TheORKINMan's Plants Grown From Seed

[TheORKINMan]

Since I prefer to grow most things from seed I thought I'd start an ongoing thread for the plants I grow from seed with an emphasis on cacti.

First two cactus species I started spring 2012:

Opuntia ficus indica
Have 8 of these seedlings all 1 year old and about the same size.


Selenicereus grandifloras
Also one year old I have about four of these. These are the two biggest, one more looks healthy but is staying small and one is turning yellowish on the bottom but doesn't show any other signs of stress.


Now for what ive started spring 2013

Opuntia basilaris
These are growing prolifically, have 11 of these in individual pots now.


Carica papaya
Not a cactus but 4 strawberry papaya seedlings


Also have a Harissia Simpsonii seedling but I'm going to let it get a bit bigger before taking a picture as its just a tiny green nub

[hendryterok]

Nice seedlings , whats the while colored thing
Hendry

[TheORKINMan]

I'm not sure what you are referencing?

[Daniel]

I think he meant the whiteish material that you are growing O. ficus-indica and S. grandiflora in. What is it by the way?

[TheORKINMan]

Oh that's just a fine layer of sand over the top. I did that on my citrus seedlings as I found it kept a lot of bugs out but did not do it on this year's cacti seedlings.

[CactusFanDan]

Big pots for such small plants. They look like they're doing alright, though.

[TheORKINMan]

I got one sprout each from echinocereus arizonicus and echinocereus engelmanii today. Planted a month ago. I think I just got old seed. Came from a shipment from cactusstore.com same place that provided H. Simpsonii to me which also has exactly 1 sprout. Only thing that has germinated well from that shipment is o. Basilaris which germinated at near 100%

Anywho "a boat is a boat but the mystery box could be anything! It could even be a boat!"(More on this quote later )

I got a double shipment from Mesa Gardens and Cactus Adventures today which included:

Echinocereus rubispinus
Opuntia galapagaeia
Opuntia macdougalli
Disocactus nelsonii
Weberocereus bradei
Weberocereus frohningiorum

Neat hard to find stuff, but tbh the most intriguing thing is the 1000ct free seed pack that Cactus Adventures sends with orders. Don't see any Opuntia or Harrisia seeds, can't wait to plant that pack and see what comes up

[TheORKINMan]

Pics when the tropical storm has passed over but I've had a germination explosion.

Dozens of H. Simpsonii, H. Fragrant, and H. Taylorii seedlings. Disocactus nelsonii seedlings, one Opuntia Galapagaeia seedling and one mystery box TBD seedling

[TheORKINMan]

Mega pics incoming

My Opuntia ficus-indicas from last year are starting to flatten out their paddles as they go through another growth spurt:


My Selenicereus grandiflorus babies are also beginning to reach for the sides of the container, added a little orchid bark for them to crawl over as they also go through a spurt:


Opuntia basiliarias which sprouted before everything else this year are growing quite fast:


Harrisia fragrans popping up like crazy now:


Harrisia simpsonii also coming up:


Harrisia taylorii and Echinocereus rigigidissmus var rubispinus seedlings:


My lone Opuntia galapagaeia seedling, although it looks like he's getting a sibling finally :


A couple of Disocactus nelsonii seedlings:


One Echinocereus engelmanii seedling:


Three sprouts from the mystery box seedling mix from Cactus Adventures in spain, no idea what they are yet!

[TheORKINMan]

And from the non-cactus seedling front:

Flame Trees(Delonix regia):


Australian Flame Trees(Brachychiton acerfolius):


Coast Redwoods(Seqouia sempervirens):


Snow Gum(Eucalyptus pauciflora):

[gemhunter178]

Nice seedlings! Interesting that you have quite a few tree seedlings as well!

[Heather]

Those are lovely little seedlings. When I have gained a bit more experience I would love to give growing from seed a go. Question though. The pot size was mentioned. Does it make a huge difference to the plant? What happens if the pot is big?
Sorry but I am seriously new to all this.

[TheORKINMan]

This is just IMO as I am not a botanist or anything. For certain species having too big of a pot too soon can increase the odds of certain root diseases. However I like to move my cacti to 2" pots as soon as I feel they are strong enough to make the move without issues because Cacti will stay small longer if they are crowded.

[Heather]

This is just IMO as I am not a botanist or anything. For certain species having too big of a pot too soon can increase the odds of certain root diseases. However I like to move my cacti to 2" pots as soon as I feel they are strong enough to make the move without issues because Cacti will stay small longer if they are crowded.

Thank you.

[CactusFanDan]

My personal recommendations are to leave seedlings in the same pot for as long as possible. If the pot the seedlings are in is significantly overcrowded or it clearly cannot accommodate all the roots in the pot, then it's probably best to pot them on into a new pot. The greater the damage to the roots, the more time it'll take the plant to get over the damage and grow again properly. And the younger a plant is, the more root damage slows down stem growth. Also with repotting into pots which are too big you tend to waste a lot of the soil mass. The plants roots just don't grow into many regions of the soil. I've found this a lot recently when repotting a lot of my older plants which were repotted a few years ago. The roots would occupy a zone in the middle of the pot, and around that zone would be moist soil mix, even if I hadn't watered the plant recently.

It largely depends on what you're growing, as well. A lot of the fast growing species TheORKINMan has here will be quite content with being overpotted, since the roots like a bit more moisture and they grow fast. A number of desert cacti just won't take it. For example here, I think mixing the Harrisia with Echinocereus can only end badly for the Echinocereus, since it is significantly slower growing than the Harrisia. Echinocereus rigidissimus v. rubispinus is also quite sensitive to root damage. If you make a post on this subsection with a list of species you plan on sowing, then I'm sure we could give you some advice tailored to the species' you're growing. Other than that your seedlings are looking fine, orkinman, good luck.