Almost 2 weeks ago I planted about 80 cactus seeds, some Pachanoi, some Terschecki, Some Peruvianus, and Bridgesii. This is my second go at cacti cultivation from seed. My previous attempt with zero germ.
This time Ive had about 20-25% and some appear to be still making there way up from the soil. Just thought I would share this and see if anyone has any tips on the Peruvian variety, I wonder why none of them sprouted a long with the others? I'm trying to see how I can post an image of them, still new to this so if anyone can help with that it would be greatly appreciated.

There we go, Posted the photo. I'm really happy about them. I'm getting some more seeds soon and I'm going to try a few different methods of germinating so hopefully I can get the % of sprouts up, still 17 babies out of 80 seeds does not upset me one bit.

Were the seeds sown on top of the growing medium or with a layer over the top? What were they grown in, was it an enclosed environment or not and what was your growing medium?

I germinated Bridgessii, Pachanoi and Peruvianus in April/May this year and had a decent number sprout out of all but the Pachanoi which didn’t do as well as the rest. This may be down to seed viability as they were all done in the same conditions. % sprouted I’m not sure though.

Aloha! Good luck on your young cacti!

In in their younger stages, they appreciate a vapor barrier to keep their internal environment from drying out. Some insist on fungicide. During their earlier stages they seemed to think direct sunlight was too intense as they blushed red and purple. I used washed beach sand, local soil and store bought compost; filtered with a mesh to ensure small particle size. To sprout I made beds of very fine particles and lined the seeds in rows, tightly packed. Water via mister only. None of my "pachanoi" (ss) sprouted; Everything else did.

some baby worms (sacred succulents) swimming:

Those are beautiful.. How old are they? I just used jiffy pellets in a humidity tray, with light cactus soil on top, also I have been bottom watering. I suppose I should have maybe used my own soil and sifted better. I'm still pleased with what I have sprouted, they seem healthy so far. Also I think there may be some reason the Peruvian need something just a little off, different from the rest. I'm only speculating though.

Woops

my first germ was like 95% and my second was probably 100% (pachanoi seeds) all i did was:
>sterilize some cactus soil microwave (5-10 mins on lowest setting is sufficient)
>put it in a tupperware container
>used a mister to nearly saturate with water, (squirted horizontal lines into the soil for the seeds to rest in)
>pour off any excess water
>4-6 seeds per horizontal line
>cover with slightly damp paper towel, and close lid over it

after about 2-3 weeks the cacti mostly finish germinating, and you can pop the lid off, baby cacti can handle a surprising amount of water, so you can keep it in germinating conditions even when you have some sprout, as some seeds take longer to germ than others.

this was the only method i have ever tried, and i have had great experiences with it (barring one time, but i didn't microwave the soil, or keep it all that warm when it was germinating)



KT is a great site, i would recommend worldseedsupply.org as well. also you should look into getting some pereskiopsis for grafting (the longer you wait to graft your cacti seedlings, the better your results will be, i did it before the spines developed, and i had about a 10% success rate [i stopped after i got one to survive, but they are all old enough for me to start experimenting again])

also electrical tape is a lot harder to mess with than it would appear on websites, band-aids as well.
rubber bands + paper towels work all right.
also a humidity tank seems to be unnecessary, as everytime it just brings about rot (at least ime)

Thanks for the advice Pars. I'm curious about this pereskiopsis, Ive never heard of it, will grafting speed up growth? That is what I assumed the purpose of grafting to it would be, I'll look into it.

yea, they are particularly useful for slow-growers like lophs, but it will still speed up the growth of pachanoi and its relatives.
the first month or so it won't grow that much on the graft, but then it will fucking take off.
but yea it is really easy to do, just use a thin blade, like a box cutter.
sterilize everything with h2o2.
slice the top off the perskiopsis, slice the bottom off the seedling.
overlap the vascular rings, attach downward pressure ontop of seedling.
add a drop or so of water to the top of the pereskiopsis, wait.

you don't want too much water/humidity because it will rot/mold fairly quickly.
(the humidity in my home is fine, and it is around 50% typically)

i've had poor luck w/o a dome and high rh here in CA.
young(week old) seedlings to pere grafts need little soil water(the scion can be pushed off the pereskiopsis by vascular pressure if the pere is over-watered) but high humidity for the scion is good