New Planting Lophophora Williamsii seeds, help please

So I recently acquired some peyote seeds, and I'm guessing just like everyone else who grows this plant, I want to see this beautiful plant sprout and grow into an illustrious strong cactus, my main intentions is NOT to eat the little guys...

I've got a decent amount of seeds, but I don't know the % of seeds that live/die. I was hoping for around 5 plants that might survive at least a few months. So I was wondering how many seeds I can expect to do nothing, and how many that sprout I should expect not to make it. Once I make it year with some I feel like I'll have a bit of a better understanding with some hands on learning, and can plant the rest with maybe better results or just more solid knowledge.

Any advice on growing them would be great! I've read a few guides and poked around a few forums and such to get some advice for growing...

-Soil: Don't get Miracle Grow (even Miracle Grow Cactus Special), no need to mix soil yourself, just local greenery/flower shop cactus soil. Some rocks on the bottom may be added to help drainage, and as the seedlings grow into cacti may add some rocks on top to keep moisture.

-Water/Humidity: Drench the soil and let water pour through it at least a few times before planting. Once planted to place a bag or some sort of clear plastic over the top, then slowly poke holes through it once the seeds start to sprout. After that water sparingly, I am not too clear on this, once the plastic wrap is removed how often and how much do you water? Any specific water, distilled? tap? pond? rain? purified? Any better/worse, wouldn't mind collecting rain water if my cacti need it, or even just as a treat for better water. Also I heard throughout the winter months they require 0 water, none at all. Then once spring comes to drench water through the soil a few times before you begin watering.

Planting/Potting: When planting place each seed roughly 1cm away from one another and about 1cm deep. Plant them all in a large pot (specifications please), then once they are almost a year old they will be ready to transplant. Transplant into their own pots each, with the same soil planted in. I've heard that clay is very preferred to plastic as roots shift in plastic pots. Obviously transplanting is far away from planting, but I'm still unclear on most of it and how fragile the plants are during this process. I'm really interested in the best specifications of growing apparatus (material, size, drainage, depth, etc...)

Heating/Sunlight: Very unclear on this entire matter... I've heard that people put heating pads under their plants, I heard this is an awful idea, I've heard many different temperatures for growing/winter months. Also I've heard that they need sunlight, but too much will burn them, some say they don't need any sunlight at all. Any input on this matter would be great a bit lost.


I think those are the major basic things of which I need to address, if you can think of anything else please add it. Everything that I wrote is not fact, just what I've gathered from everything I've read, I could be completely wrong and would love to know if I am!
I would like to grow them very naturally and low strung, wasn't planning on buying lights and watering systems and such, just window-sil plants and water them with a watering can (honestly probably just a cup).

ANY help would be LOVED

Thanks!!

 

From what I hear loph seed germination rates are 50% at best. Who knows though you may just get lucky. You have good advice on planting and care for seedlings as they need that high humidity and high temp to survive. Best of luck!

 

50%, so I figure I'll plant around 11 seeds, should yield me around 5 possible plants.

Good to hear that most of what I thought was pretty good.

Do you have any specifics though? Especially what sort of container I should grow them in? and any heating info as you said they needed to be in a high temp to survive (any temps specifically?)

 

Clay pots ftw!
Clay pots are sturdy, and they retain moisture far better than plastic pots, especially smaller flimsy plastic pots.

I've been growing peyote, and they've just been standing in my window. I keep my house at regular indoor temperatures, around 21C.

I would be careful of letting them have too much sun. The window I have mine placed in faces west, so the yoties get a decent dose of sun during the afternoon, but it's not an all day thing.

 

Yes clay pots. Unglazed clay pots, They are porous so they facilitate oxygen exchange in the soil better as well as moisture retention. Soak the pots overnight in water to "condition" them first.

You sure are a forward thinker, given that Peyote takes about 7-10 years (?) before they are mature enough to use.:sunny:

 

Glad to hear they don't need too much sun, the window I have picked gets a good dose of morning sun, probably 4-7 hours depending on the season (more in the summer months), so I may try to keep them out of the window for the full time of the sun and slowly adjust them to it.

Does anyone have any specifics on temperature they should be kept at for winter/other?
I'd guess where I want to grow them (not including sunlight heat) gets to be about 22C at most during summer months, and as low as -1C during winter months [although today is -26C, that is extremely rare] Is there like a point where if it gets too cold or too warm?

How deep should the starter pot be? And how deep should the individual pots be? Clay it is

I try to be a forward thinker so I'm not lost when I get to the step, well if I get there, but as I said, my main intention is not eat my babies.

 

I guess that was a typo?
Good luck and thanks for trying to help preserve these wonderful little cacti.:2thumbsup:

 

Hah, need to proof-read better, fixed it, thanks

 

If you mean that the actual temperature inside where the plants would be standing gets to be -1C, then that is far too low. Think about their natural habitat - in a dessert you wouldn't be getting temperatures below zero.

Mine just stand at room temperature year round, which is about 21C. They seem to be growing fine so far, and they do, as you stated, also get some energy from the sun.

