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Hello,

I have 2 pots of M. matanzanus which were sown in February this year. The seeds were harvested from my own plant. Germination etc. went all well. The largest are now about 1 cm in diameter.

But I've noticed a while ago already that the plants have a greyish-green, mottled appearance. Still, I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I finally got a 10x loupe. There are little "spikes" everywhere. Even on the spines... It almost looks as if something crystallised. And it's hard. I can't simply wipe it off.

Unfortunately, It's difficult to photograph. I hope you can see it. What could this possibly be?

Thanks. Best.

They looks pretty healthy to me. In fact, my Gymno stellatum seedlings have it also. I think it's normal juvenile spines in some species.

I could have sworn they're G. mihanovichii seedlings in the pic...

But yeah, the spines are normal. The first spines are sometimes "feathery" and not as firm as they'll get with age. Fir example, you can see a picture of one of my Echinofossulocactus/Stenocactus seedlings. It's not as clear, but they were definitely like yours.

Thank you both for the feedback and the photos. That's reassuring. But what's weird is that in the 10x loupe I can see these bumps or better stalagmites/stalactites also on their bodies...

Best.

Not sure what you are referring to, but they look very healthy to me. The only thing you'll need to do is separate them in the near future to avoid bigger ones killing smaller seedlings.

Spots like these on the epidermis of many cacti seedlings are normal at certain light conditions. Their surface look flat to me and I'm sure nothing can be scratched from there. The same about that feather-look spines. All these features will change with the age and turn to adult-cacti look. Nothing to worry about.