E. Horizonthalonius from seeds !!!

[mikey]

Hello guys,
I want to show you my setup for this winter sowing
and ask to those with more experience for some advice !!!
Beeing busy for a while this is what I came up with :
a homemade propagator and a good amount of seedlings of E. horizonthalonius

[mikey]

Then I put pots in My homemade propagator

[mikey]

Ihad first results after few days

[Jenny29]

Congrats for your babies, they are so sweet.
Good job Mikey!

[mikey]

Now some few questions to those with more experience :
1) When do you take off the bag
a - after germination
b - after a couple of weeks
c - when you see the first spines


2) How often do you water seedling once the bag has gone
(just want to have rough idea )

3) Any trick to avoid rotting

Thanks for your contribution

[iann]

Does the oven make pizza too?

Those are some big bruiser seedlings!

[Rod Smith]

Provided the compost was really moist when you sowed the seeds and provided the bags are completely airtight, you shouldn't need to open the bags for a few months. Judging by the amount of condensation on the inside of the bags, they are quite moist enough. Looking good so far.

[CactusFanDan]

Nice results! What temperature range is there inside there? I've had some E. horizonthalonius seeds 'cooking' for about a week now without any signs of movement, at around 23-28 degrees C. I'm wondering if that might be a tad cool for them.

[peterb]

I have heard that horizonthalonius is hard to germinate. I guess this is only true if the seed is...hard to germinate. :-0

Looking great! I would be inclined to remove all of the baggies in another couple days, because I would be afraid of rot. But people with a lot more experience sterilizing their gear and mix and using this method tell me that even easy rotters like polycephalus can stay in the baggie for months.

peterb

[promethean_spark]

I have horizonthalonius seedlings still in the bag from Oct, doing fine and still growing. If you did a good job of sterilizing the soil you should leave them in there at least until spring - unless you see them start damping off.

[mikey]

Does the oven make pizza too?

Yes makes pizza once a week !

Nice results! What temperature range is there inside there? I've had some E. horizonthalonius seeds 'cooking' for about a week now without any signs of movement, at around 23-28 degrees

They need thermal excursion between day and night, and not just a warm environment !

If I'm not mistaken as I understand from promethean_spark I could keep them in the bag for all the winter if the soil has been sterilized , this is a very important information

Anyway looks like both methods (long keeping in the bag and short keeping ) work fine as long as there's no molds or rot

I was wondering, promethean_spark, which method makes them grow faster in the first year

[promethean_spark]

IME, small seedlings, less than 5-7mm diameter, grow faster in the bag. Young cacti larger than that grow faster outside the bag in a greenhouse. Usually I keep them in the bag for 3 months to 2 years depending on how fast they grow - but they almost never come out sooner than several months. Newborn cacti can grow pretty fast until they get stressed by dryness and extreme heat. Keeping them in a moderate, humid environment gets the maximum growth out of that initial growth spurt.

[CactusFanDan]

Nice results! What temperature range is there inside there? I've had some E. horizonthalonius seeds 'cooking' for about a week now without any signs of movement, at around 23-28 degrees

They need thermal excursion between day and night, and not just a warm environment !

Oh yes, I should've elaborated more, they were 23-28 at peak, down to around 15-17 at the least. They've started popping up now, though, so all is well.

[mikey]

I'm still working on seedlings !!!
Some pots show seedlings with roots going the wrong way ,
this often causes the seedling death and the consequent formation of mold ,
so I decided to fix it !!!

[mikey]

One more thing .......
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS PINKISH POLYCHEPHALUS PUPPY ?????????
Could it be a variegated one ???