CactiGuide.com

I love seeing everyone else’s sowing and update pics so I decided to make my own thread as a journal.

I’ve been growing cacti for over 7 years however I’ve been 4 years without any plants. Decided to get back in the hobby and am sowing seeds from a few different sources but all mixed together.

450 Ariocarpus mixed seeds (50 A fissuratus)
550 Lophophora mixed seeds (150 lophophora williamsii)
400-500 Astrophytum asterias seeds (Mainly red flower and suberkabuto)
And another 40 frailea seeds (asteriodes likely the only ones to germinate)

Also sowing around 200-300 seed of 5 year old Bridgesii seeds that may not be viable... I let the seeds soak in sugar water as that apparently might help some germinate. I’ve down these seeds a few months back and had zero germination.

I’ll be sowing using natural lighting and no additional heating. Substrate will be ~70% granite chips/stones around 1-2 cm in size and the rest will be a generic garden soil which has clay in it. Substrate will not be sterilized but has been getting direct sun for about a month drying out and getting warm.

I’ve decided to sow in our winter since they are quite mild and I’ve noticed that day temps easily reach 20c without the greenhouse effect of the pots.

Following advice of keith I will be sowing the Astrophytum in their own pots but am sowing all the lophophora and ariocarpus in a large planter.

frailea Seeds were sown last week and have germinated pretty well

Looking good so far! I am looking forward to seeing that trough full of seedlings!

MrXeric wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 2:55 am Looking good so far! I am looking forward to seeing that trough full of seedlings!

Same hopefully I get decent germination... already have a few germinating which I will assume are A. fissuratus Because they were the freshest seeds I bought. But can’t really know which is partly why I love mixed seeds. 2 days and can already see some germination only one fully emerged and stands out with the black substrate

Btw just remembered I also got 10 free turbinicarpus mixed seeds from a seller which I mixed with the planter. Just noting it here so I don’t forget

Generally I remove humidity cover/baggy a month or 2 after I get what I find a decent germination so I’ll likely remove by end of the year.

Astrophytum asterias red flower starting germinating. Next update will be in a month or two when I can get a better scope of germination rates

The inside of the pots reached around 37C today when outside temp is around 22-24C MAX. Early this morning temps were around 9-10C however pots/soil was around 18-20C.

There will be a 3 day dip around 0C at night I'm thinking of leaving all the seed trays outside since day temps will reach 13-15C so pots will heatup to around 25C. Night temps shouldn't dip below around 5C where they are hopefully.

I got my first 2 sprouts out of 10 Dioscorea elephantipes. The last two photos not easiest to spot but the last picture is found center bottom. They were sown on July 3 along with the frailea seeds. (first picture) these have no humidity baggy anymore
I have sown in the same soil as my cacti seedlings however with a bit more garden soil close to 50/50. Like with my cacti I do expect most of the soil to washout with time which I’ll add a little more if needed. Am probably being a bit harsh with these seedlings however ime with plants those that start with harsher conditions are often very hardy and grow fast after becoming Use to the conditions. I’ve only seen seedlings with very stretched vines and very green leaves these are purple due to too much sunlight. I’ve seen a few growers of Dioscorea which have amazing plants hopefully I will luck out and get a make and a female for seeds in a couple of years these seeds were sown in very wet soil and misted heavily every couple days... no special treatment however the seeds are fresh.

One of my Astrophytum seed pots has had some seedlings spreading mold. I open baggies daily to air out since I am leaving them in a position where they get direct sunlight so don’t want them to overheat and cook even in winter sun they are easily reaching. 27-30c when temps are 15c I tried treating with h2o2 however it returned so I removed the seedlings and seeds around the area and am already starting to harden off these seedlings to lower humidity. There are still ungerminated seeds however they may still germinate since I will be misting the rocks once a day until they grow a bit more. The rest of the pots will remain in the closed baggies until they are better developed or start presenting issues. Second picture is of the Astrophytum pot

The large planter has had much more seedlings germinate. I suspect most if not all are ariocarpus since I have a pot with around 50 williamsii seeds and none have germinated yet. It’s only been 9 days so far since sowing

Tiny update today I had the first sprouts of lophophora williamsii only pot. I ended up bringing the seed pots inside since we had night dip into 0c... the temps in patio were around 6-7C however that was early morning after sun was up already. Atleast I know next year I can leave the trays and pots alone.

Another Astrophytum pot started showing mold spreading so am also starting to harden off that pot. Overall even in our winter I’m having pretty satisfactory germination rate. And my east facing placement seems perfect getting morning sun and afternoon shade.

