Loph & echinop peruvianus

[celestariel]

Hey,

I have been very unsuccessfully trying to grow some peyote and peruvian torch from seeds and was wandering if i can get some tips.

I made a mixture of cacti/succulent mix and combined that with a course river sand. Baked it at 200c for an hour, waited for it to cool and baked again the next day at same specs.

I have 2 seedling trays in a little plastic hot house. 1 tray for peruv and 1 tray for loph, being one as a dry spec and one sub tropical spec.

I have a heating matt under the hot house, which maintains 10c over room temp and have maintained humidity and not one of the buggers has germinated and it has been over 2 weeks.

From what I read the energy reserves they have from seeding, should allow them to sprout quite quickly and then slow down after that.

I'm obviously doing something wrong but what that is, I've no clue to.

Any help would be great.

Cheers.

[PD.]

Could be any number of things man, is the heat pad on 24/7? if so try turning it off at nite to give a cool period.

[mark80]

Could be any number of things man, is the heat pad on 24/7? if so try turning it off at nite to give a cool period.

it could also be you didn't wait long enough after ovening it. OMsetimes the outisde is cool to the touch but the inside can be realy hot - unlikly but possible. Kinda like a microwavable leftover dinner. The chciken on the outside could be steaming whilst inside its stil frozern.

Or you could just be trying to germinate unviable seed?

You didn't oven the seeds with the C&S mix did you?

[teonanacatl]

Have you watered? soil must be quite wet.

[celestariel]

Could be any number of things man, is the heat pad on 24/7? if so try turning it off at nite to give a cool period.

Yeah it is on 24/7. But I'm in perth and it's winter and the heating pad maintains 10c over room temp. So I reckon it varies from probably 20c to 30c. But I might try giving it a cool period in another week if there is still no results.

[celestariel]

it could also be you didn't wait long enough after ovening it. OMsetimes the outisde is cool to the touch but the inside can be realy hot - unlikly but possible. Kinda like a microwavable leftover dinner. The chciken on the outside could be steaming whilst inside its stil frozern.

Or you could just be trying to germinate unviable seed?

You didn't oven the seeds with the C&S mix did you?

Sure is viable seed mate. I bought them new from shaman.

I left the soil to cool overnight after I cooked it so that's definitely not it, and then i planted the seeds shallow the next morning.

[Dodie]

then i planted the seeds shallow the next morning.

How far is "planted shallow"? You only have to lay them on the surface, i usually just plomp them on top and sprinkle a layer no more than 1mm of sand so their roots have something to dig into, keep moist and humid.

[foolsbreath]

How far is "planted shallow"? You only have to lay them on the surface, i usually just plomp them on top and sprinkle a layer no more than 1mm of sand so their roots have something to dig into, keep moist and humid.

Yeah I don't even do that, just leave em on the surface and mist every day.

Leave them a bit longer, can take up to a month. Both environments can be quite humid till soon after germination. I put glass coasters on top of my pots which are small (75mm with about 10-20 seeds per pot). I would then harden both off asap probably within a couple of weeks to a month when quite green. essential for the lophs and better in the long run for the echinopsis

Oh and what sort of light are you using?

EDIT: I have had good success germinating in coarse sand alone, then after hardening off I put in a mix of 1/3 coco coir and 2/3 coarse sand and start feeding with 1/4 strength seasol

Edited July 7, 2007 by foolsbreath

[Peyofox]

As I mentioned in my other thread, My friend used Rev's method in Round plastic takeaway containers, 1/3 filled with propagation sand only, wetted down (not totally soaked) in a weak strength all purpose nute solution then nuked for about 5 min each container in microwave. When completely cooled, they just sprinkled the seeds on the sand then got a very fine kitchen sive, and sprinkled a very thin layer of very fine sand over the top before misting with the fungicide (mancozeb) and replacing the lids. They leave bottom heat on 24/7 and have one cool white and one grolux flouro over them on an 18/6 schedule, and got excellent germ/growth rates.

Edited March 30, 2008 by ReclusE

[celestariel]

Yeah I don't even do that, just leave em on the surface and mist every day.

