Cacti Seed Potting Advice

Hello,

I have 100 mixed Cacti seeds - I don't know what compost/soil to sow them in.

Has anyone else ever grown Cacti from seed with great success? It seems a bit different to growing normal plants so I'm intrigued to see how it goes!

All advice welcome!

Thank you!

 

@IceColdRum is your man!

I've never grown a cactus from seed but Aloe germinate in ordinary MPC for me. The trick is not to let them get too moist.

 

I tried but failed

 

Doesn't fill me with much hope I have 100 so should hopefully get at least one that is a success...surely..

 

Not sure if mine were fertile, only had one Cactus

 

I've grown loads, but not recently.
It can depend on what cactus seed they are, mixed ones are usually quite easy ones.

You usually get a few cereus, which are fast growing, the odd opuntia, which can take quite a while to germinate, but then mostly grow quite fast, and some of the smaller globular types.

I've tended to use some seed JI, mixed with 50% sharp sand, or you could just buy a small bag of cactus compost.
Bear in mind seedlings rarely like full sun, so shade is best, if they get too much sun they go brown in colour and stop growing.

I always watered from the bottom in the early stages, kept just moist and allowed to dry slightly once they get a decent root hold

Large seeds can be slightly buried, small ones I would surface sow.
In fact I'd go through the mix and separate the large seeds from the small ones and sow them separately.

 

I haven't grown cacti from seed but have grown Stapelia and Epiphyllums in both cases I sowed them onto a layer of grit on a bed of well drained potting compost with extra grit, about 50% if I remember rightly. Once sowed I watered them and put the tray in the greenhouse in an area out of the sun. Both the Stapelia and the Epiphyllums germinated rapidly some of the stapeliads in a day or two.

 

Ferrocactus emoryi, from a sowing 30+ yrs ago

 

No advice here sorry. Bought a mixed pack, most germinated and that's as far as it goes.. reading this I know where it went wrong; soil, light, watering..everything ended up buying one!

Beauty @pete! How many years until it flowered?

 

Cant remember exactly, but it was more than 20 years, I have one older that has never flowered for me.
But that could put @kyleleonard off, so, there are some that flower in about three yrs, rebutias are pretty fast, along with echinocereus which have fairly large flowers, but short lived Echinopsis is a good one for shaded conditions, but flowers at night, but lasts the next day.

Mammillaria, are slower growing, but flower well after a few years, there are loads, lobivia, chamaecereus I forget most of the names.
My collection is pretty rubbish these days, never took it to great lengths, but had some good ones over the years.

 

I must admit that I tend to use MPC instead of seed compost for the less common stuff as it is lighter and I reckon it allows some air circulation. I could be wrong.
I also seem to be getting very good germination using coconut coir on the late sowings that need leaving out over the winter.

 

I don't mind having Cacti that doesn't flower - we bought one June 2014 which flowered, but not in 2015.

 

Sorry I've only just seen this,

Advice so far seems pretty sound, current growing advice tends towards as much strelisation as feasibly possible.

I water and then microwave pots until I can see steam rising from the soil and then leave them to cool down before sowing the seed and sealing the entire thing in a clear plastic bag where the seeds can germinate and grow for their first year quite happily.

 

Thank you to everyone for the advice, I'm going to be doing something over the next few weeks and I'll just update this thread.

 

I don't own a microwave, nor do my parents so wasn't able to do this phase.

The seeds have been sown - will update here when something sprouts - see you on the other side!