Bridgesii seedlings

[Gunter]

Some little ones.

[Salvi]

Some little beauties you have there. How old are they?

[Gunter]

Around a year, they are a bit slow compared to hybrids.

I should mention I made the marbles in the pot in one of the photographs. I had a stint making things out of glass for a while.

[Benzito]

Around a year? They seem pretty big for only one year old seedlings. Well, compared to the rate mine grow at!

What height are they? There is nothing for scale in the photos, so I can't tell.

But seriously, I have some 8 month old seedlings that are literally only about 1-2cm tall. Probably because I started them at the end of summer, and grew them outdoors over winter. This will actually be their first warm season, so maybe that is why they are so small.

Well, I obviously still have a lot of learning to do! :D

[Gunter]

They are about 10-cm, but you can see that one or two is still near 5-cm. I doubt that the widest one is more than 2cm wide.

They were about 2-3cm at six months of age.

I have some hybrids that were 10cm at 6 months, they are SS02 X SS01.

The bridgesii seedlings were grown under lights indoors and fertilized with 20:20:20 and 15:30:15 at low dilution.

I hear the HPS light makes them thinner than they would be but for higher density sowing that seems to be an advantage indoors that can reduce the space seedlings take up and they look fine to me.

[strangebrew]

Looking good.

Is the T.Bridgesii sp. Baker a hybrid?

[Gunter]

I don't think so, but it is rather fast growing and bitter.

[faslimy]

looks identical to the batch i'm growing, they naturally grow thin and fast like that. Going to be very interesting to see what happens to them in a couple of years with heavier growth.

[faslimy]

double post

Edited November 15, 2005 by faslimy

[Gunter]

I think mine might be a little bit thinner than normal, they are under HPS lighting. I am still pleased with them.

[-YT-]

:D Nice Bridgessi Archaea, very nice. thats excellant growth for the time span. What kind of tek did you use to raise them from seed? What kind of growth rates could you expect without the lights eg. part sun from a window?

[Gunter]

I didn't use any Tek that I know of and I am not sure about sunlight at all, I am sure it would work but I have no experience with it.

I am a bit of a rebel though as far as methods, I don't use fungicide or sterilization, I fertilize early and frequently. I keep my germination phase short (1 month at most now) and grow them hard soon after.

My methods also require frequent attention, many other methods allow the grower to neglect the plants and still work well.

Sorry I don't have much more information.

I wrote a cultivation guide, and even hand bound a few of them but its old and I need to work on a new one that uses all of the tricks I have learned in the last 3 years.

[Pisgah]

This is sort of an aside, but it is related...

T bridgesii is the easiest trich I've found to accelerate on pereskiopsis from seedling. Takes very well, and grows like a champ under lights, even flourescent.

[Gunter]

What kind of rates do you get that way?

[zee_werp]

Archaea, how do you get away with not using fungicide or sterilization??

[faslimy]

i've never used fungicide, i did sterilize the first batch but now I've had the same results without doing it so I don't bother.

It clearly isn't necessary

[Gunter]

I don't know, never needed them. i used to sterilize when I started, but I quite doing that.

The other day I took 10 seeds of a hybrid and 10 seeds of some other trich and put them in old used dirt, wetted them and then checked on them, they all sprouted just fine.

By maing sure things aren't too wet and that even when moist they get good air exchange they do fine. Sometimes I water them repeatedly as if it were rain, and then remove the standing water quickly from the bottoms of the containers holding my germination pots.

I like to use somewhat intert mixes too, coir and perlite screened (1:1) should not harbor cactus seed pathogens. I get some algae, but this doesn't seem to hurt the seedlings any and after they grow a bit it gets covered with some gravel topdressing anyway.

[Pisgah]

What kind of rates do you get that way?

once the graft takes I get 10cm in 4 months. For a seedling, that's not bad growth.

[zee_werp]

So do you germinate in a humidity dome or just in the open air?

I've only germinated cacti seeds a couple of times, but when I do I use 1.5cm of coarse sharp sand over a few cm's of sterilized cactus mix in a humid chamber. Both times I've seen a bit of cobweb mold growing on the surface around the seeds. First time I just picked it out and fanned more, seemed to work. Second time I sprayed with a weak fungicide mix and that cleared it all up straight away.

