Saturday, February 26, 2005

Lophophora from seed

Tomorrow my work is taking me to the USA for 9 days, so I decided to sow my Lophophora seed a bit earlier than planned. 30 seeds of each of the species mentioned below were sowed.

  • L. diffusa (RS 1193; Peña Miller, Queretaro)
  • L. williamsii (La Soledad, Coahuila)
  • L. williamsii (RS 428A; Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila)
The seed were handled as described in “Growing cacti from seed”. Later in spring I'll sow another batch of Lophophora seed in a cold house. | next >

Friday, February 18, 2005

Return of the red bastards

I recently lost all of last years Lophophora fricii seedlings (and a lot of the L. diffusa and L. williamsii seedlings as well) because of too prudent a watering scheme – or so I presumed.

To my dismay the withering of the surviving seedlings continued, even after generous waterings. After a closer inspection of the seedlings, using a x10 magnifying lens, the reason became clear: a bunch of red spider mites were feasting on the plants.

The plants were promptly sprayed with insect soap and the treatment will be repeated in a week. It probably won’t kill off all of the spider mites, so the battle is now on. Last year I fought the spider mites using soap, predator mites, cinnamon and garlic brews, and by raising the humidity levels and increasing the air circulation – apparently some survived.

I wonder if I would have been able to save my L. fricii plants if the mites had been discovered sooner.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Obregonia and Ariocarpus from seed - II

Two days ago, at the beginning of the weekend, there were not many signs that the Obregonia or Ariocarpus seed would germinate. Tonight more than half of the Obregonia and a few of the Ariocarpus seed had germinated.

The seedlings still have a pale, yellowish hue - hopefully they will take on a healthier chlorophyll-green in a couple of days.

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Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Strombocactus from seed - II

A week after sowing the seed the first couple of seedlings have appeared. Small green “blobs” the size of (extremely small) pinheads.

I expected the seedlings to be very small, but these seem infinitely fragile. Hopefully they will survive the first critical period.

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Saturday, February 05, 2005

Obregonia and Ariocarpus from seed

It’s probably too early in the year, but today seemed like a good day for sowing:


  • Obregonia denegrii (VVZ 163; San Vicente, Tamaulipas)
  • Ariocarpus fissuratus (PP 176; Big Bend, Texas)

The seed (30something of each species) were handled as described in “Growing cacti from seed”.

I’m holding my Lophophora seed back – I’m planning on sowing an indoor batch in early spring and a cold house batch in late spring.

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