Dodo's first seedlings

[olof_n]

Hi Dodo!

Your seedlings look great.
Have you received your seeds from kaktusy.cz? I ordered some seeds a month ago and want to know if I can expect to get any seeds.

/Olof

[ElieEstephane]

I love echinocereus poselgerii. Sadly i couldn't fit it in my last order. It would be interesting to see their tubers when you repot

[DodoBrooke]

Have you received your seeds from kaktusy.cz? I ordered some seeds a month ago and want to know if I can expect to get any seeds.

Olof,the story with kaktusy.cz went like this:
- I have waited almost 2 months and no reply from them. Then I wrote email and they replied within a day that they will ship my parcel very soon. So it happened, within 10 days I had seeds delivered.
But, I don't know what happened,I had terrible luck with seeds
I was thinking maybe they did not have fresh seeds so they offered me from year before (as I was inpatient for new seeds to arrive and have ordered in Oct-Nov). Anyway most of my order was noshow so I was forced to put my third seed order at last to Mesa garden which I have received 2 days ago and will sow this week.
I really wish better luck from you as you have probably order from new seed list.

Here are the numbers for kaktusy.cy shop most sown on 02DEC:

COPIAPOA melanohystrix (sown a week ago)
ESCOBARIA chaffeyi 0%
ECHINOCEREUS davisii 10%
ECHINOCEREUS oklahomensis 0%
GYMNOCALYCIUM neuhuberi 0%
GYMNOCALYCIUM paediophilum 0%
GYMNOCALYCIUM riojense 0%
LOBIVIA pentlandi 0%
MAMMILLARIA bocasana v.roseiflora 0%
MAMMILLARIA hermosana 70%
MAMILLARIA herrerae (substitution sent MAMILLARIA pectinifera- 70%)
STROMBOCACTUS disciformus 0%
TURBINICARPUS hoferi 80%
TURBINICARPUS pseudopectinatus rubriflorus 70%

I was also given some free seeds from them, I was thinking It"s so nice but in the end I also had no luck with them:
AYLOSTERA spegazziniana 0%
BLOSSFELDIANA liliputana (this was sown a week ago)
BRASILIPARODIA buenekeri 0%
BRASILIPARODIA sp.thorson 0% (hv no idea what this is)

All those nosh I have reordered from Mesa so will write down list of seeds received from Mesa in next post.

[olof_n]

Oh that doesn't bode well. Must be old seeds you got,
I sent an email this morning asking about the status of my order.

I have ordered a lot of seeds from different sellers.

The seeds that I have failed with are:
BLOSSFELDIANA liliputana 0%
Ariocarpus retusus 5% (different sellers)
Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus 5% (different sellers)
FRAILEA asterioides 0%
ECHINOCACTUS horizontalonius 5% (1 out of 20)
Echinocactus polycephalus 5% (1 out of 20)

But besides the above seeds I have got good germination rate with 17 (if I remember right) other species.

[7george]

...
But, I don't know what happened,I had terrible luck with seeds
I was thinking maybe they did not have fresh seeds so they offered me from year before

Sometimes or often raising the max. temps to 30 - 35 C helps germination and many seeds do not lose vitality for several years so you can try once-twice again (after some rest or dry-up) with those failed first. Good luck!

[DodoBrooke]

Sometimes or often raising the max. temps to 30 - 35 C helps germination and many seeds do not lose vitality for several years so you can try once-twice again (after some rest or dry-up) with those failed first. Good luck!

Thanks George, as a matter of fact that is what came to my mind first so I put the pots directly on heat mat. I use heat mat to warm up the area but I do not put pots on it. Temp came to little above 30C. I just triggered the mold. Then I was opening the bags for air...
But as seeds from ADBLPS looked so well I did not think it's the temperature that bothers the seeds, it's something else.
Anyway, after my quick disappointment, I got rid most of the noshow seeds to make room for Mesa garden seeds.
Hopefully I'll be luckier this time.
The list from Mesa is:

ACANTHOCALYCIUM spiniflorum
ASTROPHYTHUM ornatum v.mirbellii
ECHINOCEREUS reichenbachii v. beileyi
ESCOBARIA chaffeyi
GYMNOCALYCIUM neuhuberi
GYMNOCALYCIUM peadiophyllum
GYMNOCALYCIUM riojense v.guthianum
LOBIVIA aurea v.fallax
LOBIVIA ferox v. longispina
MAMMILLARIA bocasana v. roseiflora
MMMILLARIA huitziolopochtli
PARODIA sotomayorensis
SULCOREBUTIA verticillacantha
THELOCACTUS rinconesis

Will give feedback.