[Gunter]

I use Rubbermaid brand reusable disposable microwaveable containers. Square ones that are made of translucent and transparent plastic. I keep the lids cracked ever so slightly though right from the start to allow air circulation. I sometimes drill holes in the bottoms of these containers and use them, I prefer this method, but lately I have been placing small pots inside of them. I have never used a commercial cactus mix, and have always mixed my own. I have germinated in many different types of media, most of them with their own advantages and disadvantages. One thing I have found is particle size is a big deal, too small and you can get compaction taking place with some media, too large and the seedlings won't set roots right without topdressing.

So I germinate and that usually takes a couple of weeks at most, I surface sow and gently water the seeds in with mist then when the seedlings have oriented themselves upright I take the lids off and monitor the moisture content. I will let it get almost dry before watering again. When they have shown their first little spines I start fertilizing at every watering with the exception of every 5th watering or so. I alternate between 15:30:15 and 20:20:20 and 1/4 teaspoon per gallon. Nearly every time I grow seedlings this way they turn reddish, and while some people say that is a sign of too much light I tend to ignore it, for me they can grow just fine when reddish or purple tinted and since I use fluorescent lights for germinating I don't consider any discoloration due to lighting to be an indication of dangerous light levels. Full sun would kill the little new guys, but red colors seem normal to me.

After some time I start to get some algae but then I top-dress with gravel. When the seedlings are about 2 cm tall I transplant them out to a larger flat or pot, not too deep but fairly wide. They stay in these until they are ready to pot up in four inch, the best ones go straight into gallon size however as in my experience pot size and root space are vital factors in decent growth.

I have had my share of failures too, recently I used a spray to kill some fungus gnat larva which aren't often a problem for me but I ran out of DE as an additive, the oil suspension was tested on larger plants and they had no problems, the smaller seedlings however did not far so well and I lost some seedlings I fear I cannot replace. The most common accident over the years has been accidentally bumping a pot of seedlings and spilling them, that may have happened 5+ times in the last 5 years.

[Flip]

Fungus Gnats are the devils own creation.

I agree with "A" and the sandwich box method

but I've diverge from his example by mentioning

that I keep my seedlings locked up with the lid

to keep the humidity high

but I also lift it at least twice a day for air exchanges.

This will keep out fungus gnats.

if you have to drill holes for (for whatever reason)

that's fine, just on the bottoms

fungus gnats cannot lay their eggs upwards

very well, if at all.

I've lost many a rare seedling when I was starting out

some 15 years ago... due to gnats .... you learn quick.

never use fungicides or poisons... (including soap and other stuff)

if you can help it... it's always a ounce of prevention that pays off.

too many times the "cure" will kill your tender seedlings.

heheh, yeah Archaea, I totally have done that...

spilling and screaming over a spilled pot.

bests!

[Salvi]

Speaking of fungus gnats, I've read a top dressing of DE stops them, so I gave it a try but their numbers seem as strong as ever.. Is it more effective to mix it with the entire medium?

[Gunter]

I frequently incorporate it into my mix, but the medium also needs to get a bit dry in between waterings for it to be most effective.

[gerbil]

Just scanned the thread and can't find what DE means.

If you are talking diatomaceous earth I'd be very careful if I were you. But you are probabaly well aware of it.

It causes cuts in the gnat body causing it to dehydrate and die. Like minisucle razor sharp edges.

Get that in your lungs and you are in a fair bit of trouble.

It's MSDS states it pretty much as safe, but in terms of breathing it in that's a different story.

It's been trialled as a mushroom substrate, or at least an additive with good results, i think it was for oysters.

But the farms trialling dropped it for the hazardous nature.

I have limited knowledge on the matter though.

[Gunter]

Yeah thats what it is, as bad as perlite or vermiculite in terms of inhalation. I use moisture and sometimes a dust mask to mix mediums. Hydrated silica is cool stuff, its organic opal!!

I have actually used DE as an insecticide for nearly 20 years (since I was about 10) my father was involved for years in a company that sold it for that purpose.

I have wondered if some organic acids can make any silica from the DE available to the plants.

Thanks for the warning.