dawnbeaver

Another go at a time lapse flower opening...

I find my trics dont flower when the nitrogen is high. Awesome growth and lot's of pups though.

I got my first flower from a seed grown cactus... Species is a mystery, any ideas?

Here is the first one, alive and growing...

Seeds sown... I put a mixture of seed raising mix 75% and sand/grit 25% + two pinches of ground limestone into this container, sprayed it with fungicide (Thiram) then nuked it in the microwave for 2 minutes before allowing to cool. Then added the seeds, simply sprinkled on top. Now it is on the back shelf in the greenhouse. To stop the moisture that forms on the inside of the containers lid from dripping down on the seeds and hopefully shortly, seedlings... I set it on a slight lean. I'll update when/if we see life within...

I say that some seeds require a temperature flucuation to set them off while others do not. Which are which is another story...

I'm new to cacti and have had mixed results with seedlings, been blundering my way through... Too much light too soon and too much water seem to have caused the failures. Getting better at it now however. The following is my current method... I've been using just comercial seed raising mix mixed 50/50 with fairly course grit from the river, washed and sieved to remove the sand particles and with a few pinches of ground limestone mixed in. This goes into a plastic container, about 1 litre, pop tops are good, as in the pic but the clip lock ones are better. Then a thin layer of straight seed raising mix sprinkled on top. This is Microwaved for a few minutes to kill any nastys before allowing to cool before wetting the mix with a sprayer containing Thriam fungicide and boiled rain water. Then the seeds sprinkled on top, trying to take care that they are spread more or less evenly followed by a spray of the fungicide again. Then into bright indirect light in the greenhouse. Then when they have germinated (hopefully) I have been slowly increasing the time with the containers lids off untill they are open all day and then, eventually, open all night as well. Every time without exception I have managed to over expose them to light to some degree. Next I start thinking that they will dehydrate and die the instant the moisture level falls away so overwatering is the next problem. This leads, in extreme cases, to the root rotting off and me being left with a tiny (usually red from the mistreatment mentioned above) seedling that gets nursed for months and months before it almost always passes away in a tiny but final heartrending disaster involving much grief. I think, for me anyway the main lesson in all this is patience. That and letting go enough so the seedling can do it's thing without constant interference... Usually watering it again. Here is a pic of some astrophytums 2 weeks old.

Thanks, there is a little redness that I was not happy with but as it had to be done where it sat in the greenhouse, the conditions were not ideal. The ones that were dried more carefully had none of this redness.

Finally, here are some babies that I am getting ready to graft. I have had no success with tiny ones so am letting them grow bigger before retrying... One of them is pink, any ideas as to why?

Here is a root that I took a scion from, it was dusted with sulphur powder after the cut was made. Hopefully it will make it...

The Monster... Bigger is better I was told so there we are... I was concerned that the loph would burst but so far so good. It seems to be growing so fast that it is clearly larger each day...

This one I grafted onto a shorter rootstock, there is some lifting of the loph, I think due to excessive shrinkage of the rootstock. I will see if the union lasts, it is growing however...

Here are my first efforts at grafting... lophophora var caespitosa on to Trichocereus Pachanoi (possibly a hybrid crossed with Peruvianus)... This one grafted onto a Trich that I grew from seed. This one went very well...