CactiGuide.com

M. crucigera its a cutting from a old plant that went bad . Originally a small plant from from Abby gardens around 1991 ? Hard to find now.

Cactus seedlings in 6 pots that's about all I have room for this year . I usually start with one species per pot but if I don't get great germination and because of space constraints I add other seeds and then try and figure out what they are as they grow. My own seed so I usually have plenty to experiment around with. Started in March and now last pot finally going at the end of June. Put new different seeds in it because it was just not germinating anything . Heat waves are helpful.

I put plastic over them during the day for the first couple months. take it off at night to dry out the tiny top parts of the plants because that's often where fungus starts. Or at least where I see it start. They are out in sunlight under many layers of screen and in a screened bench.

Epithelantha, Turbinicarpus, Ariocarpus, Mammillaria, Echinocactus, lophos, Astrophytum all slow growers.

Transplanting small cactus germinated starting around 2015-2016 so older. Started after work and 10 minutes later it was 2.5 hours gone by . Still more to do . Hardest part is finding room .

Been around 90F during day and about 68F right at the coldest part of the am, perfect cactus weather.

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

keith wrote: ↑Sun Aug 21, 2022 8:15 pm Turbinicarpus dickisoniae grown in 2019 seeds from Aiko . Some grew up faster than other .

Might be a hybrid or another Turbinicarpus because of the flower color

I got these donated back then to distribute them to others. I don't grow it myself, so unfortunately I can't confirm the name. But Fatich might be right here. Personally I think it could well be a Mammillaria too, at the looks of it...?

Flower color I though maybe Europe had a different type species ? Hybrid maybe with Turbinicarpus horripilus . I like it though its pretty cool .

Turbinicarpus subterraneus v. zaragosae ?

Mysterious cactus deaths on the transplanted Mammillaria roseocentra .

Mammillaria albiflora same tiny seedlings shown years ago 2014 , Small plants with carrot roots . 25 left out of about 40 that germinated not super great but could be worse. They seem to have gone into a suspended state and won't grow for the last ~5 years. This transplant might get them going again wont know until Spring.
The related species Mammillaria herrerea is easier to grow and flower.

Conophytum seedling. These are not grown under plastic and exposed to sunlight and air right away. Using my own seeds which are really small so I mix them with fine sand and scatter on top of pot then mist with distilled water. Fine sand that sieves through window screen and still larger than the seedlings.

I think the first pot was too wet . I used a rose disease and pest control on the pots after germination because of a fungus problem in one pot.

keith wrote: ↑Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:09 pm
Various is M. candida, A retusa , E micromeris, all the little ones in the bigger Astrophytum pot. I don't know if its a good practice to mix cactus seeds like this but I do it with extra seed . Do it right on top of store bought seeds that don't germinate in case they decide to sprout months later.

I think this is a stroke of genius Keith. Can't remember exactly where but I think I read one time that there was evidence of sprouted seedlings secreting hormones that can encourage other seeds to sprout as well. Pretty sure it was part of the reasoning that promoted sowing seeds densely and thinning later on. Pretty standard advice I know, but it was neat to learn about from the chemical messenging standpoint. Could actually help some of those old ones in the pot germinate eventually.

Great looking plants, real jealous of your herrerae seedlings. Seems impossible to find herrerae seeds much less a breeding pair of plants for a price I can swing without wincing a bit.

- Johnny

Edit: hadn't finished the thread when I made my original comment, just had to come back and say those Epithelantha bokei are incredible. Just really gorgeous plants

I'll probably be looking to sell or trade extra plants in Spring. I only have so much space

Some cactus seeds like Mammillaria theresae sprout one by one over a period of years . Mammillaria herrerae seeds usually have poor germination but once I had 100% germination why I don't know ? Epithelantha bokeii germination maybe 50% or better if its really hot. Too bad they don't make many seeds like micromeris does.

Mesa Gardens has Mammillaria herrerae seeds 10 seeds for 12 bucks I know they are difficult to get at in the plant body but that seems high ?

Keith,

That's good to know as I'm always in the same boat. Only so much space before decisions have to be made.

I know a lot of the more sought after Mammillarias have a reputation for being a bit stubborn to germinate or popping up 2-3 at a time over multiple wet/dry cycles but I've never tried to grow any from seed so I couldn't say. Have you ever tried to spray the seeds from M. theresae, M. herrerae, or any of the other similar ones with potassium nitrate or gibberellic acid? Apparently those can both increase germination on species with thick seed coats or species that have a reputation for being difficult to germinate. That's good to know about E. bokei though. I've got two heat mats so if I get any seeds that I know like it nice and hot I'll have to throw then on the good heat mat.

I saw that from Mesa too. Thought about purchasing some but $12 for 10 seeds kind of put me off a little bit as well. I can understand them being hard to get at but that's more than $1/seed and I just can't justify that quite yet. I think Joyce Hochtritt had some plants for sale a little while ago.

keith wrote: ↑Mon Dec 19, 2022 3:06 pm Mesa Gardens has Mammillaria herrerae seeds 10 seeds for 12 bucks I know they are difficult to get at in the plant body but that seems high ?

Then I would just try my luck with one of the Czech seed sellers. They offer basically all you want, and for much more reasonable prices.

I have a few Mammillaria herrerae seeds private message me if interested I also sell on Ebay I'm Photoboard_man

Cheers