Signing in from the UK! (Stoke-On-Trent)

[LennyST8]

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd sign up as im going to give growing a go from seed, I've grown chillies before for three seasons but lost the last batch due to aphids. Really disheartened me as I lost about 50 plants, tried eveything to no avail.

Anyhow, moving forward I still have my electric propagator, compost, perlite etc. So hopefully I dont need a great deal to get started again.

So after having done some research over the last few day I've decided on a mixture of 1/3 coco peat, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 fine sand for sewing. With a fine layer of sand over the top of the seeds, does this sound ok?

Also will the electric prop be beneficial for these seeds?

I'll probably have loads more questions along the way, I currenty have a cactus which I've had for about 15 years from a garden center, which is looking worse for wear. I'd like to grow something similar if you could identify it (I will post some pictures in the relevant forum)

If you could advise good seed vendors it would be much appreciated, I have ordered a bag of simpsons mixed to get me going but would also like some more specific to the one I already have.

Hope to hear from you all, many thanks for any help you can offer

[gemhunter178]

Welcome! I'm sure someone on the forum would be willing to give their run down of cacti seed sources.

Personally, I've only dealt with some Czech growers and ADBLPS in Europe.
Would definitely recommend my experience with ADBLPS, Czech groups are a hit or a miss at times.

[DaveW]

Hi Lenny from Nottingham UK.

For seed raising see, though there are many different methods:-

http://www.bcss.org.uk/raise.php

Cactus Mall will usually give you links to recommended seedsmen and nurseries to download their lists, but there are others.

However due to CITES (Convention In Trade of Endangered Species) though you can import seed from anywhere in the world without any bother or documentation for Britain you can only buy plants from within the EU whilst we are still a member, as from elsewhere in the world requires licences that are to all intents and purposes impossible for amateurs to obtain.

Importing seeds these days is fairly easy since they come through the post worldwide and currencies are seldom a problem now because most dealers accept PayPal.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/seeds.html

For plants stick to those from in the EU as our plants travel freely within it's borders, but watch for postage rates outside the UK or they can often come to more than the cost of the plants. Though parcels are no longer cheap in the UK anyway. If you don't know who is in the EU just Google "EU Member Countries" as even places like Malta are.

http://www.cactus-mall.com/nursery.html