I wouldn't worry too much about the depth of the starter pots - mine are 10cm deep in total, but the actual soil depth is only about 8cm.

As for the individual pots.. it depends on the size of the cactus. You'll want to get a pot that is probably about as big as the ones I use for starting (11cm diameter, 10cm deep) for the first transplantation.

After that, if they get bigger and you think the roots are being held back.. move them to bigger pots.

 

Aha, another brain slip, these plants will be inside, so the outside temperature won't have much effect on them...

Inside gets down to around 10C in the colder months and usually up to 25C in the warmer months.

I've actually heard of the desert getting colder than most other climates at night, so temperature has been a bit boggling haha.

Finally some specific #'s that I can picture, Thank You!!

What about watering? once they have sprouted and the process of poking holes in the plastic top is done, and the top is gone, how much should they be water (time-wise and quantity-wise)? Any specific type of water better than another or is anything I get from the sink fine? (I'll stand outside and collect rain water if it would help 'em)
I've heard different methods of bottom watering, top spraying, etc... not sure which is the best, I was going to avoid bottom watering if possible as I am unfamiliar with it, and wouldn't want any possible root rot if it could be avoided.

 

10C is probably fine - not optimal for growth, however your cacti won't die. The cacti are anyways in "hibernation" over the winter, meaning that they don't grow as much and they won't need as much water either.

I just meant that you don't want you temperatures falling below zero degrees.

Well, firstly, I planted these yoties about.. 5 months ago or so, and I still have plastic over the top with no holes in it. The reason for the lengthy plastic time is because when I removed the plastic from my first attempt at growing peyote, the soil dried out very, very fast. Once it was dry I tried to water from the bottom of the pot, however as the soil was so dry it wasn't really absorbing the water and it would just disturb the roots.

So, I would recommend that for the first few months you water from the top of the plant so as to not disturb the roots. Some people say that watering from the bottom trains the roots to stretch out to absorb the water, thereby making them stronger.

I would say you can start watering from the bottom of the pot a few months after planting them when the roots are sturdy. I still water mine from the top with a mister.

I also just use tap water, but it probably wouldn't hurt to have some water with less chemicals in it - rain water might not be so great depending on how acidic the rain is where you are at.

As for a soil mix, I recently spoke to a man who had been growing cacti for years, and he told me that he used the following as a soil mixture for all his cacti, including a few Lophophora Williamsii:

-Chick grit (Basically small rocks that you want to mix a bit of throughout the soil, and have a top layer on top of your soil)
-Leaf mold
-Peat moss

I have not tried this mixture myself, but I will when I attempt to plant some Trichocereus Peruvianus.

 

I have heard enough people say that soil does not matter too much, obviously more exact self mixed soils will be better, but there is nothing wrong with pre-mixed soil. My question is what sort of premixed soil should be used? I heard not full miracle grow but not sure the sand/soil to use.

 

Have been thinking about this for a while, and especially since you mentioned the plastic to transplant them... If I took an egg carton and planted each seed where an egg would go, would that work? The cardboard on egg cartons always struck me as very biodegradable, not sure if it is, just seems like it is, so perhaps when they needed to be transplanted I could just place the entire egg section in the bigger pot and not need to dig up the little plant, and the egg carton would degrade in the bigger pot and go away. Any thoughts?

 

Well I tried my luck in Art forum, but I've been ridiculed pretty much out of there, no one really understands what I want, so I suppose it fits this thread, so hopefully someone will read this who can help me...


I would like someone with artistic talents to paint me 5 clay flower pots. I have some ideas in mind that I would like to see on them, but the majority of the painting would be up to the artist. I would of course pay you for your work, we can discuss that later. I'm not really looking for solid colors or stripes, more of an artistic sort. Please let me know if anyone is interested, or if you know anyone who may be interested

 

Check out www.etsy.com.

Search for ceramic flower pots and you'll find some artists who do the sort of things you want. Then you can send them an e-mail and further discuss the specifics of what you want.

There used to be a section called "alchemy" which allowed users to put up custom requests for items, but it seems that you're no longer allowed to use it..

That might work, but in a fairly decently dry cactus pot, I don't see the cardboard degrading nearly as well as it would in the outdoors.

 

Etsy is a very good option which I had not even considered, I've heard of it but didn't think about contacting people specifically, very smart!

Good point about the egg carton's, they would probably be there for a long time, and with no nutrient value, they would just get in the way and probably hinder root growth/development.

What would I do without you?

 

Hey jerimah3, I'm in New England also and also interesting in growing L. williamsii. Is there a way to send private messages on here??

 

Yes, but you need to be active enough and have enough posts on the forum for it to allow you to start sending them (to avoid spam messages).

If you're looking for advice I don't have too much right now, as I'm not sure whether or not I have been successful, should hopefully find out in the next week or so.

CannbisSoul has been very helpful to me, along with a few others, this community is very knowledgeable, and should be able to answer most all your questions.

 

hmm *wonders what is active enough.

 

I believe you just need a certain number of posts. It might be 25 or 100; I'm not really sure.