Hello again! Only one week later and I'm writing a blog again. I'm thinking about writing each week about the progress of this year's cacti. For those who just ended up here googling, I've just made an index on top of each blog. Something like this:
INDEX
- The beginning, sown at 1-4-2012 and one week later.
- 15-4-2012, 2 weeks old.
- 22-4-2012, 3 weeks old.
- 29-4-2012, quite the same.
- 20-5-2012, 7 weeks old.
- 17-6-2012, 11 weeks old.
- 20-5-2013, more than 1 year old.
Okay! I've just decided to add this to all the articles about this year's seedlings. At the 'end' I'll maybe write a separate article about each specie that I'm growing this year, because it might be useful for someone who's interested in that exact specie. Not that I'm some kind of PRO here, but even if I make some mistakes, it might be a lesson for myself in the future and maybe for the person that is reading this blog right now. See for yourself.
So where was I... Ah! One week later... Let's put the species in the same order as in my last article:
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| Blossfeldia liliputana and Aztekium ritteri |
I realize that they're hard to spot, but I can see one of each specie, VERY tiny! I really hope to have some more success on these little dwarfs, because last year I've sown 40 A. ritteri-s, 8 came up and right now I only have 6 of them. The case is that this year I've changed the substrate a bit and didn't scan it on less than 1mm as I've done last year. Then it wasn't a huge success, so let's just wait a little. They might be hidden between the perlite, stones and cocopeat...
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| Frailea asterioides 'castanea' and Epithelantha bokei. |
Nothing to complain over here! Almost all of them are up and they all seem to be healthy. No further comment. Let's hope they're strong enough to survive the first couple of months.
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| Tephrocactus articulatus. |
Still nothing. On the forum at Cactiguide.com, they've told me that if I don't see nothing within 3 weeks, I can just pick them out (these are large seeds, as you can see), leave them to dry a little and try it all over again. Sometimes this seems to work.
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| Echinopsis candicans. |
Now this is something weird! I've ordered 20 seeds and if you count them right, you can see 23 seedlings! (where the @#$% will I keep all those plants?!) What more can I say about them? Columnar cacti, as you can see and... Yep, also healthy.
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| Pachycereus pringlei. |
I don't know where I've read it, but where I've done it, I've read that these are sometimes called 'fake Saguaros'. (no idea if this is correct English! Mail me if not. I'm open for critics!) I'm trying to find a photo of my Carnegiea gigantea, which I've sown last year. But the first few photos aren't that clear, so you can't compare it that well. From what I can remember is that they look quite similar. Only on top, the P. pringlei looks a little bit fatter. Like it's blown up a bit more. Later I'll add some better pictures, for you to compare them.
I have 7 of them right now and to be honest: I don't really want much more of them, because they can get... Large. If you look well, you can see the unopened seeds laying next to them. They look kind of swollen and will maybe burst open any moment.
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| LOPHOPHORA williamsii - v caespitosa, La Perdida. |
What to say about them... I've grown Peyote a couple of times now and they're not that hard to grow. Just give them real sunlight at the right moment (not to much in the first year, or they'll burn) and feed them just a little, once in a while. This isn't the regular L. williamsii and that might be the reason for their different appearance. It's that they look a little bit tall, but thinner that I'm used to. I don't think that this is a big deal and I'm sure that it's not the lack of sunlight which make them look thin. They have a healthy green colour and I'm not really worried about them. That's all I can say right now.
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| Selenicereus hondurensis |
From the same family as the ones below (S. grandiflorus). See for yourself, they don't really look like cacti at this moment. More like plants. Hmm... Have they sold me sweet pepper instead?! It's probably right that they look like this...
If I ever grow this specie again, which I probably won't, because they grow like hell and people normally give away parts of them for free, then I'll leave a little more space on top for them to grow. They're HIGH and I almost can't close the bucket anymore... Not a big problem, but ok.
By the way: they're larger than S. grandiflorus at the same age. No idea if they will always be.
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| Selenicereus grandiflorus |
'Queen of the night', doing well, nothing more to add. A little bit smaller than S. hondurensis at the same age.
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| Pilosocereus gounellei |
I think I have about 19 of them. Columnar, fat enough and healthy green.
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| Browningia candelaris |
Also doing well, though at this moment I can see only 5 of them. Let's compare it to the old photo's of my B. microsperma. Hmff. I only have one photo from 1 week after sowing and the next one is taken one month later. My memory is telling me that B. microsperma was larger in number, but a little less fat.
Enough for now. Let's see if I'm disciplined enough to write another one next week! LATER!