Edit: next year I’ll also treat seeds to prevent possible mold issues. The issue so far has only come from seeds from a specific seller so other seeds seem to be precleaned

Depending on if certain events in life occur or not I will be sowing planters of 1k ariocarpus seeds yearly to hopefully become a nursery. I’ll stop sowing yearly after I have flowering plants for my own seeds or run out of space. I enjoy many cacti but ariocarpus have always had a special place for me followed by lophophora.


What are other small tubular cacti that are slow growing? I’m also considering growing aztekium and Strombocactus next year as well as other miniature Mexicans.

for me Astrophytum are rot prone as seedlings. Turbinicarpus are a small tubular type cactus

Nursery of Ariocarpus do it

keith wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2021 6:44 pm for me Astrophytum are rot prone as seedlings. Turbinicarpus are a small tubular type cactus

Nursery of Ariocarpus do it

I’ve had issues mostly with a specific sellers seeds which just makes me more aware that I should wash seeds with h202 atleast before sowing. Regardless it seems as most seeds have germinated so I’ll start reducing humidity to prevent new issues in the other Astro pots

I’ll check out some turbinicarpus. Just noticed some changes in species... I’ll grow the original Pelecyphora group or maybe I should stick to ariocarpus only sowing and select cultivar seeds.

Ariocarpus are an acquired taste when I comes to cacti and the cactus hobby is still not massive here in Brazil but there are some serious collectors. I’m growing mainly for personal collection but hopefully my passion has value to others

Small update...
All my seedlings are already out of high humidity including the large planter of lopho ariocarpus mixed seeds. I’ve had low germination on my lophophora williamsii only pot with only 4-5 seedlings out of around 50ish seeds. The large planter continues to have germination of a few seeds randomly and have also noticed a few heads starting to peak thru the rocks which germinated underneath. Germination rate is not the best however roughly look like it is around 50% germ rate. I’ve had a few seedlings suffer from damping off and removed them to prevent mold spreading. Overall satisfied with all seedlings other than lophophora williamsii only which might germinate still but has been quite low.

Here is the planter starting to fill up with seedlings. All my seedlings have been stressed with morning sun until 1-2 afternoon, lower humidity/water, and cold stress nightly and max day temps of 15c.

EDIT: 20 days from sowing still early and considering low temps once spring comes around those dormant seeds might germinate with the weekly waterings

That planter is filling up! ~50% germination rate is pretty good considering the temperature you're growing these in, I think!

I have 5/10 spouts on Dioscorea elephantipes however 1 seems to have lost the leaf and may just die the one not seen on the bottom. No special treatment and no humidity dome. 1 heavy watering once soil almost dry.

Also got first spines on seedlings in lopho/ariocarpus planter. There has been a few more deaths in this planter likely due to just sub optimal conditions since I’m not misting daily and high amount of sunlight however i will only use shade cloth in the summer if there is too much sunlight

The Dioscorea elephantipes that had no leaves sprouted a new set no new visible sprouts however the caudex is larger than I expected considering it never had a visible set of leaves. 1 month old these are pretty hardy plants.

There were zero germination on the old trichocereus bridgesii só I decided to soak the rest of my seeds in water h2o2 for 18hours then 2 hours in sugar water and sowed them in the same pot. Hopefully I get atleast 1 healthy seedling but doesn’t look good for these seeds

I had 1 Dioscorea elephantipes rot while all the other seem much stronger in general one has exposed its caudex which I have partially covered with some rocks since they are getting full sun exposure.

The planter with ariocarpus and lophophora mix have had a few casualties however those that are surviving are doing well and can spot some ariocarpus among the seedlings.

Not much has changed some Astrophytum are staring to show some new growth however overall slow since they have been in full sun until noon and only get weekly waterings. This is for all my seedlings not just the astros

Decided to just dump some photos... I found it interesting to see new root growth on some seedlings that are still root exposed. I’m also wondering if a few seedlings will be able to survive considering they germinated atop some rocks and the roots still haven’t reached the soil or even cracks of the rocks to protect it from drying out. First lot are all ariocarpus lophophora mix planter and I could spot a turbincarpus seedling which I planted 10 seed mix

Also posted some Astro pics nothing special really since no features are visible however some are starting to show their “first spines”

Does the spotted appearance on the ariocarpus seedlings that are getting to much sun have a name? I like how the pokadots look but know they will disappear with time

Last photos are frailea asteroides