Trichocereus bridgesii

[apothecary]

Thanks mu and passive

Passive, I saw that seedling shot you posted on the nook, man that is some serious cranking. Mine are obviously way behind where they could be, got any advice to pump them up to your level?

I was gonna let them catch some heavy afternoon sun and ignore their reddened plea for help until they harden up and just keep weekly pumping of seasol going?

[PD.]

The pic at the nook is one of my bridge seedlings planted last winter 28/5, the larger ones are about 7-10cms atm and nice and fat. I got them into a shady area last summer which was a bit of a shock to them but they pulled thru and this spring they fattened right up and went beserk. I shock them a bit moving them from under a fluoro to out into the shade house but they seem to pull through ok even though they all go pink/red for a few weeks or so. The seedlings planted this winter are at all different stages, some are booming whilst others have stalled in the red stage, they will come good eventualy. I have over 400 seedlings in individual pots, hundreds more in 2 trays and about 5 take away containers full so im sure i will get something out of it .

Pedro x pyscho0 on the left, spachianus x super pedro on the right. These seedlings were planted this winter and are ready to be potted into individual pots. I got them into the shade house very early on so they can handle alot of sunlight now without turning purple and stalling, as you can see by the pic they are outside fully exposed. These babies will power on now, im very keen to see how the spachyXsuper ped seedlings turn out

[apothecary]

Nice! See Ace, what I tell ya? I'm definitely on the low scale of prop

Good tip on just moving them the hell out into the sun instead of pampering them, the fatter they are the earlier on, is well worth the cost of any delay from sun shock!

I feel mine already may be too thin and require staking or deeper replanting once they fatten.

im very keen to see how the spachyXsuper ped seedlings turn out

Without doubt! Can you tell us which was the mother/father for each cross?

Edited December 22, 2007 by apothecary

[PD.]

was a spachianus flower pollinted with super ped pollen apoth.

The other hybrids i have growing this year are, pach x psycho0, mystery peruvi x pach and psycho0 x yowie

The seeds from this seasons crosses will be more interesting IMO, spachianus x psycho0, psycho0 x spachianus, terscheckii x psycho0, super ped x psycho0, pach x super pedro and "whiora" x pach.

There are still buds forming on "yowie" and other unknown tricho hybrids plus plenty more psycho0 and pach flowers to open throughout summer. Mite even try a bridge x echinopsis if the flowers open at the right time.

[Conan Troutman]

Nice! See Ace, what I tell ya? I'm definitely on the low scale of prop

Yeh damn straight passive is areal whore

[apothecary]

Indeed Conan, whole books could be written about Passives cactus sluttery

I think I'd like to see more photos of your seedling stage plants dude!

[flora]

wow apoth those are freaky lookin! long and fingerlike, nothing like mine were

maybe thats the bottom watering. do they have real long roots?

[diiv]

Really cool,

apoth I wouldnt say youre on the lower scale,thats only when comparing with passive who has put the scale way up.I also have a go with sowing and growing from earth which really isnt my thing,I`m more of a grafter and it shows.I`ve sowed about 100 seeds at 9th month(30 of bridgesii,pach and peruvian).I`ve put them in sterilised mix of lime,sand and a bit of dirt.I got only bout 10% germination rate .Then I were keeping them in humidity until bout a month ago and all the time they werent growing,I mean three months nothing.About a month ago I`ve removed the humidity bag and put them under a light,still nothing.I`m going crazy.I was thinking about fifty times to just graft them but I would really like to have some ˝natural˝ cactii and learn.Now I was thinking to put them in humidity again while thewy are under light.Would this affect them and can I do this without repercussions??Any suggestions on how to get them started??

This is the 9th month

This is yesterday

Any suggestions would be appriciated.

thnx

[apothecary]

diiv, the pictures you uploaded are huge! Please resize them so they are less than 500kb each next time!

Any time I had seedling stall problems, I let the soil dry out completely and then hit them with a full strength seasol bottom watering.

[diiv]

Sorry about that.I`ll be more careful next time.Gonna try it out.But what do you think about returning them to humidity?Could they take it or would it kill them,would it maybe enhance growing .I`m asking cause I got some contradictory info on the web.I`ve read somewhere that they keep their new seedling up to 6 months in humiditiy and here you keep them only bout a month.

Thnx

Edited December 23, 2007 by diiv

[flora]

diiv im no expert but your growing medium looks very wrong, i dont like your chances of growing anything on that.

the first pic looks way too dry, sandy and cracked. maybe try something that more resembles soil (such as soil), to hold moisture.

the second pic looks like a loaf of bread, dont know whats going on there!

what season did you plant them in, germination is best in warmer months i think, as long as the humidity is kept up.

have you been misting them everyday with a spray bottle?

Edited December 24, 2007 by flora

[diiv]

Yeah,

I agree looking at pics now that it looks like shit:( but it is my first attempt of growing from and going all the way from dirt(sand mix that is:).I`ve realized that I`ve been giving them way to little water.I`ve never misted them only watered from bottom but never enough.My mix went too dry and the container it was in is way too soft so when i lifted the whole container the dry mix cracked.Now i`ve watered them good and pasted the cracks.I`ve sowed them in September which was also a mistake.Unfortunately I dont have any seasol and cant get any.

Anyhow thnx for the advices,they helped me think through the problem and let me see some aspects that I wasnt thinking about before.

I`ll brag if they come through.

RiÄ.

Edited December 24, 2007 by diiv

[The Dude]

Passive Daemon,

seeing as your seedlings are cranking so much, I gotta ask if you use any sort of special propagation mix, other than soil+sand?

diiv, they look salvageable, I'd get them into a proper potting mix asap though, and who knows how that'd damage the roots transplanting them.

[PD.]

Those seedlings are crankin and i used nothing other than regular potting mix and sand. This seasons seedlings arent lookin so good though . Time will tell.

[mutant]

Awesome thread!! How are you cacti going anyway??

I am currently gathering info these days to try to sprout some 7 species of interesting trichocereus... among other things....

I would appreciate it everyone to tell me how do you shade the pots... Do you also cover at the begining, until it sprouts? Should I also take the cover off as well, to prevent the seeds from rotting??

Please say more about bottom watering also... how much would you fill the ice box, up to the soil surface in the pots or a bit less, or much less than that.

Thanks in advance I am new in cacti thing, but enthusiastic and willing to learn...

I also have a small san pedro offered by corroborre user jono ( I am tryin to learn it get along with full sun ) and one more big bridge cutting is on the way.

Would all these advice also adress to succulents seeds sprouting??

Edited May 20, 2008 by mutant