Transplanting cactus seedlings

[Marcel]

Hey guys and gals.

Back in June I sowed a bunch of L. williamsii seeds with the ol' take away tek. They are now all about 2-5mm and looking ok. Over the last couple of weeks I have been slowly getting them used to lower humidity by opening the take away box and leaving a little gap for circulation. I have been watering them a little too to keep them from shock (I gently pour water down along the edges of hte container so that it collects on the bottom and wicks up via the soil). The soil is mostly sharp sand, river sand/crushed gravel, and a very little bit of coir (ie; not very moisture retentive).

Where to from here? When do I transplant these guys? What's the best way to do this? Should I try to put holes in the bottom of the container so that I can bottom water them?

Cheers!

[tonic]

Personally I'd leave them for a bit, until they are a bit bigger. Though I have repotted lophs of that size and they did quite well. If leaving them, you probably should give them a quarter strength feed of miracle gro or something similar, now and again in a fortnight etc.

Drainage holes would be beneficial. A good trick with the take away containers is to pre drill holes in the bottom of the container before adding the potting medium and seeds. You will need to cover the holes with tape (duct tape is good, or just sticky tape will do) to prevent water loss and loss of humidity. Then when it's time to start watering them frequently, you just remove the tape. Makes life a lot easier.

Hope that helps a bit.

[Sallubrious]

When my Lophs got to about that size I replanted them into a bigger takeaway container with drainage holes and some large holes above soil level covered in micropore tape.

They were getting crowded in the little round container so my main motivation was just to space them out a bit.

I used a teaspoon to scoop them out onto a tray and then separated them with a toothpick.

To re plant them I gently lifted each one with the spoon and dangled the roots into a hole I'd made with the toothpick. Then I scraped some of the sandy mix around them and watered them in with hand sprayer set to spray large drops so it settled them in.

They really started to take off after that.

[CβL]

From my experience, the smaller the seedlings when I transplanted them - the higher the percentage that didn't survive. I would just gradually harden them up until they definitely need repotting.

(That reminds me that I need to enlarge the drainage holes on my seedling containers.)

[Marcel]

Tonic: great idea on the pre-drilled holes. I'm a real rube for not thinking of that myself!

Sally: how often did you water them after transplant? Did you dome them?

[Sallubrious]

I watered them in and then I put the lid on the container. That initial watering has been plenty for almost 2 months.

I did give them their first liquid feed a few days ago which was done to saturation point and the excess was removed by lowering and lifting them back up rapidly.

I don't think they need much water really, there's still condensation on the underside of the lid so they are still very moist. I'm going to start hardening them off by drilling holes in the lids progressively over the next few weeks.

Use your discretion though mate there's something to what Bluntmuffin said, they are sensitive at that stage. Out of 3 containers of Loph seedlings 2 containers never looked back and the other container has stagnated, so for a successful transplant at that stage they need the conditions perfect. The only difference between the containers I planted into was depth of soil mix so I'm guessing moisture levels must play a large role in their success. Mind you there could be other factors involved, I wasn't very scientific in my observations

When I transplanted mine I assumed that they'd be difficult to separate their roots at a later stage had I let them go much longer, but they didn't really have much root on them.

[CβL]

In terms of separating seedlings I have found it's actually extremely easy. I have a bowl that I fill halfway with water, and I take the entire "seedling cake" (caked soil with 5-50 seedlings in) and slosh it around in the water until the soil has fallen off and the seedlings can be separated one-by-one. The other benefit of this is that they get as much new soil as possible during repotting.

I have only tried this with Trichocereus plants, which didn't care one bit after I did this. I would imagine it would work for Lophophora as well but have yet to try it.

[Sallubrious]

Here's the Lophs I transplanted just after Christmas. They were planted 8th Sept from a batch of seeds I got from Amazonian. Thanks Amz . The third pic was the batch that hasn't grown as fast but they were all the runts. Looking at the photos, it seems like my trichoderma inoculant hasn't been as successful on the third container, could be a factor in the slower growth. The third tray has one specimen without any defining features, it is just a smooth ball.

 

 

 

Some pics of a few Trichs planted at the same time.

 

 

 

[Marcel]

Wow. That's some impressive growth. Mine are 3 months older and nowhere near the size of the lophs in the first two boxes.

[Bert&Ernie]

hey don't want to high jack this thread but i thought id ask anyway...

How do you guys go about putting seedlings into full sun? thanks

Would love to see some pics of your lophs to Marcel

[Sallubrious]

It's all relevant Jwerta.

Mine get almost full sun for about 4 hours each morning, (up to about 10.30am ) or thereabouts. When I say almost full sun they are inside near a window. The light is quite bright but glass blocks most of the UV rays so it's not as intense as it would be outside. Maybe early morning and late arvo sunlight would be fine for seedlings but definitely not mid day sunlight. Especially now with all the solar flares associated with the solar maximum that's going on, this cycle of solar max has been one of the most intense for a very long time. It's a good time to get a cancerous sunburn or fry a plant at the moment.

