Thursday, May 07, 2020

2020 sowing part 7: Results after one month

Hello again. Another short post about the sowing results up to now. This time after 5 weeks or, let's call it a month!



From now on I'll post the results only each month. Don't worry! I'll still post other stuff about cacti. ;-) A couple of my plants are flowering right now and I know the rule: pics or it didn't happen!


SoortSeeds1 w2 w3 w4 w1 m2 m3 m4 m
Acanthocalycium thionanthum4002222
Euphorbia platyclada2000000
Lophophora fricii3014555
Lophophora williamsii4027151617
Maihuenia poeppigii600000
Monilaria moniliformis451421232321
Oroya borchersii3002333
Sulcorebutia arenacea40014141315
Tephrocactus geometricus300000
Trichocereus pascana3008101010
Trichocereus peruvianus300891010.


Now let's take a quick look at the results. The success rate is definitely lower than in the previous years, but let's see the survival rate after one year. The gravel might give the seedlings a little benefit. From my experience, all the normal germinating species (all but Tephrocactus and Maihuenia) should be done with germinating. This means that I still can't make Euphorbia seeds germinate and this pisses me off a little. They say the seeds must be fresh, and I believe these were fresh, but there must be something that I do (or don't do) that causes the 0. If anyone knows the magical method, please contact me.

That's it for today. See ya next time!



Thursday, April 30, 2020

2020 sowing part 6: Results after four weeks

Hello again. This will be a short one.



Right now it's 15 minutes past midnight, so I'm actually a bit late with the update. I'm also a bit tired so I'll just post the results. As you can see, we have one more Peyote, one more Peruvian torch and we're one Sulcorebutia short.

Results


SoortSeeds1 w2 w3 w4 w1 m2 m3 m4 m
Acanthocalycium thionanthum400222
Euphorbia platyclada200000
Lophophora fricii301455
Lophophora williamsii40271516
Maihuenia poeppigii60000
Monilaria moniliformis4514212323
Oroya borchersii300233
Sulcorebutia arenacea400141413
Tephrocactus geometricus30000
Trichocereus pascana30081010
Trichocereus peruvianus3008910.


Later!


Wednesday, April 22, 2020

2020 sowing part 5: Results after three weeks

Hello again. It's now three weeks after sowing and, as promised, I'm back exactly one week after my last post to share with you my results.

Lophophora fricii seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing

Results

SoortSeeds1 w2 w3 w4 w1 m2 m3 m4 m
Acanthocalycium thionanthum40022
Euphorbia platyclada20000
Lophophora fricii30145
Lophophora williamsii402715
Maihuenia poeppigii6000
Monilaria moniliformis45142123
Oroya borchersii30023
Sulcorebutia arenacea4001414
Tephrocactus geometricus3000
Trichocereus pascana300810
Trichocereus peruvianus30089.



Photos

Acanthocalycium thionanthum seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
Not sure what's happening here. Will more seeds germinate? Do they acquire a different method? Am I unlucky with the quality of the seeds?


Lophophora fricii seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
The ones that popped-up look real nice, round and strong. 16,7 %  is still a bit low, but we'll see what happens.


Lophophora williamsii seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
Better than his cousin. 15 tiny Peyotes. I've done better, but we're not there yet. I still see more of them germinating each day, so the final result will be better.


Monilaria moniliformisseedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
Yeah, we're doing good... Right now. I'm still a bit nervous about keeping them alive after a couple of months, when they're sleeping (it's a winter grower) and I can't give them water. They'll be way too small to keep them completely dry and will die for sure. I'm planning to add a Toodledo task to my list so that I'll spray them every day, just a little bit. If they do survive, I'm a hero!


Oroya borchersii seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
Not sure why I've purchased this species. They look alright, but that's all. Maybe I'll appreciate them more over time. We'll see.


Sulcorebutia arenacea seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
Strange, the way that they're growing elongated. All the other species are doing great. Is it normal? Not sure. Will they recover normally? No idea. I do like the Sulcorebutia family a lot, so next year I'll try different methods. Maybe they should stand a bit colder while germinating. If anyone knows the trick or is sure that this is normal, please contact me. I'm really eager to learn.


Trichocereus pascana seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
This species is actually one of my first favorites, and I wanted to grow them back in 2011. I didn't do so, because of the enormous size of this plant. Then I kinda forgot about it and started sowing Saguaros and T. terscheckii (for those who do not understand what I've just written down; these plants can be twice as high as your house!). With my experience from the last ten years, I now know that it takes decennia and sometimes even more than an age till they're that big. 


Trichocereus peruvianus seedlings, 3 weeks after sowing
Another nice Trichocereus. This one is used by indigenous tribes in Peru to make a special tea. All that I'll tell you here right now is that it's not some type of Earl Gray.

I should mention here that Trichocereus is not officially the family's name anymore. They now use Echinopsis, but in my opinion, all the species that were called Trichocereus, have soo much in common with each other, that for clarity, I'll still call them Trichocereus.

Till next week! Hopefully with better results.