What to do once seeds have germinated ???

[SJB]

I am trying a new way to get my seeds to germinate, i read here that if you leave them in a wet papertowel and wrap it up and put it in a plastic bag it will make them germinate faster. I tried it and it did work after a few days.

How should I go about planting seeds that have already germinated.

[hegar]

Hello SJB,
first of all, welcome to the cacti forum. I am sure someone will come up with a good answer to your question. I do have some experience in germinating seed in moist paper towels and petri dishes. However, I am not very good at keeping the seed alive and growing after that. I only try that technique to figure out the percent germination rate. Once the seed has sprouted and the cotyledons are free from their seed coat the radicle (root) has already developed root hairs that are very fragile. Any injury that happens when you transplant the tiny seedlings could have a serious impact. Unless you work in sterile conditions, fungi and bacteria have an easy access portals and may kill the seedling. The most important thing is thus to use sterile growing medium. You can heat the soil in the oven to kill pathogens and that will help. You need to try to disturb the seedlings as little as possible when you transplant them. If you were to plant the seed in the growing medium, the plant would take care of that all by itself (become anchored without root injury, etc.). I know, somewhere - most likely in the "growing help" section of this forum - there are entries telling you what kind of growing medium (soil or soilless) works best for cacti seed. I myself have never tried growing cacti from seed under controlled conditions.
Harald

[SJB]

Thanks Hegar, yeah the only reason im going to try this method is because all my other attempts have failed and this is the last one im going to try. I had some germinate today, there were 5 saguaro seeds and 6 pachycereus pringlei. I used a pair of tweezers to pick them up out of the towel and placed them into the potting soil. I just figure that if they have allready started to germinate then im almost half way there to having them grow. Then again though, I have figured many things before and been wrong everytime when it comes to gettin these things to grow. Ive got about 100 saguaro seeds and 200 pachycereus seeds and if I get even five of each growing Ill be happy.

I see that a lot of people on this forum have different methods to getting their seeds to grow, I am trying everyone of them. I think the problem is that its too hot here this time of year and its making the soil dry out too quickly. If nothing happens this time I will try them again in winter and spring.

I have one seedling that has sprouted out of the soil a few days ago, I have no idea what it is and hoping its a saguaro. It has read leaves on it, does that help at all.

Thanks for you help .
Steve

[Murph]

I think the problem is that its too hot here this time of year and its making the soil dry out too quickly. If nothing happens this time I will try them again in winter and spring.

I have one seedling that has sprouted out of the soil a few days ago, I have no idea what it is and hoping its a saguaro. It has read leaves on it, does that help at all.

Thanks for you help .
Steve

Hey Steve- ive only just started trying to grow cacti from seeds this year (well, technically last year).
I agree that in this Australian heat, it's too hot for the seedlings (it got up to 46°C/115°F last Thursday). The problem i was having with my seedlings was that they would turn bright red once they germinated, so i realised that they were getting burnt from the sun.
So the seeds that i sowed from that point onwards, i kept in a plastic green house in the shade that receives minimal sunlight (but still heats up), under a piece of shade cloth. This way, the seedlings remain a healthy green, and dont dry out too quickly. Here are my seedlings...

http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3518

[SJB]

What method are you using to germinate the seeds cause youve really got them growin, Id be happy if I could get that to happen.

What kind of soil do you use, do you plant the seeds on top of the soil or just under etc.

Thanks mate for the post.

[Murph]

What method are you using to germinate the seeds cause youve really got them growin, Id be happy if I could get that to happen.

What kind of soil do you use, do you plant the seeds on top of the soil or just under etc.

Im not really using any "method" as such to germinate the seeds- the key is water/light/temp +high humidity generally.

At first, i would fill a punnet with standard cactus potting mix, which is well drained with no sand or gravel (pretty much composted pine bark). Then i would just sprinkle the seeds on top of the soil, and water them in well, keeping them in a miniature greenhouse about 1m x 1.7m with a thick plastic cover.

After roughly 2wks of temps between 23-35 degrees average, the seeds germinated and took-off from there.

As i mentioned before, i found that they got a bit burnt, and some of them would push themselves out of the mix.

To counter this with the next batch of seeds, i kept the shade cloth over them, and also sprinkled a very small amount of mix onto the seeds to bury them just enough to get their roots into the soil.

I found this works quite well. Just make sure they get plenty of water, as they dry-out easily, but dont drench them because they may rot.

As long as they are moist, get enough light, and have a well drained mix and high humidity, they should be fine.

If you dont have a greenhouse, you may want to use a bit of plastic wrap, or a container with a lid to keep the humidity levels high.