Sowing list

Just sowed a whole load of seeds today. Sowed in a 2L juice container that was cut in half.
Sterilized with fongarid.

Sowed:
Agave sp.
Ariocarpus hintonii
Astrophytum capricorne
A. myriostigma tricostatum
A. hybrids mix
C. Lauii(???)
Echinocereus hempelii
Epithelantha micromeris
Echinocactus grusonii
Melocactus mix
Parodia sellowii

Thanks to IXOXI for all the seed.
I've got all my eggs (seeds) in one basket (container) here so hopefully they all grow really well and I can get them past the seedling stage and into maturity.

Let me know mate (keep the forum updated) as you are growing a few that I have down.

Peace
~Kanda

1 Agave seed germinated
2 Parodia Sellowii germinated
lots of Astrophytum hybrids
lots of Astrophytum capricorne
2 Astrophytum myriostigma tricostatum

I was suprised that already 1 agave has germinated since the seed was quiet large. The seeds were about 5mm but flat.

The Astrophytum seeds were also medium sized.

P. sellowii seed was very small.

Happy with what's germinated so far. Every time I check more and more are popping up.

Had an outbreak of some fungusy thing which occurred last time as well.
It came from lollipop sticks I put in as dividers. So this time I soaked the sticks in fungicide but still the thready fungus got in. So the dividers are now gone and the fungus should go away.

I don't even remember typing that post.. haha.
But regardless, good effort

~Kanda

Lots more have germinated.

So far there are about 15 agave.

Possibly 1 Ariocarpus hintonii (A. hintonii is next to agave and there is no seperator and I'm just looking through the container - I didn't open it)

Theres 13 Astro. capricorne
23 A. hybrids
9 A. myriostigma tricostata
2 Echinocereus hempelii
1 Melocactus
5 Echinocactus grusonii
10 Parodia sellowii.

I'm stoked with what's germinated so far.
Next weekend whatever seeds haven't germinated I'll take out, clean and soak them in warm water and then sow them again and hope more germinate.

I would leave them in there for a bit longer then that. I've had some seeds wait 6 weeks or more before germinating.

If I leave them for longer than that though and then I take them out, clean, soak and then resow wouldn't that have no effect then because the seeds are spent?

If I do this with some seeds I sowed a couple of months back will they possibly germinate?

2 Melocactus now germinated
2 C. lauii germinated

Still no sign of Epithelantha Micromersis and possibly Ariocarpus hintonii

Some seeds have a short viable period, like many Astrophytum, while some others can stay dormant safely for decades! I have Mammillaria theresae seeds that I put in a tray, and let them germinate. Once the tray has finished, and I have taken out all the ones that grew, I let the tray dry out, and set it aside for a month or two, then I water it and put it back into the bag. Each time I do this, more of them germinate. I just got another dozen germinate out of a batch of seeds that I planted almost a year ago, and are now on the 6th cycle.

I guess that an easy way to tell (as a general guideline), is that if the plant likes to spills it's seeds out immediatly on ripening, then they have a short viable period, while others (like the M theresae) which are cryptocarpic, and tend to keep the seeds hidden in the parent's body until it has actually died, will be the species which usually will be viable much longer.

HI Mitchell
A couple of questions first do you have seeds on a heat mat if not then they may need bottom heat.
And also i would try next time too late now to sow seeds with similar growth patterns together otherwise smaller growing types like ariocarpus will get swamped by agaves.
Also i would just leave the seeds as they are if they are going to germinate they will if not taking them out and trying again i think would only do harm.
Hope you have success if not don't give up its a long process but as soon as you have success in growing seedlings into plants it will all be worth while. Any thing i can do to help just ask. Put up some pics i will do the same of some seeds i have just planted.

They are on a heat mat. I probably need to provide lighting though because I believe they don't get enough light. They are in the same container but all the seed is separate from each other so none of the plants should be swamped. There is limited space on the heater mat that's why I put them all together in one container.

I'll try and see if I can get some ariocarpus seed which I sowed 6 months ago to germinate. It's worth a shot.

I'll post pictures in about a weeks time when hopefully most the seeds that will germinated have germinated.

Update on grafts I've done also... they all failed. I put it down to not high enough humidity.

Keep at it.

I've had Melocactii seeds germinate up to a year after sowing them so I'd wait. Right now I have 1 year seelings alongside little green blobs that germinated just weeks ago.

Hi all, I am just working out how to use this. I am interested in some fresh seed, I can swap of buy but I like to know that it is fresh not years old. any one interested I havn't got any rare seeds.

G'day JK. It will depend what you are looking for really. Some seeds need to be used when they are fresh. Other cactus seeds like Mammillaria theresae actually have a very poor germination rate when they are fresh, and in fact will often sit in their seed pods not to be released until the parent plant has died and completely rotted away many years after the seeds were produced. I have also had 70-80% germination rates on Ariocarpus seeds that I scavenged, picked out of the deep crevices and wool on some of my friends plants that had been stuck in there for years also.
You will do well asking in here, once you know which kinds of cacti you want to grow.

Thanks IXOXI, for your reply, very interesting, I have bought seed and have sown them with my own seed and had only 25% germination of the bought seed. Mind you I paid $3 for 10 seeds. Where I will sow around 50 seeds of my own and get 75 % germination. So I believed that they must be old. Any way I am looking for any seeds Ariocarpus, Cereus, Echinocereus(not Fichii) Love rubispinus, Obrebonia, Espotoa and the list goes on! Mammillaria theresae is a lovely plant would be interesting to try to grow it by seed. Thanks for your reply.

No worries. I do have Mamm theresae seed available for trade though it can be very hare to germinate. I have found that I get best results by using certain chemicals to break down the germinarion barriers. Some times in the paat I also have sown the same batch of seeds 3 or more times before they started to come up waiting months with the seed tray going completely dry before trying again. This week I am going to try to germinate batches of Pelecyphora & Ariocarpus seeds that were collected in the mid 90's. I don't have high hopes, but would not be surprised if some of those do grow.

That would be interesting, keep us posted. I will also go back to some old stock and have a retry.!

Mind that some lose their viability quickly like some Astros and most Fraileas. If you need advice on a specific type ask in the forum and you will usually get some reasonably helpful advice in a short time.

thanks