One Seed Growing Approach

All about seed grown plants. How-to information, progress reports, show of your results.
Queenofnightcacti
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Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 1:45 am
Location: Montana
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Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by Queenofnightcacti »

I just received these seeds of the night blooming cereus the name is cereus hildmannianus only have 50 seeds. i am trying to find out what is the best way to care for these seeds to where I will have a successful plant. a seed that will grow. I have read so many different ways that I do not know where to begin. I'm going nutz trying to figure this all out. Please can you give me accurate information on what has work for you for these seeds. I was hopeing that I was getting the Night Blooming Cereus ,, but it makes me a little nervious that its a different name. and to find out there are several different species of this plant.

I live in Montana so most of the time this plant will be inside probley with a basking light at times not all the time. And be placed around the front window where sun light comes in half the day.
Granted we do have hot summers here that only last afew months only , . I really do not want to screw up because I don't want to set myself up for disappointment if you know what I mean.

Please help me with this. I would very much appreciate it.,

Sincerely,
Tamra
QueenOfNightCacti username
promethean_spark
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Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:10 pm
Location: Sunol, CA

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by promethean_spark »

Those guys are easy to raise, follow the standard 'baggie' instructions exactly for the first 4-6 months then keep them overpotted (large pots) and they'll be the size of your thumb in a year, a banana the year after and your arm the year after that.
springsinger
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Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:44 pm

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by springsinger »

I don't know it this is proper etiquette, but I watched a video on YouTube.com made by a guy who calls his Channel
'Cactusmain', growing cactus from seed. It merits a brief perusal, and is similar in many ways to the suggestions
contributed by others here. I recently employed his technique with good results. I found some saguaro cactus on
ebay and they are doing great. Only problem is I have too many to pot up when the time comes to transplant.
Sure wish I had known about metromix too, but I'm having good results with sand and soil mix.
iann
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Location: England

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by iann »

Gratuitous link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/cactusmain" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
--ian
kam
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Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 12:41 am

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by kam »

As terracotta pots are the norm in this part of the world and I have a pile of broken pots, can I use ground terracotta in my mix for seeds?
coldcactusmontreal
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Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by coldcactusmontreal »

How do you grind the pots?
iann
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Location: England

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by iann »

kam wrote:As terracotta pots are the norm in this part of the world and I have a pile of broken pots, can I use ground terracotta in my mix for seeds?
"Crushed" fired clays are a good coarse material for drainage in cactus soils. However, with seeds it is usually best to keep to a fairly fine material, so do you have a way just to get nice 1mm-2mm pieces of clay?
--ian
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1bigfruit
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Location: Kelso, Scotland, East Coast

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by 1bigfruit »

This is great I use an almost identical method. I have stopped using daylight though as the conditions become too eratic. The trays heat up too much in the sun or it doesent get hot enough in the cloudy weather etc.. I use a propagator in the kitchen with seed light tubes. One drawback is that you have a max of six weeks before the trays get problems with fungus. There isnt enough UV in the tubes to keep it at bay. By then though they are usually well onwards. One thing I can reccomend though is to microwave the soil. It has to be damp first. Its very quick.
A Moth is Lighter than the Sea, but Dimmer than the Light it Sees.
peterb
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Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:19 am
Location: Chandler, Arizona, USA

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by peterb »

Yes, I rarely try to use daylight anymore and have a propagator set up indoors, it is more controlled. I agree now also on heat treating the soil until it steams. It has made a big difference.

peterb
Zone 9
CactiJim
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Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:33 am
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by CactiJim »

What an amazing post; so much beneficial information.

Quick question: do you guys think spraying neem oil on the soil mixture before sowing seeds would have a negative impact on the seedlings, or would it just help prevent fungus/mold?
-Jimmy, Phoenix, AZ
SDK1
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Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2022 7:13 pm

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by SDK1 »

CactiJim wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2020 9:58 pm What an amazing post; so much beneficial information.

Quick question: do you guys think spraying neem oil on the soil mixture before sowing seeds would have a negative impact on the seedlings, or would it just help prevent fungus/mold?
Late reply here but neem oil is generally more effective when used, repeatedly, on pests like thrips, mealybugs, scale, etc. I don't actually know about the effectiveness of azadirachtin (the active ingredient) as an antifungal, much less as a preventative antifungal. I can say that neem oil does not have a very long shelf life so it's usually better to buy the cold-pressed concentrate, mix what you need for application, apply as a topical spray and/or soil drench, and discard the rest. It works more effectively over time as a growth hormone disruptor and anti-feedant vs. an immediate contact kill product although it can effectively suffocate some soft-bodied pests by virtue of it being an oil. Multiple applications over a six-week period generally works best to control most pests and the frequency of applications can vary depending on the life-cycle of the pest you're targeting to ensure you're also getting the new generations as they're born. It's always important to remember that neem oil is generally not phytoxic but the oil residue will increase the photosensitivity of the plant and thus should be washed off with plain water before exposing the plant to intense light again.

I actually came here to share some basic seed cleaning/preparation practices that I feel many here may benefit from if they, like me, lack formal education and training in horticulture. A free manual from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (link here to the PDF: https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs_series/ ... gtr274.pdf) about growing native plants has some great 101-level information.