[DodoBrooke]

Seeds from Mesa are sprouting, I think I don’t have noshows.
There seems to be a certain sensitivity to lights shown by Gymnocalyciums.
They grow redish at first and then turn green.
This is noticed on Peadiophylum and Neuhuberi seedlings but before also on Buenekeri and Saglionis.
Anyway I have covered them with tissue until they grow stronger.
Here is the image of a pot shared by G.Buenekeri and Lobivia Aurea. On top Lobivia is sprouting in green colour and on the bottom part of image redish dots are Gymnos.

724D8AFB-22B1-4B45-BF0B-5A7081924B58.jpeg (187.21 KiB) Viewed 4757 times

[DodoBrooke]

It's been almost 4 weeks since I've sown Mesa seeds and here are the numbers so far;

ACANTHOCALYCIUM spiniflorum 50%
ASTROPHYTHUM ornatum v.mirbellii 29%
ECHINOCEREUS reichenbachii v. beileyi 71%
ESCOBARIA chaffeyi 9%
GYMNOCALYCIUM neuhuberi 84%
GYMNOCALYCIUM peadiophyllum 34%
GYMNOCALYCIUM riojense v.guthianum 45%
LOBIVIA aurea v.fallax 29%
LOBIVIA ferox v. longispina 58%
MAMMILLARIA bocasana v. roseiflora 40%
MMMILLARIA huitziolopochtli 29%
PARODIA sotomayorensis 4%
SULCOREBUTIA verticillacantha 52%
THELOCACTUS rinconensis 54%

Basically I am happy but I am aware that if I spent more time on sifting a bit my soil rather than on placing each seed with a toothpick on the soil maybe the numbers would have been better
Again, fight with Parodia continues...only one seedling from this order, one seedling from previous order.

[supergodzilla]

Parodia is a difficult genus for me too. I harvested several seed pods and sowed about 150 fresh seeds... And had one germinate. I'll not bother next year

[keith]

the Parodia seeds I tried were really small and had 100% germination after that I'm not sure what happened this was about 20 years ago.

I am guessing since they are small seeds they don't last long ?

[DodoBrooke]

Thank you for sharing your experience with Parodias/Noto...They seem so intriguing to me that I wish to start buying more seeds and try again.
But here are some pics, I am too lazy to capture all of them;

G.Buenekeri

G. Buenekeri

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G.Buenekeri

G.Buenekeri

IMG_5398.JPG (76.17 KiB) Viewed 4429 times

M.Marksiana

M.Marksiana

IMG_5401.JPG (111.93 KiB) Viewed 4429 times

Thelocactus Rinconensis

T.Rinconensis

IMG_5409.JPG (65.51 KiB) Viewed 4429 times

S.tarabucoensis patriciae

S.Tarabucoensis patriciae

IMG_5410.JPG (74.91 KiB) Viewed 4429 times

Turbinicarpus Graminispinus

T.Graminispinus

IMG_5415.JPG (57.56 KiB) Viewed 4429 times

Turbinicarpus Alonsoi

T.Alonsoi

IMG_5419.JPG (63.7 KiB) Viewed 4429 times

Echinocereus poselgeri

E.Poselgeri

IMG_5418.JPG (46.29 KiB) Viewed 4429 times

[DodoBrooke]

I have a question...my seedlings are now 6-12 months old. There are placed on a balcony, in a shade. They are out of bag for 2 months aprox.
They seemed to be thriving and looked very well but last few weeks some of them have changed color and starting to get brown, some from top and some from the base.
Not sure if it cld be from sun as they are in shade so I'm afraid it is rot? Do your seedlings change color like this?

Watering is done from bottom but sometimes I am not sure if maybe I water them too much, actually still fining out what is the correct amount of water they need now when they are out of bags.
Here is one image, these are getting brown from the top.

IMG_7113.jpg (64.99 KiB) Viewed 3093 times

[Fatich]

İf they are not squishy or soft you dont need to worry. Too much light causes it i think.

[7george]

İf they are not squishy or soft you dont need to worry. Too much light causes it i think.

That's true. Pigmentation from stronger summer sun but this is OK. Browning from rot starts from down, from the roots.

Looking onto species you grow: Southamericans are more wet-resistant, but Mexicans could be more sensitive if excessive moisture stays longer than optimal in the soil mix esp. if weather is cooler. Then seedlings just dry up because their roots rotted unnoticed. So if in doubt do not water, seedlings can live for weeks dry without harm.

[DodoBrooke]

Thank you all.
What puzzles me is the fact that I have and I have seen lot of very young seedlings with discoloration at the base and they turned up fine. I have seedlings that were reddish brown at the base and thought it's over but at later point they grew well.
Now that I see seedlings having strange brown color on the top it made me worried.