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Regener8ion

Germinating Newbie

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Hi all! Im a pup in the world of cactai and am totally addicted. Ive been growing my collection, and recently put out all my seed in tek containers. 

However, i mixed sand with vermiculite on the reccomendation of another.

There is no action in tek land.

my suspicion is that perhaps the vermiculite was possibly a grave mistake, and all that wonderful seed has gone to waste! 

I wonder if i can fish them out and put on straight sand? 

The idea of letting it all go is a tear jerker ... however i do have more seed arrived, though now late in the season.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! 

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Hey mate, how long has it been since you planted them? At which temperatures did you have them. Personally, I sow out in a mix of Pumice, Lava and Coir and I wouldn't want Vermiculite in my sowing soil. It's not that it kills seeds, but there are minerals that produce much better results. Picking up seeds that were already sown out is possible, but very time consuming. I'd probably rather let everything dry out when nothing shows after 2 months and then start another wet cycle when the weather is hot. 

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Hi Regenerat8ion,

 

Sand and vermiculite does not sound like a dangerous combo to me but it is also not the best to keep the seeds hydrated too well. Seeds need to be sufficiently wet for germination to take place and water can easily settle to the bottom of the container if there is too much sand in the mixture. I read about purely vermiculite teks but this material sponges water well and the seeds touching vet vermiculite will be hydrated sufficiently. I use a 3-5mm layer of sand at the top, followed by 2.5-3 cm of finely sieved osmocote all purpose potting mix in the middle and I put a layer of 1.5-2 cm perlite at the bottom. The sand prevents algea and fungi from overrunning small seedlings, potting mix provides water and nutrients for roots and perlite at the bottom wicks excess water, in fact up to 10 times of its mass ! Perlite also helps you see if there is water sitting at the bottom when you are initially pouring some into the container so it makes it very easy not to add excess. 

 

In any case I bet your seeds will germinate. Make sure your heating and lighting is suitable and they will go !

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On 15/05/2020 at 8:00 AM, Evil Genius said:

Hey mate, how long has it been since you planted them? At which temperatures did you have them. Personally, I sow out in a mix of Pumice, Lava and Coir and I wouldn't want Vermiculite in my sowing soil. It's not that it kills seeds, but there are minerals that produce much better results. Picking up seeds that were already sown out is possible, but very time consuming. I'd probably rather let everything dry out when nothing shows after 2 months and then start another wet cycle when the weather is hot. 

Hey! Oh it’s been a couple of

months now.

i didn’t use heating pads or lights ...

Just sat them in a warm spot out of direct sunlight.

still no love ....

thank you for your imput.

i shall await the warmer weather to perhaps attempt round two! 

Edited by Regener8ion
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A couple of months is way too long. The norm is 7-10 days to see signs of life.

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Hey mate, How's it going. I've sprouted many cacti seeds, and had my fair share of failures in the early days. Can you please tell us what seeds you tried and where you got them from. In the past, I've noticed seed quality/ viability has often had a high degree of correlation with failure.

 

If you tell me this info I will tell you my secret seed raising mix recipe. :)

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I'm germing some now and using a basic ratio for torches.

 

2 parts filtered top/potting soil

1 part chicken grit

1 part diatomacious earth (coarse)

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@Halcyon Daze thanks for ur comment. 

As it turns out, I ignored the TEKS after posting until 2 days ago. I went to collect them to take to a mates, and lo and behold.... 3 tubs have emerged! 

Success:

Cactialicious Truman OP

SAB Peru Roseii 2 x Scop

Cactualicious PB Macro OP

 

 

Not yet emerged:

SAB Cordobensis Lance x Scop “Hulk”

LoPhs

SAB TRICH scop

ABQ Golden Barrell

SAB Super Pedro x Bridg, Ben

babies1.jpg

babies2.jpg

babies1.thumb.jpg.42ca92f7fbd66be4eb8be6589c2a2477.jpg

babies2.thumb.jpg.1365d1fc18b4a9862aadb56d3327f0af.jpg

babies1.thumb.jpg.42ca92f7fbd66be4eb8be6589c2a2477.jpg

babies2.thumb.jpg.1365d1fc18b4a9862aadb56d3327f0af.jpg

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Peace brother, very happy for you. Its a great feeling.

 

Also be wary if you want to graft them young. I murdered a lot of my babies with ideas of fast growth via surgery.

 

Then again you might have skills I dont mate

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hey dekeius

im happy to wait play the long game :0

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