Germinating Loph's

The time is almost upon me to plant some of my seeds, probably 10, hoping for a yield of 5 or so, might go overboard and plant 11 or 12! :O haha

Anyway, I've got some overall information on the entire grow process, but figure it'd be best to get some specifics at such a crucial stage of the plant's life.

I plan to plant them evenly spaced apart in a trough shaped planter, should be plenty big enough with each seed having a few inches between them. The planter is plastic, thick and durable. I've been told clay is the best, but I figure that while they are germinating and in the months before transplant it wouldn't matter much. I have clay pots for the surviving williamsii's, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I've read a few different soil compositions, I will be using premixed cactus soil (not miracle-grow) instead of mixing my own with different %'s of soil, just something for me to fuck up... Question is, rocks on top, they are recommended but I wonder if that is just once they are full cacti and not just growing.

Watering... I heard best is to soak through the soil, then put plastic over the top and once you start seeing green saplings poke through start to poke holes through the plastic, more every few days, then remove plastic altogether. Question is, what exactly does "soak through" mean, do I want to plant in damp soil or wet soil with lots of water in it? Also, should their be holes in the bottom of the planter? why/why not?

Anything else I forgot please add anything! First time planting/growing, so I need the help.

Thanks!

 

Alright, I'll try to cover your questions using my own experiences once again.

Firstly, I really think you should use a clay pot. The spacing isn't so crucial at the young seedling stage for a peyote - they grow fairly slowly anyway. It will be months before you even have to worry about moving the cacti. At this young stage it's very important that you keep them humid enough that they won't dry out without letting the root system rot. The clay pots are perpetrated to hold in moisture better and I think it would be wise to go with clay.

I never used rocks when I planted my first lophs, but I actually just planted some Trichocereus Peruvianus cacti yesterday using a layer of rocks on top. I have heard from another experienced cacti grower that this is a good method to use because the seeds will fall in between cracks, thus providing some moisture and also providing a good support for the seedling cacti.

You do NOT want to plant seeds in overly wet soil. Your seeds won't germinate, or even if they do the young seedlings will most likely rot instantly. What I do is mix the soil with water until saturation (i.e. you will squeeze some water out when you compress the soil in your fist), and then microwave it for maybe a minute to attempt to sterilize it. This also heats the soil to the point that some of the water evaporates.

As for slowly removing the plastic, you definitely don't want to do it too fast. Again, the risk is that you'll kill off your cacti by giving them an environment that's too dry. I planted my current lophs in October maybe, and the plastic wrap still only has 5 holes in it on each pot.

Also, you do want to have holes in the bottom of your planter so as to be able to water from the bottom of the pot. Basically you submerge the pot into water and allow the soil to absorb water. This is a good method of watering because you won't disturb the cacti from above by pouring water all over them.
You also want to have somewhere for water to run out that isn't absorbed into the soil.

 

The problem with clay pots for me is that the ones I have aren't big enough to hold more than a couple plants each, tops. So since I won't know which seeds will grow and which won't, it would be tricky to choose right. If I have 3 plants spring up in my smallest pot then I'd need to move one way before I should so they don't kill each other. I was going to leave them in the plastic planter through spring and summer and then transplant them in late summer/early fall into the clay pots, so they'd have enough time to get settled in and develop to their new homes before winter.

These were planned as indoor plants, especially since the climate would not be very cooperative, so about bottom watering... I'm not entirely sure how I go about it without making a mess. How would you figure to go about bottom watering a rectangular shaped planter box? and even if I used the clay pots, they don't have bottom trays that go with them, so not sure how that would work either.

Will any sort of rock work? or just rock from a local greenery where I'll get my soil? (pretty much is there any rock I shouldn't use?)

I do see your concerns about using plastic, I remember you saying that it can shift the roots and kill the loph's, but this plastic seems strong enough that it won't bend or bow, and I don't plan on moving them hardly at all once they are planted, well... depending on what happens with bottom watering that may be the only time I need to move them before transplanting.

 

Alright, well if you'll feel more comfortable going with plastic then go ahead. I don't think there would be a big problem with using plastic if the tray is sturdy enough.

Hm.. bottom watering with a big tray could be difficult. Usually, with my clay pots, I fill a plastic yogurt container with water and submerge the bottom of the pot in the water. There's a whole in the bottom of the pot, so the water soaks into the soil, and then I briefly allow excess water to drain.

If you want to bottom water the tray, depending on size, maybe you could use your bathtub :tongue:
I think it's important to state that if you think bottom watering will disturb your plants that you should just mist them instead.

