Growing Opuntia from seed.

[Peterthecactusguy]

Ok, after being scared of trying Opuntia from seed, I planted some Opuntia basilaris seed I got from another member. The seed was labelled from June of 2011. Here is what I did. I soaked the seed overnight, but got distracted the next day. So I left it in water for around 48 hours. I used my cactus mix, and put the seeds in. I lightly covered them with some potting soil. When I say lightly I mean I could still almost see the seeds. The seeds germinated in 2 days and the percentage was 90% that came up (or 18/20) I might get them all to come up yet. They are right now in the pool room with an eastern exposure during the morning and some indirect light from the western door that allows enterence into the pool room. Day temps are in the 80s, night time in the 50s. I totally lost my train of though, someone else showed up.. lol hahahaha

I will take some pictures and post them soon.

[A. Dean Stock]

O. basilaris is a great one to start with in germinating Opunita. They are adapted to germinate when there is still some soil moisture so they are up and at it in 2 to 3 days. I've tried a few hybrids with O. basilaris and they also germinated rapidly. Seedlings seemed to be hardy in my inexperinced hands and I raised most seedlings. Don't let them completely dry out for several weeks at a minimum. If you let them dry out or let the temps get too high they may shut down growth for awhile. The seedling spines are quite typical for Opunita in general despite the fact that the adult plants are spineless.
Dean

[Peterthecactusguy]

Dean,
cool thanks for the advice and I will check out their spines as they grow bigger. The weather should stay consistent for awhile. Eventually they will get more light and heat, but for right now they are doing well. I was surprised at how fast they came up and that it seemed I have 18 seedlings coming up. I might have to try and make some hybrid seeds. I have a those O. aurea hybrids that I might try with my O. engelmannii.

I also have seen O. ficus-indica seedlings that had really fierce spines on them, that later became nearly spineless. (lol of course they do have glochids)

[majcka]

Peter you are a magician.

I tried all kinds of things with my opuntia seeds and didn't germinate yet. last year was the same. Took them about 2 months to germinate. (I manage to have 2 more of that tranche).

[Glochid Fingers]

Were those my seeds Peter?
Ive always had great germination with them.
I will post some pics of my 1.5 year old seedlings when i have some time. They spent the winter outside and a growing like crazy now.

[Peterthecactusguy]

Yes, they were. I think most if not all germinated. Naturally a few of the seeds clumped together. I will post some pics later. I had a very busy, long day. Tomorrow I have nothing major planned. And yeah they are doing great, so far. I soaked them for two days roughly and that seemed to be the best thing to do, since they basically instantly sprouted.
I will enjoy seeing your 1.5 year old seedlings if you get a chance. I am sure they are cute. I will have tons of O. basilaris which is fine, it's one of my favorite plants. BTW the plant you sent me has 3 buds on it for flowers and has a few others which will probably be new pads.

[dwood5513]

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to share some info: I put some in the freezer to stratify forgot about them until one day was rummaging through there: “hey look at these” dated 6 months before, planted. No scarification no nicking. Now have 15 cylindropuntia imbricata seedlings! No idea why 6 months would work but it did. Now I have to make myself like these cactus.

[dwood5513]

Caveat these did not work on polycantha from canada strangely enough.

[Pereskiopsisdotcom]

Caveat these did not work on polycantha from canada strangely enough.

Do you know which polycantha from what region? I'm going to try this technique (freezing seeds) for some Opuntia from Canada very soon. I've had great luck doing this with Echinocereus and Escobaria that are cold hard to more than -20 C. I have never tried Opuntia though because I've always just grown from cuttings.

I forget what the process is called, but time might be a factor. I grow blueberries here in Ontario and each variety has a different minimum number of freeze hours that the plant needs in order to produce fruit in the summer. A couple of varieties have had weak production or stellar production when winters have been mild or harsh respectively. I don't know if it is related to freeze hours with seed though.

[esp_imaging]

I had good germination from C. imbricata with no special treatment.
Contrary to the rumours, it wasn't hard to germinate for me. Maybe the seed was of the optimal age/freshness, maybe I was lucky.
Now, Tephrocacti are another matter..

[Licespray]

It’s interesting to read about people happy to generate C. Imbricata.

Here’s some I spent the day spraying.

[Shane]

It’s interesting to read about people happy to generate C. Imbricata

The one surefire way to get cholla seeds to germinate: Take them to Australia

[Licespray]

The one surefire way to get cholla seeds to germinate: Take them to Australia

And no care required, they’ll be everywhere in no time growing strong.

[dwood5513]

It’s interesting to read about people happy to generate C. Imbricata.

Here’s some I spent the day spraying.

Well they dont spread like that here (oregon). Im sure my view would be different in arid climate. I actually have no idea why i grow opuntia i guess the challenge. Maybe grafting stock?