I have never grown a cactus from seed so this will be a learning experience. I have done plenty of research and purchased the needed supplies. I'll upload pics soon.

While I'm at it I will also to a side by side comparison to test the affects of Ga3 (Gibberellic acid) on the germination rate of the seeds.

Cactus Seeds:

Trichocereus Peruvianus: ICAROS DNA
30: GA3 Soak (300 ppm: 24 hours)
30: No Soak

Scopulicola X Juul's Giat: Hybrid
5: GA3 Soak (300 ppm: 24 hours)
5: No Soak

Soil:

1pt: Potting Soil
1pt: Sand
1pt: Perlite

Sterilized in microwave

Conditions:

Bottom Heat Incubator
Temp: 85f
Humidity: 95%
24Hrs of light.


Grow Log

6/13/2010: Started 24 hour Ga3 soak.
6/14/2010: Put into incubator.
6/22/2010: Still no signs of life.
7/3/2010: Still nothing after 20 days! I'm not gonna lie, I'm getting a little concerned!
7/11/2010: NOTHING! WTF! Conditions are ideal. Only thing I can think of is too much perlite in top preventing the little guys from being seen.


Pictures:


Seeds soaking in Ga3


Seeds placed on soil.


Seeds covered with Perlite.

Good luck with your seedlings! I'm growing from seed too.

I'm also registering once per week the height of 7 adult cacti I have. I'll hopefully create a plot through a whole year with the info harvested.

What are you growing? Have they sprouted yet?

San pedro from seed. I planted around 50 seeds in total and now I have something like 5 1cm ones from the first batch and several smaller ones from the following batches. It's not a very good germination rate, but hey it was my first time!

Nice! How long did it take to germinate?

In my anecdotal experience, something like 90% of the seeds that will germinate do it within 2 weeks. I didn't take it so seriously as to use Gibberellic acid. Maybe you'll have faster and better germination rates.

I'm doing it just to have a little fun watching them grow from seed. I'm saying this because the 5 or so years that they'll need to reach reasonable size are way more valuable than the 30usd you can spend buying a rooted 4 year specimen.

I don't know your plans, but unless you are thinking big it sounds like a lot of time to invest.

It's all in good fun for me. I have literally over 100 cactus growing on 5 acres. So it's not a need for cactus but a love of life.

Here are my cuttings from last month.

Wow, you certainly love cacti! Congratulations.
I'd love to see the plantation sometime.

Wow is right!! I have two cacti that are now about 8 inches/ 1 ft long. They are taking FOREVER to grow, but they are starting up again with the warmer weather.

I guess I can't expect too much living in Canada!

Cheers,
JBArk

They do love the Cali sun

My dream has always been to own a specialty nursery someday. I have too much on my plate these days but hopefully within 10 years I can get it going. I guess you can say I'm growing my inventory

ahhh...your own cactus specialty nursery ... mix business and pleasure. You will not be the first!

Or the last.

Yeah, I'm running about 95% humdity right now. It's been almost 2 weeks. No signs of lfe yet.

That's exactly how I've germinated my T. pachanoi, Fiashly. I can confirm that it's a good method for pachanoi.

I plan on getting some san pedro seeds soon. How long does it take till I can harvest the cacti? Can I cut them shorter if they've been growing for a year? I want to make sure I can always move them If I move out.

Growing from seed takes a very long time....usually years before they can be harvested.
A 18 monther may only be the size of a pickle.
Once they get established they take off though.

ThirdEye, how long have you been growing?

say, SWIM's T. scopulicola's just flowered, and the spent flowers are about to fall to the ground in the next few days. Lots more flowers on the way, too. Is this a good time to harvest seeds? Can they be planted immediately?

Anyone with experience growing from seed. 20 days and nothing, reason for concern? Could there be too much pearlite?

It's been a month and I'm running a solid 0% germ rate!
Either I have old seeds or too much perlite on top is all i can figure. Conditions are perfect. Any suggestions?

I had a good germination rate using 1/3 soil, 1/3 sand, 1/3 perlite. The mix was microwaved for 10 minutes, then placed in small aluminum containers (the ones for food), the seeds placed, and then soaked with distilled water (10ml H2O2/1l H2O).

The temperature oscillates between 20°C and 26°C with a 18hs/24hs photoperiod.

Are you using a well-known method? I found out that experimenting with other conditions/mixtures ended up being worse.