Hello and help!

kat · Post by **kat** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:30 am

Hi folks, I've been reading this forum for a few days now and it seems so friendly that I feel able to ask a really basic question.
I sowed some bog standard garden centre mixed seed on the 1st July, not really expecting anything to happen. I sowed them in a basic off the shelf cactus compost in a clean sandwich box, watered, treated with a fungicide and then sealed with the lid.
When I peeped inside this morning (What can I say, I'm impatient) to my surprise there were a number of little green sprouts.

Now of course I feel like I've bought a puppy on the spare of the moment! What should I do with them now?
There are other seeds in the same tray, I tried to sow them in different areas according to shape and size.
Kat

iann · Post by **iann** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:46 am

Keep them warm, in bright light but not direct sun, moist but not wet. And probably best to keep the lid on for now, you can start to worry about ventilation in another few weeks. You'll just have little green balls or maybe a fat pair of leaves at first but eventually you'll get a tuft of spines.

Post by **daiv** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:18 pm

iann wrote: moist but not wet.

Yes, that was my mistake. I had mine too soggy and lost a lot of them. Now I don't let them get so soggy, but keep them in high humidity until they have spines. -so far so good.

kat · Post by **kat** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:53 am

Well I squinted through the misty lid this morning and sprouts are coming up thick and fast now, and some of the earlier arrivals already have a pair of little leaves (I assume) at the top; at any rate I can make out a split there.

I'm aware that the compost that I have them in is far from ideal; it was a bit of an emergency purchase. But as I acquire more plants I want to make sure I'm growing them in the best possible medium. Has anyone in the damp and gloom of Northern England got a recommended recipe?

iann · Post by **iann** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:51 am

Has anyone in the damp and gloom of Northern England got a recommended recipe?

More grit

What I actually use for most plants, and its especially good for seedlings, is Tesco Premium Lightweight cat litter, about 50/50 with the soil. Make sure you get exactly the right stuff, you don't want to end up with something that turns into a solid mass of clay the first time you water it! I use some or all solid grit for some plants which like a heavy soil and in outdoor planters for weight.

I also avoid all commercial cactus or general purpose composts, which are mostly peat or some substance designed to be like peat, and I use John Innes. It will seem very strange at first, it looks and feels very different from peat, but is far better for the plants especially in our climate.

parodias · Post by **parodias** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:59 am

oh boy .. I sure do wish we could get hold of John Innes material here ..
There is a UK cactus grower by the name of Steve Craig (anyone here know him?) that used to be a member of the yahoo group "cactus_study" and I've never known nor seen anyone in all my cactus life that grew/grows? seedlings like he managed to do ! .. pure miracle ! (which it wasn't of course, he could repeat it over & over again !) .. and he claimed to be a newbie .. maybe I should post his recipe somewhere, but I think his skills were not only due to a simple recipe

cactusbug · Post by **cactusbug** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:08 am

Yes,parodias I know Steve Craig.I may still have file on his seed and grafting teks.Unless it's on my fried ME.Let me look awhile.I lost some precious seed he sent to me(USDA seized them),but did get my Pereskiopsis s. from him. That was 3yrs. ago.

kat · Post by **kat** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:22 pm

More grit

Well of course

What I actually use for most plants, and its especially good for seedlings, is Tesco Premium Lightweight cat litter, about 50/50 with the soil.

So, a non clumping cat litter? I never would have thought of that!

And mixed with John Innes seedling? Do you then move onto JI No1 and so on as you eventually pot them on?

I also avoid all commercial cactus or general purpose composts

Yes, this is Westlands I've got here, and I have to be honest, when I opened it up I was a bit surprised/disappointed as it looks very peat like. I reckon I'll just use it up in the garden.

iann · Post by **iann** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:03 pm

To be honest I just use JI #2 for everything! I know there are good reasons for not using this on seedlings but I really can't fault the results so I'm not going to change. The only improvement for me would be the fewer lumps in the seedling mix.

Westlands John Innes is quite good though, and its not just me that says that. Gem is widely considered the worst of the big brands. I have some J Arthur Bowers at the moment and I'm not sure how much I like it. It has a rather silky texture which might be quite a lot of fine organic fibres. I'll be back to Westlands next time.

parodias · Post by **parodias** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:47 pm

cactusbug wrote:Yes,parodias I know Steve Craig.I may still have file on his seed and grafting teks.Unless it's on my fried ME.Let me look awhile.I lost some precious seed he sent to me(USDA seized them),but did get my Pereskiopsis s. from him. That was 3yrs. ago.

ha at least one that knows him

You don't need to look for his sowing instructions on my account, I have them. I was wondering if they would be of any use/help to the community here. Mind you, I guess that in a deontologic way of speaking it may be compulsory to ask for his explict permission to make them public ... I think ..

cactusbug · Post by **cactusbug** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:58 pm

Yah,that's great.Seems like a paid a little for his grafting and seed tek.It's been a great while ago.I did hunt up his email off of Living rocks and invited him to join here.It hasn't bounced back yet.

Hello and help!

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