So I decided to sow

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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by mmcavall »

DodoBrooke wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:25 pm So you'll let them stay in for 6 months?
I am wondering about mine, since I have sown for the first time and I picked bad period to sow-May and June. If I keep seedlings in for 6 months it will be middle of winter when I ll be opening the bag and I'm not sure if the conditions will be fine for them to adapt.
I still have to think about it :roll:
Well, that's the first time I try this method seriously. But you can see lots of experiences here in the forum, and it is quite common to let the plants inside closed pots for a whole year, so not necessarily you will have to open the pots when they have six months. It can be earlier or later. You may have to learn how to know when it is the right time.
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Yamyoo
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by Yamyoo »

Hi, do you assist these seedlings when they lean on the ground? I tried mine days ago carefully picking them using a mini shovel to make them stand up. I was worried because they dont look right. But now they have grown bigger.

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Arthur
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esp_imaging
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by esp_imaging »

They look good!
Don't worry if they lie on thier side at first, they will grow upright soon.
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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by mmcavall »

I usually avoid to touch the little plants. As esp_imaging said, they will eventually grow upright. But sometimes I don't resist... the important is to be very careful when moving them.
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DodoBrooke
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by DodoBrooke »

mmcavall wrote: Tue Jul 03, 2018 1:32 am But you can see lots of experiences here in the forum, and it is quite common to let the plants inside closed pots for a whole year, so not necessarily you will have to open the pots when they have six months. It can be earlier or later. You may have to learn how to know when it is the right time.
Yes, I have read few cases people left seedlings in the bag for almost a year but it seamed like isolated cases. Anyway I will definitely try with some batches and see how it works. Really enjoying their growth at this early stage...Good luck to us all :D
montir
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by montir »

I think your sow is awesome.
That was on June 2018 the last sow. Is that any update your sowint growing up? I am liking to know it. It should be big now. I have some question about your sow.
What is the size your pots? How many of seed did you put on it?
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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

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montir wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:56 pm I think your sow is awesome.
That was on June 2018 the last sow. Is that any update your sowint growing up? I am liking to know it. It should be big now. I have some question about your sow.
What is the size your pots? How many of seed did you put on it?
Hello Montir, thanks for your comments. Currently I'm having some problems with the seedlings that do still in closed bags (see here: http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 16&t=42182).
Otherwise, the plants are doing fine. I'm preparing to post some update here with pictures, but I dont have time wright now.
The size of the pots and how many seeds put in each one doesnt really matters. Better to avoid big pots, because they waste lots of substrate, and they hold too much humidity. They can be very small, indeed. Little cacti take long time to grow, and apparently they like to be crowded in the pot, so you can sow like 50 or 100 seeds in a 5 cm x 5cm pot.
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Vipassana
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by Vipassana »

DodoBrooke wrote: Wed Jul 04, 2018 12:18 pm
mmcavall wrote: Tue Jul 03, 2018 1:32 am But you can see lots of experiences here in the forum, and it is quite common to let the plants inside closed pots for a whole year, so not necessarily you will have to open the pots when they have six months. It can be earlier or later. You may have to learn how to know when it is the right time.
Yes, I have read few cases people left seedlings in the bag for almost a year but it seamed like isolated cases. Anyway I will definitely try with some batches and see how it works. Really enjoying their growth at this early stage...Good luck to us all :D
I left some Gymnocalycium seedlings in a bag for over a year once because I forgot about them on the window sill of my shed. When I found them, the bag and soil was completely dry, but inside there were about 60 ~10mm diameter plants. I moistened the soil and broke the plants up and replanted them out into their own small pots. They took off like weeds and tripled in size in just a few months. I'd dare to say they did as well or better than many seeds I have much more attention and time to!
CactiJim
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by CactiJim »

Wow. This thread is legit.
-Jimmy, Phoenix, AZ
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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by mmcavall »

