Its not the crispest of pictures but it was taken with a point 'n' shoot and its only 2mm. I thought interesting none the less?
It is a nice shot. Amazing for something so tiny using a point and shoot. I have been having good luck with my cactus seedlings. I thought they would be really difficult to grow. I have kept them as warm as I could manage in my home and now office. I started them in small clay pots. You do have to be very careful about the moisture. The babies have to stay moist but can't be wet. Shallow clay pots that breath are the best for cactus. Here are three cactus that I started from seed around a year and a half ago. Assuming the seed was from correctly identified plants, the first one is Echinopsis pachanoi (a close relative of yours, lozronz which is now known as Echinopsis peruviana), the second Lophophora williamsii and the last I cannot remember, but was one of the ones with a common name of "queen of the night". I think that name is applied to several cacti though. And before someone thinks I am a druggie, those are the only two psychoactive cacti that I am growing and I have no intention of ever ingesting them. They just happen to be the first ones I grew.
Wow! That is a big Lophophora williamsii for a year and a half, I have found them to be such slow growers, how did you manage that? I don't think the druggie thing would work for a year or so for the Echinopsis pachanoi and at least 3 for the Peyote. You must have had a slight interest, even if academic to grow those two together surely? or just pure coincidence? nice looking plants, thats exactly what I'm hoping to achieve. Cheers
I knew what they were. I had written a weblog entry on peyote. While searching for the write-up I saw a local vendor of the seeds and thought it would be fun to try to grow. Ordered the other two kinds at the same time. The Lophophora is not really very big. Those are two inch pots.
I also grow Echinopsis peruvianus, Echinopsis pachanoi and 2 kinds of Lophophora williamsii, all of which I propagated from seed. I have no desire to ingest these either. My main fascinations with Lophophora was that it was rare and that it is one of the slowest growing cacti. Over the years of moving and travel these specimens took a beating and had many casualties along the way. Even now I only have 2 Lophophora left and I usual water them out of pity because they are in such hard shape. They haven't grown for about 3 years now. As for the Echinopsis cacti, I started growing these because they were really fast growing cacti. Of course I had problems with these as well. They got some kind of black blistery, fungal pathogen from over watering and I had to cut out all the infected pieces. So needless to say they were in good shape at one time but have, over recent years, been somewhat problematic for me and discouraging. I still cant part with them though like the rest of my plants that have survived over the years from neglect and abuse.
This is starting to look like a confessions thread but I have also managed to kill a few peyote, not from seed but bought. Apparently when dug up their root system is often hacked to the point that they will slowly die and the problem with the peyote I have found, is that by the time it really shows, I have found they are usually too far gone. I'm anti buying Peyote other than from seed now, I think its a plant that gets bought for the wrong reason and ends up mush usually, might try from seed sometime. Hopefully these Trichocereus peruvianus will be easy to keep I understand that they grow pretty quick.
I lost a whole bunch of lophophoria williamsiis --- they turned light and went all soft and mushy. I was horrified. I only have one left now. Is that from too much watering?
It's always harder to gauge the watering needs of seedlings of any plant let alone cactus seedlings. I started about 100 Trichocereus pachnoi (or whatever it is called now) in the late 70's and ended up with about 10 plants after various drying/overwatering cycles. When conditions are sunny/hotter seedlings need more watering (but dry in between) and when conditions are cooler or not getting as much light it is safer not to water. I've since had to give up my cactus but because I grow in northern conditions I used to give my cactus water once between late fall and early spring (kind of a Christmas gift for the cactus and succulents). If I watered to much in winter conditions I got leggy, weak growths that couldn't support the heavier more robust summer growth. Good luck Shaun
I got some two-inch high ones given to me and they love water. I try to duplicate the mist that most of their water comes in in their natural habitat by watering them with a mister and they love it --- they've more than doubled in size in the 5 months since I got them. I got them in April and its October now so I guess I should slow down on the watering. I have a sun-lamp I sometimes put them under so that probably makes a difference, too. I got some more seeds too, and out of 10 seeds I tried to start 9 either didn't germinate or died shortly thereafter, and I have one tiny little, 4mm high one thats a month old. I hope it survives but I've got lots more seeds. They sure are tougher the older they get ...
Update: All but one lopho died. The 2inch trichs did wonderfully and are now 16 inches high and growing like crazy. :D