Hello, I had a package of mixed cactus seeds from Mckenzie seeds, you may have seen them. Im trying to grow them with some success. Has anyone done this? Since sowing the seeds I read a lot about planting cactus seeds one species per pot due to differing germination times. The Mckenzie website suggests sprouting them in a jar of peat and then moving them. What advice to people have to offer? I enjoy the novelty of trying these seeds and I think they will be fun things to give away to people. My new plan is this: I have a germination tray with a heat pad in the bottom. I want to get a bunch off small plastic pots, a couple more packs of seeds and sort the seeds by size and shape (in the hopes that they roughly correspond to species/germination time (would it?). Sow them on cactus mix in the pots and sprinkle with grit and place them in the germination tray on a window sill with tissue paper on the window to stop scorching. Are there any reasons why this plan wouldnt work? Should I just pluck the seeds off the peat as they germinate as the website says? Thanks Michael
I've never started cactus seed but I generally avoid seed mixes for the exact reason you mention, different germinating times, but if you do sort by shape/size, you should roughly get different species.
Here is an update for anyone who cares. I've got about a hundered seedings. I also pulled some seeds from a couple prickly pears and they are starting to grow too. It's all going pretty well. Some of the seeds were planted to think the in the pots, so I will have to transplant them sooner than I would like. I have to say that these are pretty fun to grow so far. Expect a posting from me the plant trading forum is a little while!
Did you manage to sort out the different seed varieties ? Keep us posted. I tried babying some seedlings once but I found it very difficult with watering and in the end they didn't make it.
For the most part sorting by size/texture worked out pretty well. From the best I can tell there are still a few varieties growing together, but it's not that bad. What did seem to match with size is germination times. Some seeds have yet to sprout, but even now there are new ones each day.
Sure are. You've grown them too? I collected seeds from the fruit and they came up like cress or chive seeds (lots). I have pots and pots of Prickly Pears (opuntia ficus indica?) I also took from the fruits.
My daughter when she was five (now 7) did the same thing, we ended up with hundreds of them, she sold them this year at the market for $6.00 each...made a killing.( I think it had a lot to do with the cute factor.) They put on some serious size quickly for a cactus.
I teach gardening at her school, lol, the kids at this school are an exception to the gardening norm for their age.
