Aztekium

[mutant]

I like natural too and a stubbornly object to modern solutions.

liking to rediscover the wheel is how I like to call it.

who ever has the capricorn in significant position is certainly to be prone to traditional point of views in that positions...

but boy, in aztekiums?? lol

this certainly would suggest some virgo as well...

and you know two earth signs, they know earth more than us, instictively...

[Philocacti]

Hahahaha I'm no Virgo but I'm stubborn as can be

[Myeloblast]

I happened to sow Aztekium hintonii and ritteri from Koehres as well about the same time you did Philocacti. Just saw the first one germinate yesterday, at least I think it was a plant. Could've been a green grain of sand, as algae seems to be taking over the surface of the pot. Was going to attempt to graft it since I'm sure it would die otherwise, so I got some tweezers under it only to drop it and never find it again. Doubt it would've been possible anyway...

Guess I'll have to try again lol, with more than 10 seeds of each

[hostilis]

Yeah, Once I knocked over a pot with 20 year old aztekium seedlings in it and all but a couple were lost in the sand.

Clarification, it had 20, 1 year old seedlings in it. not 20 year old seedlings.

Edited April 18, 2014 by hostilis

[modern.shaman]

I've read of people grafting after 2 weeks so it would have been possible but success rate is quite low due to the size. I grafted at 1 month albino seedlings but wouldn't make a habit of it due to the low rate of success. I'd take hellonasty's advice and wait a few months to have high success at grafting.

[Philocacti]

I happened to sow Aztekium hintonii and ritteri from Koehres as well about the same time you did Philocacti. Just saw the first one germinate yesterday, at least I think it was a plant. Could've been a green grain of sand, as algae seems to be taking over the surface of the pot. Was going to attempt to graft it since I'm sure it would die otherwise, so I got some tweezers under it only to drop it and never find it again. Doubt it would've been possible anyway...

Guess I'll have to try again lol, with more than 10 seeds of each

Myelo after reading your post I checked on them again. Nothing germinated (yet) in the hintonii seeds tray but I noticed to green seedlings the size of a lophophora seed or smaller in the ritteri tray. Good thing I moved the tray in a darker area then the rest of my seedling trays

I'm sorry that you lost you seedling man, but it really made me laugh...... the way you said it that's one of the reasons I'll leave my aztekium trays alone, cuz I'll be too nervous to try and graft and I care so much the I'll lose them somehow if I tried anything ..... You know Murphy's law ;)

Edit the addition of cinnamon really helped, non of my trays are showing any signs of

algae

Edited April 19, 2014 by Philocacti

[Philocacti]

Let's lace this thread with pics........some aztekium porn

Sorry for the out of focus picture

[hostilis]

What kind of a mixture is that? Coir and soil?

[Philocacti]

It's a mixture of small pebbles of dolomite and other kind of rocks with a small percent of compost mixed with coir and I topped it off with a fine layer of coir. I also added cinnamon to it

I'm thinking next time I'll top it with sand + coir so it won't be too wet

[Philocacti]

The good news is I have 5 seedlings of each species. Never imagined there'd be so small. I had to use a lens to see them

I wonder why every aztekium germination guide states that the germinate faster than other cacti....... or maybe my seeds were old or something

[hostilis]

In my experience they take about as long as lophs to germ. Maybe a bit longer, but astros have always been the fastest for me.

I planted 200 A. riterii, 50 A. hintonii, B. lilipunita, 26 G. mexicana, and S. disciformis the other day. Pretty stoked to see them grow up.

[Philocacti]

Yup same happened to me Astros were the first to germ

Good luck with your seeds ;)

[Philocacti]

Just for fun

[Philocacti]

So when I thought the seeds won't germinate I placed another order and after almost 4 months they arrived

So what would be wiser, to sow them in the same Tupperware with the previous seedling or use a new one?

Edit- I'm just correcting that it took the seeds 2 month to arrive not 4

Edited June 3, 2014 by Philocacti

[BillyThKid]

So when I thought the seeds won't germinate I placed another order and after almost 4 months they arrived

So what would be wiser, to sow them in the same Tupperware with the previous seedling or use a new one?

Depends. what kind of germination rates did you get with your previous method? I have grown them from seed. They need very special mixes for them to do really well. Limestone IME is a must when growing aztekium.

[Philocacti]

I had less then 10% from each species. I have limestone in the mix but it's covered with a thin layer of fine coir.

