Growing Echinocactus Polycephalus From Seed (Any advice?)

Hey all,

Recently I have been attempting to grow cacti from seed (with not a whole lot of success) and in my haste to grow pink cacti I ordered some Echinocactus Polycephalus seeds. Afterwards I found out these have a reputation as being hard to grow :S

I am wondering if anyone has any experience growing Echinocactus Polycephalus from seed (or at all I suppose) and would like to hear of your experiences.

Also, I live on the coast near Rockhampton in Central Queensland, it is a humid and relatively warm place where I find cacti grow great. My garden is outdoor on top of a hill planted along a large rocky outcrop so naturally it has excellent drainage.

Lincoln

I bought seeds of Echinocactus polycephalus f Las Vegas Nevada and sowed on 31/08/2006.
The success ratio of the germination was around 50%.
I grafted several young seedlings but kept own-root seedlings also.
The growing speed of own-root seedlings are very slow.
The photo is own-root seedlings accommodated in 5 cm square tubes.

Awesome, your plants look like they are doing very well, good job. I didn't realise this species took so long to grow on it's own rootstock.

What soil/grit mix did you plant them in?
Also, may I see some of your grafted ones and know what rootstock you used for them??

Pottingmix is not special, sand and organic base mix.
I use zeorite for top-doressing.

The attached photo is the grafted one, 12 cm diameter.
Grafting stock is an Echinopsis hybrid.

Excellent, that grafted one is doing well, as of yet none of my seeds have germinated whatsoever despite being in ideal conditions but I do think that they may be too fresh at the moment so I will put them away for now and try another day

Great plants Hanazono.