What I did was I bought some aquarium gravel and just washed it off before putting it onto the soil. Another person I spoke to used 'chick grit', which is basically another form of natural gravel. I don't think there's any rock that you particularly want to avoid except for big and uneven rocks which might damage your plants with their sharp edges.

 

Hmm... bathtub eh? that might work... Also, I live on a lake, so that could work as well, with the same idea as the bathtub.

But you say misting would work, but how would I go about misting if I had plastic over the top. Would I remove the plastic to mist then put it back on, I would have thought that would completely throw off the humidity balance and such.

 

Plastic is ok for babies but mature lophs need clay or terra cotta pots.

 

Good to hear that, they will only be germinated and brought up in plastic, once they are big enough to move once they will forever live in clay . Sadly my attempts to get some pots custom painted didn't work, but I have some that should do the trick with a little bit of style.

Maybe I'll get some pictures up of everything when it gets closer....

 

thanks for that, I didnt' know. I planted all my seeds in a 6-7 inch plastic pot, so far 2 (possibly 3, too early to tell is the third one is going to make it) poked their cute little heads out of the ground, but once they get stronger, I'll put them in clay.

 

Well you remove the plastic cover.

Removing the plastic covering will allow some humidity to escape, but as long as you keep your work fairly fast it shouldn't cause a problem - the humidity will re-balance itself after you put the lid back on. You replenish the humidity levels by spraying water onto the soil.

 

I need to decide when to plant them, but it's still that kind of season where the temperature isn't that warm, and we still have some cool days with cold nights. Is there a temperature I want to stay above when planting, (my house still stays warm, but I know seedlings need to be warmer than usual).

 

I should think that as long as you stay above freezing temperatures that you will be fine. Generally you would want to keep it a bit warmer than that, though. I let mine stand by the window all the time, including through the winter that just passed. The temperature at the window I would say goes down to maybe +10 Celsius at its coldest.

I've seen some websites suggest that you have your temperatures at around 20 Celsius at all times at the minimum, though.

 

Alright, well we just had a fluke snowstorm, so I'll give it some more time, since we are right around 10C on cooler days/nights.

Another thing is I keep reading about people microwaving their soil before planting, I assume this is to sterilize it or maybe just so the seeds have a nice warm home? I've never heard you mention anything about it, and I wouldn't think fresh soil would be evil and kill my them... but I don't know.

 

Microwaving the soil is something done to sterilize the soil before you start growing.
Generally, if you buy a pre-mixed soil bag at the local gardening center, it'll be fine to plant right away for the most part. You should only really need to worry about sterilization if you go around collecting various ingredients in the outdoors and make your own soil mixture.

I sometimes microwave the soil - I find it to be pretty helpful in getting a good moisture content. Sometimes I add a little too much water to the soil before planting the seeds. Then I microwave the soil to the point that it is hot and steaming, and the water content regulates itself.

 

I know that sunlight is crucial and deadly to them at different stages of life. I will regulate sunlight (their only light) using a curtain, and I thought I heard when they are germinating give them as much sunlight as possible, but after they sprout ration sunlight, not sure to exactly how much.
Is this right? please correct me or confirm me.

 

Just keep a close eye on them. I leave mine in the sun and look at them almost everyday, when they start getting a little reddish, i move them away a bit.

(Obviously keep the plastic wrap to make sure they are nice and humid as well)

 

Day 1, planted April 09, 2011.

11 of them, 9 in a row and 2 scattered for luck.
Planted in Hoffman Organic Cactus & Succulent Soil Mix, checked the ingridients and was nothing but sand, peat, and dirt.
Soaked soil and let it sit in the sun for 2 hours or so, then planted them, well really just dropped them on the top of the soil. Covered the top with plastic Saran wrap with multiple layers so it'll be completely covered, might need to fix it later if the water droplets become an issue.

Will get a complete pictures up soon.

Edit: Anyone know how to put pictures up here? When I click and drag it just shows me the full picture.

 

try this
http://www.forumimagecodes.com/
looking forward to seeing your babies!

 

Not much to see yet, but soon... hopefully

 

Wow, picture is freaking huge! haha.

Any idea how often I should open up the plastic to add more water? With them as seeds I want to keep maximum humidity and moisture as much as possible.

 

I feel like you put a shit load of plastic (more than you need to)
I never added water to mine yes and it's been 3.5 weeks. I can tell it's humid in there from all the condensation that formed under the plastic.