Escobaria minima etc.

[jerrytheplater]

Hi Keith, in the seed swap sub forum you said to look over here to see seedlings you sometimes sell. What do you have available now?

Thanks, Jerry

Back on Feb 24, 2022 I bought some of Keith's seedlings. They included Escobaria minima. Two out of the three of mine just bloomed this season for the first time since I bought them from Keith. Thanks again Keith! The pots they are in are 2.5 inches in diameter and 3 3/8 inches deep. They are plastic containers I brought home from work rather than throwing them out. They contained electroplating metal salts, are very thick and are made out of Polypropylene, a #5 recycling code. Nice free pots once you drill holes in the bottom. I think I'm going to visit there and see if I can get anymore now that I am retired.

rsz 2023-6-21 Escobaria minima side.jpg (126.3 KiB) Viewed 12654 times

rsz 2023-6-21 Escobaria minima top.jpg (134.05 KiB) Viewed 12654 times

[keith]

Hi Jerry nice I went back to work for some reason so have less time for cactus, maybe I'll retire again in a year

Of course now I can buy a greenhouse

[keith]

Planted Mesemb seeds and had a little more germination than I planned on .. Lithops, Conophytums,
Argyroderma. Upper middle conophytums upper left and right Lithops , lower left conophytums , middle Argyroderma and Lower right lithops . Some from my plants many sent to me by a friend in AZ . Have more seeds Just need to find space .

[keith]

Some seed grown conophytums not exactly sure of the species .

[MrXeric]

Some seed grown conophytums not exactly sure of the species .

Nice conos, is it their first year flowering? The tiny fuzzy one looks like C. stephanii (subsp. helmutii?)

[keith]

Yes first year flowers. the little one is the oldest and only survivor from a mixed seed package from mesa which had poor germination.

It was my first try at conophytums back around 2018 ? I now have hundreds of tiny plants from my own seed they are not hard to germinate if you have good seed. I could write about my old soil mix working way better than a new mix I tried but individual growing conditions vary so much its hard to say whats going on .

[MrXeric]

Yeah, the seed germinates easily. It's the keeping them alive, especially through their first summer, that I have trouble with!

[keith]

Conophytums I think you have to get them as big as possible in that fist 6 months so they survive Summer dormancy . last years seed were in mostly sand and they look mostly dead now but my new seedlings are looking good so far

Lithops seem to be easier than conophytums from seed ? Cactus often the most difficult from seed , easy to rot and they stop growing if kept too dry. I think Mexican desert cactus need real heat something I don't have .

[MiguelCactus]

Turbinicarpus dickisoniae grown in 2019 seeds from Aiko . Some grew up faster than other .

Turbinicarpus dickisoniae has radial spines, but the central one is flexible, nothing like in that image, maybe an hybrid.

[Nino_G]

Turbinicarpus dickisoniae grown in 2019 seeds from Aiko . Some grew up faster than other .

Turbinicarpus dickisoniae has radial spines, but the central one is flexible, nothing like in that image, maybe an hybrid.

Also, T. dickisoniae has white to yellowish flowers, not pink.

[keith]

Planted more cactus seeds Epthelantha bokeii a few up, M lenta , M humboltii , Escobaria robbinsonii nothing yet, Turbinicarpus Polaskii one up one rotted, Turb lophophorides nothing yet, M meiacantha many coming up very small seeds, M schumanii nothing yet.

These were planted about 1 week ago. Pictures when there's something to see.