Ariocarpus germinating

Looking at growing some Ariocarpus from seed, just wondering if you people would like to share some advice on growing theses little guys...

I have had a little experience but to be honest I was not that successful, by that I mean the amount that germinated. But that could have been the seed as it was from overseas and no guarantee it was fresh.

I used the baggie method and had germination with in a week. I did not use bottom heat as I did them in summer.

parrotsheaven wrote:

I have had a little experience but to be honest I was not that successful, by that I mean the amount that germinated. But that could have been the seed as it was from overseas and no guarantee it was fresh.

I used the baggie method and had germination with in a week. I did not use bottom heat as I did them in summer.

what was the percentage of germination?
how do you get seed from over seas, can any one import it?

Percentage would have been around 50% for some and as low as 25% for others. Another lot were 75%. As I said it could have been my fault as I do have better percentage rate with other seeds now

Anyone can import seeds. You just have to make sure that the seller puts the name on the seeds and that it is on the allowable import list.

You can check out here to which are allowable. I am always doing this as I import small lots of seeds regularly.

http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_querycontent.asp

San,
to add to Bettys comments - the ariocarpus seed likes a lot of humidity and the seedlings should be left in high humidity longer than an astrophytum. When you take them out of their baggie and expose them to air, remember to continue to give them more humidity for a while and keep thenm a bit wetter (not drenching).
They will enjoy that more than being left dry.

I have a lot of success with arios using the baggie method, and leave them in the bag for a while longer than other cactus seeds.

A lot of the specialised ariocarpus seed requires a CITES certificate if you are going to import from USA as many of them are from mexico. (US$12 for them to prepare one for you), but then a small amount of seed from a private seller that is collecting seed from their home plants is another story - easier.

I will add more on this later but in relation to humidity, as calycium said humidity is a key factor when growing ario from seed. 8+ months of humidity is required depending on sp.

I encourage you to take up the challenge of growing ario from seed. It is not as hard as people make out ! That said it will test your patience

Bloody slow I tells ya!

Oops. Calycium sneaks back outside and replaces his 7 month old arios back into bags

Yeah I'm keen to hear what you have to say HM. I don't know anywhere near enough on these beauties and I have quite a few seedlings, but a LOT of different species I want to germinate waiting to go in the spring. 4 months to go...

Quote :

Oops. Calycium sneaks back outside and replaces his 7 month old arios back into bags

Be very careful doing that. Once they have been introduced to a lower humidity they can easily rot when placed back into a humid environment. While not ideal, it is possible to reduce humidity before 1 year (can be 2 years in some cases), I have done it with few losses, albeit the batch I did this to have shown almost no signs of growth since the humidity was reduced, though they were actively growing in the humid climate.

Cool,
thanks for that Trig - I pulled mine out of humidity just before the cooling weather - wont rebag them - just don't want to lose them.

Just keep a close eye on them and they should be alright.

Again - this gets back to my misting topic on the other thread. Do I spray them, as 7 month olds, keep up the moisture, let them dry out. Obviously there's a balance. Arios like more humidity.

Don't let them dry out, don't saturate them, I know, I know it's tantamount to a contradiction but this seems to be the only way.

Probably best to heat them until mature enough to reduce watering. For me this is not an option so I just mist them with extreme care when they start looking dry. I also pray to the cacti God to deliver my little baby cacti through the cold of winter.

Wonder what temps and precipitation Mexico gets in winter? Maybe I should google it...but hey I am too busy running this forum, what's your excuse

Just joking, I will check it out, unless someone else beats me to it. I am assuming this would be an good indication as to what cacti seedlings (Mexican) will tolerate.

It must be remembered this is guide fore mature plants.

Seedlings:

http://www.living-rocks.com/laras.htm

growing ario seedlings

Hi Folks....


is it true ariocarpus require specific lighting requirements to germinate? I
got some A fissuratus from kohres and had germ rates of :no:about 20% .
Maybe it was something else but I was very disappointed. I normally have good
results with Lophophora and astrophytum. I sowed them in the same area as I
grow my grafted plants - 18 hours on under fluros.

Cheers

My mistake. Good info in that case. Makes me feel more confident with winter fast approaching.

Cheers.

Sounds pretty typical of bought Ario seeds. Maybe I just got dodgy seeds?

from calycium's link.

"The trays are placed under growing lights
set at a 12 hour cycle."

Probably good advice, living rocks is a great site. I don't use lights (can't use lights actually), so can't offer anything further than that.

I think the whole misting thing is over done. The problem is if you wet the plant you will encourage rot and also once the small amout of misted water evaporates the plant then suffers even more due to the constant changing humidity. From the plants perspective it is having to deal with 100% humitity for a period and then once it dries somewhere near 40% causing shock.

I personally don't mist at all and that goes for grafts and seedlings. If you can get the correct humidity for the age of the plant then misting is useless anyway. Just my view on it each to their own.

I don't have all that mich exprience with arios so its good to see a thread like this. So much tio learn.

HM,
thanks for that.
I know that I will stop misting . watering my arios, but not sure when. Few more weeks at a guess. Goint to move them into a seed propogator in my greenhouse and give them a light spray tomorrow.

parrotsheaven wrote:

Percentage would have been around 50% for some and as low as 25% for others. Another lot were 75%. As I said it could have been my fault as I do have better percentage rate with other seeds now

Anyone can import seeds. You just have to make sure that the seller puts the name on the seeds and that it is on the allowable import list.

You can check out here to which are allowable. I am always doing this as I import small lots of seeds regularly.

http://www.aqis.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_querycontent.asp

Cheers, I was completely unaware that importation of seed was legal, especially with our country's strict quarantine laws.

Its easy and you don't need any paper work with it either. I have never tried to import cites listed seeds so don't know how that works.