Seed project update: growth and new arrivals

in #succulents6 years ago

I was pleased to see that the first of the new seeds I ordered have started germinating: I think it really helped to soak these seeds in water for about 24 hours before sowing, there are already more than 20 tiny Cheiridopsis glomerata in the container. They have a typical mesemb appearance with the cotyledons looking like a little disc. These will be a little difficult because I sowed them in spring instead of autumn so they will need to be kept cool this summer.

cheiridopsis glomerata germinating.jpg

Now that the cacti finally germinated, they are growing strongly and I notice quite a few popping up in the seed mixture in other pots. Typical: start growing like weeds as soon as you give up on them.

cactus seedlings02.jpg

The Hoodia gordonii are growing their first set of true leaves and the cooler conditions seem very much to their liking. Somehow, they look like little deranged stick-figures.

hoodia Gordonii first leaves.jpg

The haworthia germination has been a very mixed bag: with 9 emerging, this pot has had around 75% germination but 3 pots have only had two or three come up and the others in 4 pots haven't germinated at all. Considering all the delays around these seeds, I'm glad that I got anything out of them at all. Perhaps there will be more, who knows?

haworthia seedlings02.jpg

We are experiencing a heatwave and strong winds so I have been careful to move all the ungerminated seeds into the shade. The seedlings are also being kept in a cool environment because it is very easy to fry tiny succulents if you let them dry out or expose them to excessive amounts of sun

Sort:  

good nursery..

Thank you

They're very cute :)
How comes you choose to grow the from seeds? Probably it depends on what side of the world you're living, but over here the grow pretty much eveywhere and it's so easy and fats to propagate them by cuttings that I never tought of planting them

Thank you!
Whereabouts in the world are you? Although I am in South Africa, the home of many of these plants, most of what I am growing fall into the rare and expensive category and aren't that easy to propagate from cuttings. Growing from seed is a way to get interesting plants for a lot less.
I am also growing some of these for resale, I want to start selling collectable succulents on a regular basis as a small home-based business

It's so weird. I live in Italy and I have tons of those succulents at home. I usually save them from the garbage because they're very cheap here and grow a lot, so at a certain point people just trow them away. It's always bad to me seeing plants in the trash bin so I'm glad you appreciate them.
Wish you good luck with your business :)

Thank you. I am also in the habit of bringing home succulents that I find dumped. I grow those in the garden outside

Congratulations!
What a beauty these crumbs!

Love when seedlings first pop up.

I never get sick of watching seeds sprout.

It always amazes me that instead of soil, cesspool grows in shallow pebbles. It's even amazing how they give roots and where they take nutrients.