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[New Wisdom]

Hello, I have recently been starting out a lot of new trichocereus species from seed.  Here is the method i like to use.

First of all (of course) you need to get some good viable Trichocereus seed from a trusted friend/vendor.  Bridgesii, Pachanoi, Peruvianus have all worked great with this method.   

Materials needed:

• Pure Coir
• Potting soil (preferably without peat moss)
• 1/4" Screen for sifting
• Pot or Tupperware tub (preferably clear)
• Trichocereus Seeds

Okay, so what I do is first make a mixture of 1/4 sifted soil and 3/4 coir (100% coir works great too).

Make sure your pot or container has some drainage holes on the bottom. I prefer the container to be clear as to let the light through to all portions of the soil. This way no certain spots are getting more light than the others. 

1. So, I will take 1 scoop of the potting soil and run it through the screen to get any wood chunks or big coarse particles out of the mix. and throw that into my mixing bucket or whatever is being used.

2. Next throw 3 scoops of coir into the mix. 

3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 untill you get enough to fill the container at least 3" up. Mix it up thoroughly.

4. Lightly smooth and press down the top of the soil mix so it is flat and void of air pockets.

5. Evenly spread the trichocereus seeds over the top of the soil (I like to give each seed about .5 square inches of space but this is not necessary)

EDIT: Don't cover them with soil.

7. Now you will want to get a container that is wider than the one you planted the seeds in.  Fill it up with water till it is 2" high.  Then set the container with the seeds in the container with water and let the water drain up from the bottom till you see a small amount of moisture on the top layer. (After this  I will usually let it drain excess water for about an hour.)

8. After the excess water drains put clear plastic wrap or a clear lid over the top of the container so to create a humid environment to help the germination process. 

9. Find a nice window sill that gets a decent amount of light, but not too much direct sunlight and put it near there.  If you will be putting them outside then get some kind of mesh that will shade it from direct sunlight. You do not want direct sunlight cause this will burn the new seedlings. They are very fragile at first.  With indoor grows, you will not need it to go under a florescent light for about 6 months. Windowsill light is fine and has worked great for me.   

You do not need to water these very often.  What I do is just spray them down with a mister about once or twice a week.  The soil mixture used here allows the roots to develop easily and has proven many times to work great.  I actually just started a bunch of seeds today like this. 

I appreciate any feedback too if anyone has any tips to add to this method.  Growing cacti is a very time consuming hobby and I learn new things about it everyday. 

Thanks,
HostyWosty

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[New Wisdom]

Any feedback? I'd appreciate.  Positive or negative works. 

I'm not an expert at all with this since I just started out, but I'd love to hear how y'all germ your trichs.

[nobody]

Hi,
I normally use 1/3 fine sand; 1/3 coarse sand/perlite and 1/3 worm casting for my seed mix. I sterilize the sand/perlite and then add the worm castings. After everything has cooled the substrate is placed in a clear container with the lower part of the container masked off with tape, this prevents too much light from reaching the substrate inhibiting growth of mold or fungi. Then the seeds are sown on top, I do not cover the seeds with the substrate. I have had a much larger germination rate when the seeds are spread as opposed to burying them. 

Coir does work well, but the climate here make it too much of a hassle. Potting soil also works great the way you are using it, I only use worm castings because we have worm pits.

[Mandrake]

Then the seeds are sown on top, I do not cover the seeds with the substrate. I have had a much larger germination rate when the seeds are spread as opposed to burying them.

A lot of cacti growing in dry areas are photoblastic positive - they require exposure to light for correct germination. That would be my default approach for any cactus seeds. Although I'm not familiar with Trichocereus, and I don't know the optimal intensity of light for their seeds, nor other factors like temperature degree and daily oscillation.

Thanks for the hints!

Mandrake

[New Wisdom]

Thanks for the tips.  I know that trichocereus seeds germinate very well in coir.  I will transplant them into a well draining soil when they are of age.