I'll probably germinate these in a new container and I'll add some sand to the top layer cuz coir alone doesn't stay uniform for so long, plus the seeds are so tiny that they slip in the smallest crack

[BillyThKid]

I had less then 10% from each species. I have limestone in the mix but it's covered with a thin layer of fine coir.

I'll probably germinate these in a new container and I'll add some sand to the top layer cuz coir alone doesn't stay uniform for so long, plus the seeds are so tiny that they slip in the smallest crack

If you want a different mix this worked for me: 40% top soil with the wood sifted out or a brand that has no wood in it. if you want you can use some kind of manure as part of the 40% if you like, 30% course sand like what is used for construction, not fine beach sand, 10-15% lime stone, 10% coconut coir, and 10% perlite.

Plant seeds and lightly cover with course sand as the top dressing but no mover than 1/8 inch because the seeds dont really pop through the soil easily.

watering is hard, i personally use a syringle to drip water around the seeds as to not disturb them. Also germination can take 6 months or more so dont throw ou trays and keep the light and heat on.

Aztekium can be hard to see for 6 months up to a year. sometimes they dont fully shed the seed shell and thats why you cant see them.

i got 35% germination and survival with this method and thats with Koehers shitty seeds.

[Philocacti]

Thanks BTK

My previous mix was almost as you described but with much less top soil and more limestone but with a table spoon of cinnamon (so fungus doesn't grow in the mix and it worked)

I should also add that some of the seeds are still germinating and what's worst, my 1st sprout disappeared.

IME germinating seeds in the winter is more easy than the summer. Plus with Aztekium from seeds there are no shortcuts as with other species I've grown from seeds.

[BillyThKid]

Thanks BTK

My previous mix was almost as you described but with much less top soil and more limestone but with a table spoon of cinnamon (so fungus doesn't grow in the mix and it worked)

I should also add that some of the seeds are still germinating and what's worst, my 1st sprout disappeared.

IME germinating seeds in the winter is more easy than the summer. Plus with Aztekium from seeds there are no shortcuts as with other species I've grown from seeds.

Forgo the cinnamon, It works for lots of things but every time i try it i still get infections and mold. I highly suggest wetting the finished soil mix with no cinnamon and allowing it to sit in the dark for a week to allow any spores in it to activate. then after a week microwave the soil in 5 minute spurts for 25-45 minutes or until soil is fully dry. Use microwave safe dish as this shit gets HOT.

This method gets rid of the worst enemy: dormant spores. The cannot be killed by heat or cold or chemicals easily other than pressure cooking, but by wetting the soil and bringing the spores out of dormancy they can be killed via microwave without cinnamon.

I have always had lower germination rates with any seed from any plant when cinnamon is used.

And i agree about winter, i started my seeds in august for 6 ariocarpus species and a few tricocereus. they are all indoors in southern facing windows under two 6500k blue fluorescent lights putting out 5800 lumens. so with the lights and windows it really speeds things up

Edited June 3, 2014 by BillyThKid

[Philocacti]

Yesterday I found an albino Aztekium seedling, less than 1 mm.

Today I made the most difficult graft, I've ever done in my life. It was literally like surgery. I had headlight on and a magnifying lenses and I still couldn't see anything.

While I was trying to take the seed off of the soil, I lost it like 3 times. To clean it from the soil sticking to it was more than difficult. My biggest problem was to find where's the growing tip so I can cut it right. Even after I cut it an put it on the pereskiopsis, I couldn't see if the cut it on the pereskiopsis cut surface or if it's laying in its side.

I think there's a 99.9 failure but it would have died anyway.

Let's hope for the best.

I'll post the blurry pics after a while......

So here they are..... 2nd pic is the seedling on my palm

Edited June 19, 2014 by Philocacti

[modern.shaman]

I removed my seedlings at 3 months from sowing date to prevent them from being steam cooked. They are all doing well but my climate is always humid. Here is one of my many seedling trays.

Edited July 8, 2014 by modern.shaman

[katu]

Couple of mine grafted onto M.geometrizans

[irabionist]

SO has anyone scored a valdezii? There have been at least 20+ small grafts for sale on eBay, more keep popping up every 2 weeks.

There's also been some seed going around, haven't been bothered to try score some myself though

[hostilis]

I am waiting for the price to go down. They're just way too much right now due to all the hype. Kind of like L. alberto and A. caput-medusae.

Check this one out

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aztekium-valdezii-cactus-cacti-variegated-ariocarpus-astrophytum-variegata-/171442663260?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27eac76f5c

Wow, that price is crazy.

[DiscoStu]

how can you be sure if you're buying one you're not getting a wild collected plant?