magical9

Here is what it looks like this morning almost looks like its already starting to rot/turn to mush. this cutting has been a royal pain in the ass for about 3+ months. it was originally like 12" long!

Would it be of interest to any one here to have a thread based on what each person does to grow their cactus from seed? I figure theres gota be different ways ya'll do it and why not have every method/process listed out? I was thinking "what if im doing it wrong or not the ideal way" and thought why not check it against how others do it. Ive been following EthnoGuy85's process for the most part with my own twist to it but again i wonder if my own twist might give me hugely different results or.. maybe the same or better so listing out how one does it could help novice growers avoid pitfalls while allowing them to do it "their own way". What do you think? My process: I use a 1:1:1:1 ratio of: - Decomposed granite - Organic locally made cactus & palm soil mix (smells so gooooood) - Course sand - Perlite I make sure there are no big chunks of rock or compost in the mix as well. Then I fill up my container, in this case a 200 site seedling tray, with the soil mix and pre-wet it with a mist from the hose. I figure this helps solidify the soil a bit and obviously needs to be wet for the seeds. I then place my seeds on top of the soil and lightly mist again using a water bottle. This actually helps wet the seed and it embeds the seed halfway into the soil. I found this helps keep the seed stationary and less prone to getting blown away from subsequent water bottle sprays and maybe it helps for future development of the plant as its more "in the ground?" Then i place the humidity dome over it after spraying the inside with mist. This creates a nice hot and humid environment. Once sprouted and they have their first spines, i remove the dome cover for at least 1 minute per day while i mist them and the dome. I blow on them as well just to impart some of my essence ;) and get them used to a little dry air? Thats as far as ive come so far. They seem to be growing fine and still green. Does anyone see anything im doing wrong or that i could do better? Maybe post your method for comparison.

dude awesome. So i up-potted my rooted T. Peruvianus variegated cuttings along with a few others.

Thanks for all the feedback! Sweet point. So i had planned on trying to up pot most of my 4x4/5x5 pots to 2gallon and all my 2gallons to 5gallons. But at this point would that do much good or could i get away with waiting a season or two before up potting them? I do plan on up potting the juuls giants in the 2gallon pots to 5gallon.

So im trying to figure out what im doing wrong here. These plants pictured are in 4x4 and 5x5 pots or 2 gallon pots. they all seem to etiolate. they are in filtered sun light along with other plants that are growing really well and not etiolating but they are in 5+ gallon pots. Is it simply that they are in small pots even though they are not root bound yet? Or am i not watering enough? not enough direct light? I water at least once a week or when they are dry whatever comes first. They get filtered sun from 11am - 5pm.

Pics of the newest in ground on the left side. - Lumberjack - SS02 - SS04 - Huanucoensis/Altman Pach (big one and small ones under shade cloth on left) - PC Pach - "Blue Pachanoi" from france. (covered in shade cloth) - T. Macrogonus - T. Peruviaus v. "Glaucus"

Pic 1) Group Shot Pic 2) Bridgesii Pic 3) Eileen Pic 4) SS02 Pic 5) Peruvianus "Glaucus" Pic 6) Berkely Botanical Gardens Peruvianus Pic 7) Group Shot Not shown are some newly planted ones on the left side. Pics coming soon. 1) SS04 Chalaensis 2) Lumberjack 3) SS02 4) Altman Pachanoi / Huanucoensis (super rare $275.00 15" plant) 5) Altman Pachanoi / Huanucoensis stumps with pups (Super expensive and rare!) 6) Short Spined Peruvianus (not the altmans variety that is really a pachanoi but instead looks to be a real short spined peru)

Ya its an SS02. The "2 spines" thing only happens on more mature parts of the plant. You can see it on pic 2 mostly.

My SS02 and its pup this season

dude do the 4 winds stay 4 ribbed??? i have an SS02 that is 4 ribbed, it started to make 2 new ribs for a total of 6 but then a few weeks later it dropped them and stayed as 4 ribbed. Im hoping it stays as such but it seems it just comes and goes or is mostly dependent on growth abilities?

So i just got my T. Spineless Scop from Sacred Succulents but.... it looks to have spines... is this normal for....spineless scop..

Well ive seen before where the cutting started to rot in a corner and then just stopped and rooted fine. But I do have it out of the soil now so it gets better airflow maybe that will help? Ill keep an eye on it and cut it off if it seems to get worse. Ill be so upset if i loose this colossus.

1) T. Peruvianus v. Wild Andes (update pic) Its pupping now! 2) Group shot of various nice tricho's of rarity 3) T. Pachanoi or T. Huanucoensis 4) T. Peruvianus v. Glaucus with 2 pups!

Making progress. Last night i got about 8 bags of 1cuft cactus mix added into an area of 14' x 2' x 2ish' mixed with local dirt from the originating hole. Need more cactus mix though. I depotted my colossus since its going in ground and its still a cutting with no roots.. and sure enough the buried end is starting to rot! Glad i pulled it up to check. It was in super dry fluffy soil mix. So not sure wtf is the deal but its drying out now. Hopefully i can get it to stop turning to mush and get it planted. So far its just a small portion. If it stops soon then it wont be a problem. Zelly i know you say to leave it alone so thats what im gonna do. i pray to god i dont some how lose this cutting lol.

wow thank you for the detailed walkthrough! Im curious though, what about my soil in the pictures says "good for trichs". I mainly ask because the ground is pretty hard before i soften it up with water the day before. It does seem to dry out within a few days though. With that being said, do you think the fact that it is pretty hard (no rocks though) when fully dry would still work fine? Granted if i mix in this cactus soil ive been using(and really like), till up the ground, and keep it watered once or twice a week... it wouldnt fully harden i imagine. Although what about winter time when im not watering or watering very little? Would adding sand into the mix maybe help? If i could use my local dirt holy crap I would save lots of money on soil heh. Oh those spacing dimensions are exactly what i was looking for zelly thanks.

Alright i got bed #2 dug. a little deeper this time, close to 2ft. Als attached are pics of the first candidates to go in ground. Also i have pics of the dirt im working with for you zelly. - Colossus w/ pups! - SS02 - Eileen - Bob Smoley Bridgesii

i can get juuls all day but cant find spineless scop and you can find spineless scop all day but no juuls! if i could send you one i would... or id point you to a seller i get them from

youre right its not that big of a deal. i just really would like a nice specimen for show in the backyard is all. heh. have it go next to my fatass juuls. i guess i had my hopes up too much for SS to send a spineless one!

Its pretty hard i think. I spray it down and let it soak for a few hours before i dig. My plan was to use 0.5 Sand : 0.5 Decomposed Granite : 1.0 Cactus mix. Ill post some pics up later when i get home. When ever i see your pics the plants look like they are super close together yet not really touching..is that correct? this is exactly my point. id be harvesting the tips pretty often 12-18" cuttings. So these in ground plants would be my mother plants i just take cuttings from when they get to size.

Thank you for the quick reply. i cant wait to see what others say. Question. why only 2 or 3 per plot? Assuming i harvested the growth continually wouldnt I be able to get away with having them planted pretty close? For example i have 3 pedros in a 7 gallon pot planted 3"-4" apart and all have pups growing and are not interfering with eachother. but maybe im not understanding another aspect of spacing...

<eats popcorn>

must be nice to have a real spineless scop... sigh.

I think they are old flower buds ya. I got a cutting of it and saw a few potted ones around the property. Ill have to try and scoop up more of it.