Of particular interest to me was the section discussing a running water rinse for seeds prior to stratification or scarification. According to the manual this helps threefold:

- ensures seeds are well hydrated. This is often a prerequisite for any stratification attempts to be effective
- effectively removes or dilutes naturally occurring chemicals on or within the seeds that prevent germination
- effectively removes bacteria and fungi from seed coats

Edit: adding screenshots so you don't habe to hunt for the info I'm talking about
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In my opinion, all of those are valuable services but the last one is particularly interesting because the seed coat is often the vector of fungal and bacterial infections that people seem to struggle with even after the've gone through the hassle of sterilizing their soil, equipment, pots, workbench, etc. I know some people have used bleach or peroxide to attempt to sterilize the seed coats but, to me, that is riskier than just running water.

I realize that cacti seem rather different from most native plants that are popular across the US, particularly the Midwest/East where I'm from. But, as we've all learned thanks to the vigorous discussions around fertilizers and nutrition here, cacti are oftentimes *more* similar to the common roadside weed than not and the same basic horticultural practices one would use in say, turfgrass management, can even be applied with success to growing cacti. On that note, I think there is a lot of potential to approaching seed-growing some of the more "difficult" species through the lens of stratification.

Last year I received seeds of Mammillaria herrerae from a member here and struggled to germinate them. Through 3 cycles of being kept moist and warm in an incubator for 2 weeks and then allowed to dry out before rewetting and trying again, I had 0 germination. For context, I'd planted 15 other species and while germination was poor on some, there *was* germination in every other pot but not the M. herrerae. Until, that is, I put the pot outside in frustration and left it alone under some window screen but otherwise exposed to the elements. After an unusual spring drought and heat wave rolled through my area, the rain returned and immediately following the initial 2 day downpour I had 7 or 8 M. herrerae germinate.

Since then, I've often wondered about what exactly it was that caused the M. herrerae to sprout. Were they simply dehydrated and they needed the deluge of rain to kick them in gear? Did the rain aid in washing off some sort of naturally occurring chemical on the seed coat that was preventing germination? Was the hot/dry spring a necessary trigger for the seeds, simply a form of stratification that is the inverse of the cold/moist stratification needed by many Midwestern native wildflowers? Do the seeds of M. herrerae have double dormancy mechanism similar to that of trilliums; do they need some sort of combination of a period of moist/warm conditions followed by moist/cold conditions, followed again by moist/warm conditions before they will germinate in high numbers? What if one of the moist/warm periods a plant like yew or trillium requires should actually be *dry*/warm for M. herrerae? Given their native environment, I would not be hard-pressed to believe that Mammillaria herrerae and other cryptic mammillarias may have dormancy mechanisms that function to suppress germination during the most extreme times of the year which are generally hot/dry. An examination of climate data may reveal cyclic patterns that are longer than a year which could make a case for a double-dormancy mechanism or something similar.

Regardless, I think a starting point with a lot of potential for hobbyists and members here would be to experiment with a running-water rinse as a general best practice and to consider the possibility of some hard to sprout seeds having internal dormancy mechanisms that could benefit from some type of stratification. I plan to experiment more but I'd love to know if anyone else has thought about this or tried some form of stratification with success (or failure).
5b/6a - Indiana. Half the year growing outdoors, half the year indoors.

Listening to: Periphery, Termina, Queen Kona, Veil of Maya, Knocked Loose
keith
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Location: S. CA USA

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by keith »

Rainwater something about it really helps . storing it is not the same as when it falls out of the sky . M herrerea is always a tricky plant to germinate , somtimes 100% mostly about 10% .
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Lolavy
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Location: Los Angeles, CA (10b)

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by Lolavy »

Thanks so much for sharing this! After a promising start with my first seedlings, I have been barely able to get anything to germinate for the last few months, and when I do get germination, the containers are mold-ridden. I’ve been soaking seeds in 1% H2O2 for up to 48hrs before sowing, but I’m going to try the 3% H2O2 for 4 hours, followed by a 12-24 hour running water soak and see if that helps with the low germination/mold issues I’ve been consistently plagued with. Thanks!
Location: Los Angeles, CA
USDA Hardiness Zone: 10b
SDK1
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Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2022 7:13 pm

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by SDK1 »

keith wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 3:20 pm Rainwater something about it really helps . storing it is not the same as when it falls out of the sky . M herrerea is always a tricky plant to germinate , somtimes 100% mostly about 10% .
I agree about the rainwater, I halfway wondered if it's because the rain is somewhat acidic but then I remembered that we have fairly acidic rain here in Indiana but that's not necessarily the case everywhere else. And yeah, M. herrerae has a reputation for being tricky, I just wish there was a way to get more consistent germination. Maybe not but it'd be cool if there was.
5b/6a - Indiana. Half the year growing outdoors, half the year indoors.

Listening to: Periphery, Termina, Queen Kona, Veil of Maya, Knocked Loose
SDK1
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Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2022 7:13 pm

Re: One Seed Growing Approach

Post by SDK1 »

Lolavy wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2024 8:17 pm Thanks so much for sharing this! After a promising start with my first seedlings, I have been barely able to get anything to germinate for the last few months, and when I do get germination, the containers are mold-ridden. I’ve been soaking seeds in 1% H2O2 for up to 48hrs before sowing, but I’m going to try the 3% H2O2 for 4 hours, followed by a 12-24 hour running water soak and see if that helps with the low germination/mold issues I’ve been consistently plagued with. Thanks!
No problem, hope it helps. The running water soak is just one part of the equation but maybe it makes a big difference for some people. Good luck with resolving your germination issues.
5b/6a - Indiana. Half the year growing outdoors, half the year indoors.

Listening to: Periphery, Termina, Queen Kona, Veil of Maya, Knocked Loose
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