CactiJim wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:57 pm Wow. This thread is legit.
Thank you. I have been out of the forum for a while. Planning to come back again . I have learned a lot here. I have also changed my setup for sowing seeds. Maybe post something here on the near future.
CactiJim
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by CactiJim »

mmcavall wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:59 pm
CactiJim wrote: Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:57 pm Wow. This thread is legit.
Thank you. I have been out of the forum for a while. Planning to come back again . I have learned a lot here. I have also changed my setup for sowing seeds. Maybe post something here on the near future.
I sowed like 50 different types of seeds myself, about 3 weeks ago. I got germination in almost all 50 seed packets except about 4 of them. Not sure why they didn’t germinate. I’m honestly wondering if scarifying bigger seeds would help. I only got 2 out of 20-30 of some pachycereus marginatus (Mexican Fence post) to germinate.
-Jimmy, Phoenix, AZ
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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by mmcavall »

CactiJim wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:49 am I sowed like 50 different types of seeds myself, about 3 weeks ago. I got germination in almost all 50 seed packets except about 4 of them. Not sure why they didn’t germinate. I’m honestly wondering if scarifying bigger seeds would help. I only got 2 out of 20-30 of some pachycereus marginatus (Mexican Fence post) to germinate.

Pachy marginatus should not be difficult. Maybe the seeds were old?
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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by mmcavall »

I have continually sown. Things I learned are basically 1. Use the bag method, 2. Seedlings (of cacti) must preferably be kept inside the bag for at least 6 months , don't be afraid of that. I don't use bags, I use a collective plastic box and keep it in a very light place but under shade clothes. I have changed my sowing mix from 100% fine grit to 50% fine grit, 50% an admixture of perlite, rice rusk ash and peat. I'm going to do my second batch using this mix. It worked fine until now but maybe it will show inappropriate to the plants when they grow a little.
I did a fertilizing experiment . Just before sowing I soaked the mix with a fertilizer solution in four different concentrations: zero, 0.5, 1 and 3 x concentrated. Seedlings responded to that and there is an increase of growth, seedlings with 1x fertilizer grew better than with 0.5, and those better than with zero. Using 3x the concentration didn't increased growth but it was useful to make me confident that the fertilizer wouldn't do harm.
Currently I have seedlings of different ages, some are leaving the box (sowed in March) while some are being sown this week.
Hope I manage to put some pics here
IMG_20200911_124725726_HDR_copy_600x800.jpg
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Those are mainly Discocactus seedling, batch from March 2020, please remember I'm in the southern hemisphere so these plants grew mainly in autumn and winter.
Maybe a next post with more pics
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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by mmcavall »

Some pictures to illustrate the previous post.

That's the place where I keep the seedlings from zero to 6 - 8 months (inside the boxes):
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Those are the seedlings that germinate this week or so. Mainly Mammillarias and Fraileas from my own plants:
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Those are some seedlings ready to get out of the box (sown in March)
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Those are some seedlings that were recently taken from the box (sown in March):
attachment=3]IMG_20200911_124725726_HDR_copy_600x800.jpg[/attachment]
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I keep them protected under this mess:
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Those are out of the box since more than a month. They look already adapted:
IMG_20200911_124653759_HDR_copy_600x800.jpg
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mmcavall
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Re: So I decided to sow

Post by mmcavall »

mmcavall wrote: Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:13 am Just before sowing I soaked the mix with a fertilizer solution in four different concentrations: zero, 0.5, 1 and 3 x concentrated. Seedlings responded to that and there is an increase of growth, seedlings with 1x fertilizer grew better than with 0.5, and those better than with zero. Using 3x the concentration didn't increased growth but it was useful to make me confident that the fertilizer wouldn't do harm.
So here is a picture of the experiment mentioned above. Seedlings of Frailea magnífica several months after being sowed, and are still showing differences in size that are a result of the pre-fertilization of the sowing mix.

Upper left is zero fertilizer
Upper right is 0.5 fertilizer concentration
Lower right is 1.0 fertilizer concentration
Lower left is 3.0 fertilizer concentration

The fertilizer is the same I use in all cacti (but tested in different dilutions here).
IMG_20201227_123308176_copy_600x800.jpg
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I'm sowing like crazy since the last two years or so. Have to come here more frequently and update the thread.

Currently I'm trying different sowing methods than the bag method, but I have to wait some months yet to see the results.
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