I bought some T. bridgesii and T. peruvians seeds, and to my delight I had my first sprouts (on my birthday, no less) . A few days later, and there's 21 of the little guys.

I've never grown anything from seed, and never grown cactus, so any advice is welcome. Right now there in a closet with a window and have just had natural light. Should I switch to a grow light, and when if they're too young now?

Also, does the middle one in the first pic look sunburned?

Thank you!

Congratulations. I wish them a long, healthy growth-filled life.

Aren't they cute? Nice job! I've got a bunch going too. Looks like that might be a pretty moisture retentive soil they are in. Be careful not to over water.

highly unlikely to sunburn in most windows.
i rec'd tubular floro lamps- 6-12" away. 16hrs a day

Thanks guys, and yes they are cute!

I'll definitely watch the water- I know perlite or sand are recommended for drainage, but didn't read that until too late for this batch. I got a recommendation for a good local lighting place that I intend to hit Saturday.

Don't you just love to grow things? I love the learning process through observing and getting to know the plants. Brings about such a good head space.

Gardening makes me happy on many different levels

Beautiful. I just started germinating 30 torch seeds. It's been about 3 days and nothing is coming up

Congrats and good luck on the seedlings

Interesting choice of name

As a new cactus-grower myself, I feel happy for you

Nicely done! I just started some of my own several weeks ago and they're pretty much at the same stage right now. I sowed about 25 bridgesii and 25 T. Pachanoi and about half a dozen of each germinated. the T. Pachanoi didn't start germinating until this week so I hope more pop up.

I've never grown cacti before so I feel a little out of my element but I'm just happy they sprouted=) Next step: keeping them alive!

A couple of my bridgesii seedlings also have a reddish hue and I initially thought sunburn too. Really they aren't getting that much light so I don't know.. my current suspicion is too dry so I'm giving them more frequent misting to see what happens.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I'm interested to see how these grow for you.

Good luck!

Great work Continuum! I'm only one year into my cactus journey and I think growing from seed is a fulfilling path to trod. May you grow together toward the light.

If your germination is lacking or slow, you might try using a heat mat under your seed trays. Also make sure you aren't burying the seed.

Thanks nicechrisman,

Germination of the T. Pachanoi did coincide with moving them to a warmer location. I have a heat mat that isn't in use at the moment, I'll put that under them and get them to a more ideal temperature.

Give it a few days. It was 6 days from sowing to the first sprouts, and there were still some coming up as of yesterday, which was closer to two weeks (haven't done my morning check yet today). I'll send good vibes out to your little guys, and congrats on the seedlings you ordered looking so good.



It's just a map or model for description, but I feel profound awe and beauty in deconstucting the notion that our differences are true juxtapositions, rather than unique manifestations of a larger whole. Or on a micro scale, that the wave of probabilities pops up as particles in unique places/times. Your comment and a vape of cannibis put me down a train of thought that led to joyful feelings, so thank you!



My bridgesiis are the ones with the reddish hue also. I'm pretty sure mine are overwatered, if anything, so we'll have to continue to compare notes as we figure out if it's normal variation or something else going on.

And to everyone else with the contrats and good lucks, Thank You!!

Happy SHE day, 420 and plain old weekend, everyone!

omg, this is adorable. now i want to grow after seeing this. i have only planted 4-5 " torch. i can't wait to see these little guys pop op. i use to do organic gardening for people's houses so they could eat. we had to start all the seeds out like this, but i now live in apt. so i'm not gardening. i really want to get these little guys going

Aww

Makes me want to plant the 100 seeds each of bridgesii, peruvian torch, and san pedro i have stored safely in my "sensitive stuff" drybox.

One day. I want a cactus garden so big, you can't walk though it without getting a thorny reminder or two of their multilayered power.

And a sign, saying free cuttings to all who inquire .

A man can dream.....

Mabey this winter, i'll buy a few 39w cmh's and start a min cactus farm in my 50g aquarium i'm not using atm.

Props for growing from seed. From what i've read its not exactly easy.

And your contributing to the diversification of cactus genetics, which is never a bad thing.

New setup for the babies. Looks like final count is 7 Peruvians and 23 Bridgesii from about 40 seeds each, so not a great germination rate, but I'll take it!

looks good!
what kind of light is that?
if it's not an HID light it should be much closer

I love to see more and more folks getting into this wonderful hobby

My Brigesii seedlings seem to have returned to a nice bright green color. I changed a lot of variables though so I can't pinpoint what triggered it

Previously I had them on in a window that got maybe 6 hours of direct sunlight. They were in s small saran wrap covered container with a few holes poked in it and temps were low.. probably between 65-75 in the room.. not sure what it was in the container when the sun was shining on it.

Now I've moved them into a 55gal aquarium that used to be a fruiting chamber, then converted to a place to start seeds during the colder months. It worked great so I'm still using it for seed starting, cuttings, and now cacti=)

The temperature in the tank is in the range of 80-85F, very humid, and has good fae and circulation. I don't think I've changed my misting schedule much. I'm lightly misting whenever the soil starts to look dry, which probably works out to about 2x a week. The lighting is LED.. about 125w total on the tank but only about 55w above the cacti side of the tank (about 12" away).

I lost some of the T.Pachanoi while they were on the window sill. The remaining seedlings all seem to be doing well in the tank now. I'm going to order more seeds soon because I want to give it another shot. The last were started on a whim without knowing squat about cacti. I was so excited to see the first couple Bridgesii popping up, I honestly don't think I expected any of them to sprout... well they did and they were so cute, now I'm hooked=)

Glad to hear your's are doing better, Mithrandir42! I still have a couple with the reddish tint, so we'll have to see... hopefully they recover. Send good energy to the little guys!

It's a T5 light that puts out 10,000 lumens, dg. I've moved it to about 12" now. Does that sound right?