. How-to information, progress reports, show of your results.
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madadi
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:22 am
Location: Chicago, IL

my seed growing adventure

Post by madadi »

so i played around with seeds before but it was always a generic seed mix and i didn't care too much for them long term and one way or another they never got to grow well. it was a great learning experience and I'm ready to try some specific species that i wanted to add to my collection. i have a general idea on how to raise cactus from seeds but i know some species might have specific requirements. i would like to keep a log if that is allowed here. post pictures of my success and failures with each species and hope that some of you experts can save me from some mistakes before they happen. i always had a love for cacti ever since i was young but my real passion is in growing cactus from seed! i hope to borrow my friends fancy camera so i can take some good pictures of the seeds.

what i have now to plant are the following.
Pierrebraunia bahiensis
Weingartia pygmaea
Rebutia einsteinii v. tilcarensis fma
Arthrocereus rondonianus
Astrophytum caput-medusae
Puna bonniae

still researching any special consideration for each species. haven't found much, just the fact that the last two are harder to germinate. dang! so far my set up starts up with the standard cactus mix posted here on cacti-guide and a thin layer of sand on top. the seeds will be sown partially into the sand. i plan to sterilize the soil mix in the oven. will use the bag method with 2.5in plastic pots. my light set up is two T5s with individual reflects 18in away from the seeds and i have a second set of T5s just in case i need more light. so far the temps have been 65 at night and 90 during the day in the seed growing area.
alkravi
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Location: Ukraine
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Post by alkravi »

Astrophytum caput-medusae is pretty easy to germinate and grow. Last time I had 50% germination total during 3-4 days. Sterilizing the soil and using baggy method is a good idea.
I wouldn't add a sand layer above the seeds, I read a research, which said that germination rate is slightly lower with it.
peterb
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Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:19 am
Location: Chandler, Arizona, USA

Post by peterb »

That's a very cool bunch of plants! I don't have any knowledge about how to grow any of them from seed, so I look forward to hearing others with more expertise about these particular genera/species.

I love growing from seed too, but focus mostly on North American plants.

peterb
Zone 9
madadi
Posts: 21
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:22 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Post by madadi »

thanks for the encouragement guys. I'm looking forward to this. its driving my girlfriend crazy though. for our anniversary i told her to surprise me with a bunch of seeds from succseed :D
the reason i was thinking to use the sand is because the soil mix i have has some large perlite and I'm scared the seeds will fall between larger rocks and wont get enough light to germinate. i was just hoping to even out the soil surface with the sand. i think i wont use it for sure when it comes to larger seeds, but for the larger ones I'm not sure if i will or not.
iann
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Location: England

Post by iann »

Puna bonnieae appears to be very slow and erratic. It looks a lot like a Tephrocactus seed but I haven't been able to get them to germinate as easily. Maybe there is a sweet spot but I haven't found it yet. Just plant them and leave them in the greenhouse.
--ian
alkravi
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Post by alkravi »

madadi, you can put your seeds on top of a sand layer, but they don't actually need light to germinate. The main idea is not to bury them, so they can reach light right after germination.
iann
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Post by iann »

The majority of cactus seeds do need light to germinate. A few don't. The light levels for most are not particularly high and I wouldn't expect dropping between a couple of pieces of grit or fine sand to make it too dark, but I have always had bad results from using a top layer of grit or sand either over or under the seed.
--ian
alkravi
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Post by alkravi »

iann, thanks for the info. Never kept my sown seeds in a dark place, or under a sand layer. Seems that I won't do it in the future too:)
madadi
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Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2011 1:22 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Post by madadi »

i guess i wont use the sand then. i will try to even out the soil as much as i can without packing it so there is no big holes for the seeds to fall into. once the seeds germinate i might use a thin layer of sand to support them. I'm scared a seed can fall upside down and sometimes they seem to have such a hard time bending toward the light. will all seedling turn into a normal adults even though some are U shaped because it had to curve toward the light? this might sound like a dumb question but I'm just curious because sometimes i feel like i should not mess with the seedlings to try to straighten them and make sure they are upright. i think they should be just fine on their own but i never grew seedlings to mature plants so I'm not sure.

thanks again for the input everyone
Adrian
iann
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Post by iann »

I don't touch them. They lie down, they sometimes sit upside down for a while, or roots trail along for a bit before going into the soil, but in the end they all look the same. The portion of the seedling that you see when they first germinate is just the hypocotl. It is just a placeholder between the roots and the plant body that will grow from the top, and it is nothing on an adult plant.
--ian
madadi
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Location: Chicago, IL

Post by madadi »

you set my mind at ease yet again iann. i just have to cook this soil without getting kicked out of my house or sleeping on the couch tonight. my girlfriend wont be happy. :evil:
Tony
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Post by Tony »

If you are nuke'n the soil in the microwave, Make a bag of popcorn afterwords, it will help mask the smell. :wink:
I make ALOT of popcorn at my house. :laughing6:
Forget the dog...Beware of the plants!!!

Tony
madadi
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Location: Chicago, IL

Post by madadi »

can i eat said popcorn bag afterwards? :lol:
Tony
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Post by Tony »

madadi wrote:can i eat said popcorn bag afterwards? :lol:
Hasn't killed me yet. :)
Forget the dog...Beware of the plants!!!

Tony
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