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Gardening Area => Seeds and Germination => Topic started by: spractral on July 28, 2018, 06:19:59 PM

Title: Cacti seeds not germinating
Post by: spractral on July 28, 2018, 06:19:59 PM
Hey everyone,

Has anyone ever had issues with trichocereus or lophophora seeds not germinating? I have been having terrible germination rates and now my germination rates are down to almost zero... so clearly something is wrong.. I have gotten seeds from multiple reputable sources and its been the case with all of them...

When I was growing , in a different state, a few years ago I had great germination..

Auxin has suggested that it may be that the ph of the tap water I was using is too high... I have just switch to using rain water which I am filtering the sediment out of first and then boiling to sterilize.. I am also adding just a dash of vinegar ... I have ph strips on the way so I can get a proper reading..

I am also switching from leaving the seeds in the greenhouse to indoors on the windowsill. I always had them on the windowsill years ago and never used a greenhouse... I thought cacti like high temperature but maybe the greenhouse is too high..

Has anyone ever experienced this? Any ideas or information? It's a bit hard to find good info on loph or trich germination and most seems to be anectdotal... If you have any ideaas please let me know..

Thanks; hope you're doing good.
Title: Re: Cacti seeds not germinating
Post by: MeanGreen on July 28, 2018, 08:12:33 PM
Are you using a ziploc bag or something similar to keep the seeds in high humidity? If not that's definitely an issue, but if you did use a ziploc, did you put them in direct sunlight while in the greenhouse? This could have baked them.
Title: Re: Cacti seeds not germinating
Post by: spractral on July 28, 2018, 09:19:07 PM
They are all either in ziplock bags or in plastic containers with  lids to keep in humidity... I never did this years ago; i used to just spary them often...

They were in direct sunlight in the greenhouse and the temps were very high... I' have taken them out now and have them inside on the windowsill where they get sunlight, more or less direct, for a good portion of the day... The new seeds I'm starting out I will do inside on the windowsill too...

Is it too much light or too much heat that can be a problem or a combination of both? I've never seemed to have a problem with direct sunlight, although they will be red/purple for a bit, but maybe that added with the heat is the issue..

Title: Re: Cacti seeds not germinating
Post by: spractral on August 11, 2018, 06:33:59 PM
Ayye everyone,

So i took them in and have them on the windowsill now and am using distilled water... most of the new ones I have started are popping or have popped and some of the ones from the greenhouse have popped... hoping more will end up coming around...


Has anyone noticed if seedlings have green pigmentation right from cracking open? I've had a good handful of seeds cracking open white... I figured this was due to still getting to much sun (a few green ones went white after a hot sunny day even being on he windowsill) so I started putting the non see through lids over them more often to give them more shade...

Now though... I still have a good amount of seeds coming out of the shell white... it's too many for them to be alibinos I think... maybe they are still getting to much sun... I'm wondering though if maybe it just takes a few days for them to get their pigment... never paid this much attention to my seedlings so I just may have never noticed before. ..

Hope everyone is good
Title: Re: Cacti seeds not germinating
Post by: weplantsarehappyplants on August 28, 2018, 09:05:29 AM
So I finally got a couple of misplant seeds to pop, under a shop light if you will with high humidity. Have never seen anything but green but the shades of green are interesting. I suppose I should use distilled or ph correct, that and I have been using mycorrhizae which seemed to help quite a bit in all of my plants. Just my two cents.
Title: Re: Cacti seeds not germinating
Post by: spractral on October 09, 2018, 02:42:05 PM
Looking good man !

Well l haven't updated this in a while , but needless to say , all my seeds are germinating and starting out just fine now...

Just matter of figuring out the best soil medium and getting as many as possible grafted .
Title: Re: Cacti seeds not germinating
Post by: DarkPines on October 09, 2018, 09:19:35 PM
I had nothing but good luck with misplant seeds. I bought seeds from many places earlier this year and put them all to the test. Misplant seeds were the highest sprouting rate. It wasnt a good accurate test or anything lol but still. Almost 100% of the misplant seeds I planted , came up. My trouble lately is moving houses several times and all of the storms weve been getting all year.

Another cool test I did was planting seeds in trays that stay outdoors the entire time in filtered light all day. Less sprout, but the ones that do seem to be pretty well acclimated to its surroundings. I always lose some when I bring indoor seedlings outside :(, even when I titrate their sunlight slowly. Oh well, its a learning process. Hopefully I can have a more permanent home soon.