Propagation Ariocarpus fom seed

[Hanazono]

I think the turning transparent and mushy of young seedlings is caused by too much moisture but I also keep seedlings under 100% humidity for ~3 years.

I think you should also review soil.
All fine materials in the soil should be removed.
Seeds of Ariocarpus and Astrophytum are relatively large.
I use coarse top-dressing for these seed.
This top-dressing forms air gap around the joint of body and root, as the result you can minimize rotting.

I do not have 2~3 months old seedlings but I have seedlings sown seeds in July.
I can post these photos soon.

[greenknight]

I have Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus var. macdowellii sown July 20 using the baggie method, still in the baggie - no problems with rot. The soil is just slightly damp, not soggy. Using a mix that's 3 parts pumice, one part potting soil ( contains pumice, worm castings and peat). They're doing fine, but I thinking it may be time to take them out of the baggie and go to bottom watering.

[Hanazono]

Updated seedling photos taken in this morning, sown seeds on 19th July 2016

Same seedling photos were posted on 14th August 2016.
I used some seedlings for seedling grafting and so numbers were reduced slightly but there were no casualties since the germination.
You can compare these.

(18) A. retusus cv Shinkawa tama zouge

(19) A. retusus v furfuraceus cv Suguri cauliflower

(13) A. agavoides

(21) A. retusus v elongatus

[luigonz]

Thank you Hanazono and Steve for the advice.

Maybe I am more humid here in central Texas. I'll try the coarser mix next time round.
I am growing them in compost/sand mix with coarse pumice top dressing in a 72 cell plastic seed tray with a transparent lid (propagator). Perhaps I will take the lid off as soon as they germinate next time.

Forgive me if you have explained this before, but is the wet box with "100% humidity for ~3 years." simply a plastic tub with a capilary mat that you add water to when the top of the soil medium is dry? and no lid on the box?

thanks again for the advice.

[Hanazono]

The wet-box is shown on the photo posted 20th Feb 2016 in this thread.

The wet-box has a lid.
It is just a plastic box.
The rid is removed on the photo to show inside of the box.

Since the box has a lid, the soil medium dry not so often.
I water over the capillary mat when the soil medium was dried, around every 2~3 months.

[Hanazono]

I normally repot seedlings when they reached to 1 year old.
As a trial, I kept 1 batch without repotting for 4 years.
They are retusus v jamilae, sown seeds on 12th November 2012.
It seemed they stopped the growing and so I decided to repot.

Before repotting

After repotting in 5 cm square tubes


I just repotted 35 seedlings but it was still remained many.

[greenknight]

What temperature range do your seedlings experience?

[Hanazono]

Mid winter:
Max = 30 'C
Min = 5 'C

Mid summer:
Max = 50 'C
Min = 15 'C

Seedlings experience 5 'C to 50 'C temperature range.

[greenknight]

Thank you. I was concerned that cold, damp conditions might be bad for Ariocarpus, but it sounds like I have no cause to worry. Mine don't get much below 10 'C in cold weather (which has just arrived). They're out of the baggie now, but still under a plastic dome where it's quite humid.

[Hanazono]

I repotted 35 more seedlings in this morning but it still was remained many.

[oriky]

do you grow them under artificial light? or just outside?

im gone to sow some seeds under CFL (pot in ziplocks) and think maybe you have some tip?

[Hanazono]

I have never used an artificial light, natural light only.

[Hanazono]

Updated photo of agavoides seedlings

I sowed seeds in 2012.
Tubercles of agavoides seedling are very long.
Grafted ones have very short tubercles.

[Hanazono]

6 of fissuratus seedlings, sown seed in 2012 were repotted into 5 cm square tubes in this morning.

[Hanazono]

12 seedlings were repotted for filling space up in this morning.

2 - retusus related species
10 - kotschoubeyanus


Updated photo of kotschoubeyanus v elephantideus, taken in this morning