I only put a tiny bit of cover on them, and it is coir mostly, so I believe that light will still get through.  We'll see though.

[BigHeart]

Nice technique there, just goes to show that cacti really aren't that hard to germinate despite the many different methods listed online they all seem to work pretty well.  I would add that the key tricks to successful germination are simply: don't cover the seedlings, ample light, heat, moisture, and fine (not too chunky) soil mix that holds moisture well.  As long as those needs are taken care of, it's pretty easy.  I think your write up is pretty good because you covered all of the bases and gave a well defined method.   

They really like light and heat to get them to pop their shell I've noticed.  I have some peruvian torch seedlings that germinated in 4 days from the time of sowing by letting the whole tray warm in the sunshine for a bit and then leaving them covered in the shade (indirect sunlight or you can use a sunshade like you said) for part of the day.  They spend the nights inside by the sliding glass door. 

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[DansMaTete]

My 2 cents

Soil :  50/30/20 compost for sowing/sand/vermicullite
80 seeds : T. Peruvianus & T. Pachanoi mix
Seeds dropped on the surface, well watered and put in a ziploc bag. Left outside with no direct sun
Temperature are between 27°C (80°F) in the night and 33°C (92°F) in the day
First one poped out day 3 but got moldy so i decrease humidity in the bag
After 2 weeks i got 45 seedling alive + 1 dead
Since the 2 weeks mark no more new seedling.

Is the yield "normal" ?

One is an albinos, it was white and now it turns orangish but doesn't seem to grow. What can i do to make it survive ?

When can i let them take the sun ? Progressively of course.

[New Wisdom]

That is an avarage germination rate for trichocereus seeds.

You have to graft the albino seedling for it to survive.  I just grafted 19 albino astrophytum seedlings last night. 

NW

[DansMaTete]

^^ *******, you're everywhere.

Grafting, grafting, not easy when you have nothing to graft on it and no experience about it.

Anyway, thanks.

[New Wisdom]

Yep, that's me, ********... (I edited that name out from your post)

Well if you do decide you are going to graft then check out this guide.

NW

[Frog Pajamas]

The albino doesn't have clorophyll and therefore can't produce its own food.

Unfortunately for those of us grafting-challanged, it really will die unless grafted to a plant that can provide food for it.  My first (failed) attempt at grafting was to try to save an albino trich macrogonus. Mine didn't take and died anyways, but without the graft it's doomed so its worth giving it a shot.

I can send you a pereskiopsis if you'd like. 

2 Likes Caium and Sunshine like this.

[New Wisdom]

Check out what I did last night.  All highly variegated/albino Astrophytum seedlings. They were dying off so I decided to sacrifice all my grafting stock to them.  They'll probably end up being green/white/yellow/pink.  Most "albino" seedlings I've grafted ended up having some chlorophyll after they started growing, but they didn't have enough to grow on their own.  These will look awesome!

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[DansMaTete]

New Wisdom: I should know if you have a different name it's for a reason, sorry to revealed your other ID. Everybody have to watch this black stick  *floosh*.

Frog Pajamas: Thanks to offer a stock for grafting but i live on an island and usualy parcels need at least 3 weeks to reach my mailbox.


 Can i use a random cactus as a stock or it has to be from the same species ? where i live there are some colonars (genus cereus i guess) and melocactus plus others i don't know.

[New Wisdom]

You could use cereus as a stock, although it might be hard to graft a seedling to it!  Also melocactus isn't a columnar, hehe. It's one of the slowest growing globular cacti in the whole kingdom so it wouldn't be beneficial to graft onto it.

And to answer your first question, you can graft any cactus to any cactus. 

[DansMaTete]

I'm totaly aware about melocactus not been colomnar that's why i wrote" columnars AND melocactus" 

Ok, i have to try with  a cereus. Now, it's time to study your grafting guide.

Thanks !

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