After the light levels have diminished I move them under a fluoro setup and they get at least another 12 hours light each day. I think the extended day length plays a large part in their early development Marcel and the CFL's are bright little fuckers.

[Goldtop]

Wow sally! The size of those lophs shits on mine, my ones are probly half that size. Definatly gonna invest in some lights. What wattage do you reken? Ive tried my plant grow light and its way to powerful for seedlings

[Evil Genius]

Sally, i like your whole everything. Distance between seedlings, soil, moisture, no scars, etc. Look very healthy. Sweet!

Edited February 22, 2012 by Evil Genius

[Sallubrious]

Wow sally! The size of those lophs shits on mine, my ones are probly half that size. Definatly gonna invest in some lights. What wattage do you reken? Ive tried my plant grow light and its way to powerful for seedlings

 

My light meter died years ago so now I just use a rough guide in watts per square foot.

Mine get roughly 20 watts per square foot which is not much really. They were about 15 cm from the lights but now they are a bit older I've got them about 8cm away from the lights. The CFL's concentrate their output on a small area so if you use fluorescent tubes you could probably use a slightly higher wattage per square foot as the light is more diffuse. Good reflectors really help too as long as you don't go overboard and put it all in a sealed box where the heat can't escape.

As far as fluorescents go I would never use a special grow light, my experiments proved that they are a false economy. The minuscule gains you get from a "special" grow CFL are not worth the extra cash you pay for it. A mix of cool white and either daylight or warm white works just as good or even better. Plus you don't have to worry about people seeing the purple/blue glow and jumping to conclusions as to what's going on.

Edited February 22, 2012 by SallyD

[Amazonian]

Here's the Lophs I transplanted just after Christmas. They were planted 8th Sept from a batch of seeds I got from Amazonian. Thanks Amz .

WOW, you did really well SallyD. Lovely . Two thumbs up,,,, 'Green thumbs' that is.... (Your thumbs, not mine , ).

(I cant take all the credit on the seeds . I won them here at SAB, in a comp', ran by sharxx who sent me the seeds ... very viable seeds . Yeah, so i just shared the love.)

Edited February 23, 2012 by Amazonian

[Bert&Ernie]

It's all relevant Jwerta.

Mine get almost full sun for about 4 hours each morning, (up to about 10.30am ) or thereabouts. When I say almost full sun they are inside near a window. The light is quite bright but glass blocks most of the UV rays so it's not as intense as it would be outside. Maybe early morning and late arvo sunlight would be fine for seedlings but definitely not mid day sunlight. Especially now with all the solar flares associated with the solar maximum that's going on, this cycle of solar max has been one of the most intense for a very long time. It's a good time to get a cancerous sunburn or fry a plant at the moment.

After the light levels have diminished I move them under a fluoro setup and they get at least another 12 hours light each day. I think the extended day length plays a large part in their early development Marcel and the CFL's are bright little fuckers.

 

great to know.

also about how old or tall would you let them be before let them get more sunlight maybe about 5 or 6 hours of light?

[Sallubrious]

I don't know if you can really go by age or size, it will depend on the stage of development they are up to.

I'd want them hardened off properly and showing signs of adaptation to the low humidity, like turgor and new growth.

Then I wouldn't be rushing them into a hot Aussie summer, depending on the micro climate possibly late winter or early spring could be easier on them.

When it all comes down to it plants are meant to grow outside, but sometimes the micro climate is unsuitable, so if you can't sit in the sun for an extended period where they are going to grow maybe it will need some adjustment like shadecloth etc until they get big enough to fend for themselves.

[Psylo]

The timeline for those trich's, and the present size are amazing. I have some crosses growing, they are smaller than a match-head. Is that too small to transplant.

I love your monotub idea for larger seedlings too. Easy to stack a few, leaving a small footprint.

[Bert&Ernie]

I don't know if you can really go by age or size, it will depend on the stage of development they are up to.

I'd want them hardened off properly and showing signs of adaptation to the low humidity, like turgor and new growth.

Then I wouldn't be rushing them into a hot Aussie summer, depending on the micro climate possibly late winter or early spring could be easier on them.

When it all comes down to it plants are meant to grow outside, but sometimes the micro climate is unsuitable, so if you can't sit in the sun for an extended period where they are going to grow maybe it will need some adjustment like shadecloth etc until they get big enough to fend for themselves.

 

very help full thanks

[Marcel]

Great info here, folks.

Here is one of my boxes:

I'm a vain son of a bitch and don't like to put my plants in plastic pots and other such ugly things, so I recently sowed a bunch of Astrophytum asterias v. Superkabuto in a little Bonsai pot ($3 at the hardware store), which I then put in a take away container. When they are older, I'll simply remove them from the take away box and have a pretty little pot of superkabuto seedling!

And since I'm uploading pics and we're talking lophs and this is my thread after all, I thought I'd throw up this photo of my first graft, which is doing so beautifully this summer.