Some Cactus Seedlings

[dvg]

thanks for the tip. I'll try germinating cacti on paper towel too.

Or even try the cup method that was shown on this forum a couple of weeks ago...it worked great for pepper seeds, it should work as well for cactus seeds.

Hey! Awesome pics there! Can I have your camera?
I too am a cactiphile! I always had trouble growing from seed, (they'd go yellow during hardening off) though that was a while off, maybe I should try again. I have mostly columnars and minis. (trichocereus, lophophora, etc).

Hope you try again and best of luck!

Looks like DVG is doing a good job at giving us a renewed interest and inspiring us all to grow cacti from seed again!

Thanks Wildfire, of course there are faster things to grow...

...but these thorny little critters can teach us patience...a valuable commodity in today's world.

dvg

 

[dvg]

Thanks.Yes the Ferocactus is great apart from all the weeds around it. They are so hard to pull out so I took a risk and sprayed poison on them the other day. It killed half of the weeds. I have some really awesome photos somewhere of it flowering!

This is actually the first time the Opuntia has fuited. I had a whole heap of similar ones with the little red hairs but way too many times have people been hurt. Once when my son was about 1yr old he touched it with his hand and we had to sit there for 2 hours pulling each spine out with tweezers whilst he was screaming. It took so long that he ended up falling asleep as we were doing it. So they all went in the bin.
I have tried the fruit before but if I remember correctly there are heaps of seeds inside which makes it hard to eat, plus you have to deskin/despine the outside first. I will try these again but I think with all the effort involved it's not worth it.
What I want to know is which one do they use for eating the pads (nopales?) I tried it in a mexican restaurant once and have had it pickled. I know you can't just use any pad as some of them have that milky sap in them which you can't eat.

Wow I'm surprised that they survive in -40 degrees! Where do you keep your cacti then, in a greenhouse or just outside?

Yes I will get heaps more carnivorous plants, once I know what I'm doing properly. There is a really good site I found that will post them to me and they have heaps of varieties including some rare ones, but they can be very expensive so I didn't want to start with them and then loose them all!

Ouch!!! Those Opuntia glochids, the little barbed, irritating hairs that readily detach upon touch are NASTY...i

always try and have some duct tape handy when i have to play with Opuntia...it workds well at removing most if not all

of them, if applied early enough...

Yeah, from what i've read, nopales are usually made from O. ficus-indica pad, and almost all Opuntia pads are edible,

albeit spiny, but are probably picked and eaten before the spines develop.

Those little native cacti around here are hardy...and i kept those and a few other hardy Opuntia outside in pots...

...but the rest of my collection isn't anywhere near that hardy, so they get to spend winters indoors and under lights, or

by a sunny south facing window.

Carnivorous Plants are very interesting, and there is such an amazing amount of diversity among them.

They can be as huge in size as a Nepenthes truncata or a hybrid made with that species as a parent...

...and they can be used to perform tricks...

The Bottle Trick

...but are also efficient at rodent capture and disposal...

Mouse eating pitcher

Australia has some of the most beautiful CP's, including the tuberous Sundews, that don't grow anywhere else.

If you have any questions about CPs, either growing or collecting them, feel free to shoot me a PM.

dvg

 

[Wildfire Chilli Australia]

Ouch!!! Those Opuntia glochids, the little barbed, irritating hairs that readily detach upon touch are NASTY...i

always try and have some duct tape handy when i have to play with Opuntia...it workds well at removing most if not all

of them, if applied early enough...

Yeah, from what i've read, nopales are usually made from O. ficus-indica pad, and almost all Opuntia pads are edible,

albeit spiny, but are probably picked and eaten before the spines develop.

Those little native cacti around here are hardy...and i kept those and a few other hardy Opuntia outside in pots...

...but the rest of my collection isn't anywhere near that hardy, so they get to spend winters indoors and under lights, or

by a sunny south facing window.

Carnivorous Plants are very interesting, and there is such an amazing amount of diversity among them.

They can be as huge in size as a Nepenthes truncata or a hybrid made with that species as a parent...

...and they can be used to perform tricks...

The Bottle Trick

...but are also efficient at rodent capture and disposal...

Mouse eating pitcher

Australia has some of the most beautiful CP's, including the tuberous Sundews, that don't grow anywhere else.

If you have any questions about CPs, either growing or collecting them, feel free to shoot me a PM.

dvg

Duct tape sounds like a good idea, but don't want to grow them again so should be right Most cacti I just handle with my hands as you get used to it or figure out the best way to handle, but sometimes during repotting if it gets a bit difficult I use two pieces of cardboard or tongs if they are small enough to help lift them.

Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge, I'm sure to pick your brains one day about some of these.
Actually whats the best way of saving seed from cacti?