Leave them a bit longer, can take up to a month. Both environments can be quite humid till soon after germination. I put glass coasters on top of my pots which are small (75mm with about 10-20 seeds per pot). I would then harden both off asap probably within a couple of weeks to a month when quite green. essential for the lophs and better in the long run for the echinopsis

Oh and what sort of light are you using?

EDIT: I have had good success germinating in coarse sand alone, then after hardening off I put in a mix of 1/3 coco coir and 2/3 coarse sand and start feeding with 1/4 strength seasol

Hold up there cow boy.... am i meant to be using a light.

I thought you only had to expose them to very slight indirect light, so I have them in a room near the window and open the curtins half way to let the light in during the day.

Is that enough?

Or do I need grow lights?

[celestariel]

How far is "planted shallow"? You only have to lay them on the surface, i usually just plomp them on top and sprinkle a layer no more than 1mm of sand so their roots have something to dig into, keep moist and humid.

Yeah I didn't actually plant them per se.

I just dropped em on top and barely covered em with the lightest fine sand.

But my seeds look light a big grain of black sand. They are tiny. Is that right? It wouldn't even suspect those babies were seeds if i didn't buy em off shaman.

[foolsbreath]

Hold up there cow boy.... am i meant to be using a light.

I thought you only had to expose them to very slight indirect light, so I have them in a room near the window and open the curtins half way to let the light in during the day.

Is that enough?

Or do I need grow lights?

Yeah I certainly think it helps, lots of people do use lights during germination, it provides top heat to complement the bottom heat and may well provide a que for germination.

Lights used are fluorescents. You can use tubes, but I just use a couple of 20 watt "warm" (reder light rather than the bluer cooler looking) compact fluoros mounted on a Styrofoam cooler with the bottom cut out sitting on the heat mat. Lights are on 14-16 hrs/day

It makes for a very pleasant and even climate

Windows can lead to large changes in temperature with the diurnal phase shift. I know I can feel significant temperature drops within a meter of my windows at the moment. I don't germinate any seeds near a window due to this

I measure the temperatures with all my indoor plants using an electronic thermometer which keeps max and mins so I can ensure a good climate. If seedlings are in an enclosed space this means drilling a hole for the probe to go into the air space for measuring ambient temperature in the container

some change is ok or even good to mimic normal climate, but during winter these changes are more severe than in the natural period when germination would occur.

Each to their own, I know a lot of people don't worry about this, but where I am it gets pretty damn cold in winter and it is a requirement for me

[kadakuda]

i use flouros for starting my seeds, way better germ rates!

[SaBReT00tH]

As I mentioned in my other thread, I used Rev's method in Round plastic takeaway containers, 1/3 filled with propagation sand only, wetted down (not totally soaked) in a weak strength all purpose nute solution then nuked for about 5 min each container in microwave.

When completely cooled, I just sprinkled the seeds on the sand then got a very fine kitchen sive, and sprinkled a very thin layer of very fine sand over the top before misting with the fungicide (mancozeb) and replacing the lids.

I leave my bottom heat on 24/7 and have one cool white and one grolux flouro over them on an 18/6 schedule, and got excellent germ/growth rates.

Did you use any coco coir, vermiculite or soil to retain moisture too? If not, did you have good germination results? Maybe too much coco peat used by me in the past is why I've sometimes had problems with fungus setting in after several months, even after using an anti-rot fungicide. This summer I might experiment with just coarse sand, seed, fine sand on top and a fair soaking of water on top.

[Peyofox]

Did you use any coco coir, vermiculite or soil to retain moisture too? If not, did you have good germination results? Maybe too much coco peat used by me in the past is why I've sometimes had problems with fungus setting in after several months, even after using an anti-rot fungicide. This summer I might experiment with just coarse sand, seed, fine sand on top and a fair soaking of water on top.

Nothing but sand, the containers seem to keep in all the moisture thats needed, so far anyway.

Sand would probably be easier to keep sterile.

Germination rates were good at approx 80%

I tried to be as sterile as possible while preparing everything, and so far no fungus.

Edited July 13, 2007 by ReclusE

[kadakuda]

i use straight sand now as well, never had mold problems either. seems good until they get a little bigger then i fertilize or repot.