 

[Exavier]

LOL I got stuck by the spines of O. ficus-indica from a fruit I picked. Had to have my Gf pick them out,,, Dam I'll never grow them now when Dragon fruit is as easy.. Shes till laughing with her friends about it. tiny little fruit... Its like me hugging the biggins here. Her and her friends don't understand there nice and cudly and like hugs from weirdos like me... Mmmaahahaha.. Sorry I think I'm losing my mind in this small town......... Got to vaca in BKK about hang out with my wan out...

 

[Wildfire Chilli Australia]

LOL I got stuck by the spines of O. ficus-indica from a fruit I picked. Had to have my Gf pick them out,,, Dam I'll never grow them now when Dragon fruit is as easy.. Shes till laughing with her friends about it. tiny little fruit... Its like me hugging the biggins here. Her and her friends don't understand there nice and cudly and like hugs from weirdos like me... Mmmaahahaha.. Sorry I think I'm losing my mind in this small town......... Got to vaca in BKK about hang out with my wan out...

So did you find out a good way to get the skin off without getting spiked? I have seen something that somone made up to pick the fruit. They used a broom stick with a coke can at the end cut off. Might have to try that on mine.

 

[dvg]

A couple of the other A. caput-medusae seedlings have begun sending up their second tubercles.

dvg

 

[Wildfire Chilli Australia]

Great to see. In the meantime my carnivorous plants have died, I dont think they liked the dome they were in

 

[dvg]

Thanks Wildfire, and sorry to hear about the loss of your CP's.

Depending upon what you had going on there, say if they were vft's or sarracenia or even sundews, they would be happy outside in full direct sunshine.

It's very arid and dry here usually, and i don't grow anything in an enclosure...they all get exposed to the room air.

The good news for you though, is that Australia has some awesome CP dealers.

We just did a group order from Exotica Plants and i received some of the biggest and best looking Nepenthes i have ever gotten anywhere.

There is also Triffid Park that supplies a multitude of venus fly trap cultivars.

And if you like growing from seed or can find the time for it, check in with Allen Lowrie...he has one of the most extensive native Aussie CP seed collections anywhere.

Best of luck to you and i sincerely hope you have a better go of it next time.

dvg

 

[Wildfire Chilli Australia]

Thanks DVG. I did see a couple of those places on the net awhile ago. However some require a big minimum order. I wanted to see how I would go with these first as I thought I'd kill them. I think it got too humid and then they started growing mould and turning black. I did take the lid off nd leave it outside under the patio in filtered light in the warmth but it didnt help. Oh well will try again.
(Sorry to take over your thread)
Good luck with your seedlings and keep the pics coming.

 

[dvg]

Haha, no worries...and if at first ya don't succeed, try and try again...

dvg

 

[Yaotzin]

Here are some cactus seedling pics of A. caput-medusae, (seeds sown march 5, 2011) showing it's first tubercle growing out...

...the seeds for these plants were going for 20 Euros a piece a few years ago...

and from today...

And these are some pics of some Mammillaria luethyi seedlings that were also sown on March 5 of last month...

...M. luethyi link

dvg

How did i miss this?!! cool man i just got some Whitesloanea crassa seeds! i just hope i get lucky on germinating them

 

[dvg]

How did i miss this?!! cool man i just got some Whitesloanea crassa seeds! i just hope i get lucky on germinating them

Thanks Yaotzin!

Some updates of these plants were posted on some other forums but not here, so here they are now.

A. caput-medusae seedling

M. luethyi seedlings

And from above

Good luck with your seed starting attempts as well!

dvg

 

[dvg]

Another update on a few of the M. luethyi seedlings.

They look like they could use more light, so i've moved a couple pots of them closer to the fluoros.


Back in February of this year, i also started some Mammillaria theresae seeds.

Here is a shot of one of the seedlings taken on March 31, of this year.

And here are some shots of the seedlings from today.

They've grown quite quickly in an enclosed container and have just recently been moved to a larger container.

The original container stayed moist and damp which allowed moss to grow up and around most of the seedlings in there.

A shot of a slightly colored M. theresae seedling.

These seedlings have all been moved closer to the lights in an attempt to keep them from stretching.

dvg

 

[siling_labuyo]

I'm drooling now...

i love this one

 

[Capsicum]

Wow, nice pictures!!

It is nice to see cactus seedlings.

Very nice mix you have them in.

 

[paulzie32]

Hi DVG.
GREAT Looking Seedlings!
I gotta ask.... What was your trick to germinating the M. luethyi seeds? I've been told they are very difficult to germinate. I grow many cactus from seed and use the baggie method but with no bottom heat as I'm in Florida and it's really not needed for most of the seeds I grow.
Also, can I ask where you got them? Everyone I've tried is either out or won't ship to me in the US without appropriate permits.

Thanks