Seed project: new seeds and a minor miracle

in #succulents6 years ago (edited)

I sowed an old packet of cactus seeds that were about 5 years old on @ewkaw's suggestion and a month later, I thought that the whole experiment had been a flop. I got some new seeds in the mail and decided to use the tray. Imagine my surprise when, poking through the mix, I found 15 germinated seedlings. That's probably about a 1% germination rate but it's impressive for seeds that old. It is probably an invasive species but who knows. I'm all the more surprised because I left them out in baking sun and freezing cold temperatures but they did their thing. I moved them to a different container and on to the heat mat since their roots are still undeveloped at this stage. They will have to grow quite a lot more before they are identifiable

cactus seedlings.jpg

I also count 2 new sprouted Haworthias so perhaps there is still hope

The new seeds I bought are a variety of succulents: Conophytum bilobum and Euphorbia obesa
Seeds.JPG

Pachypodium succulentum and Tylecodon wallichii
Seeds2.JPG

I also got Tylecodon leucothrix and Tylecodon pygmae, Cheiridopsis glomerata, Adromischus marianae and Pseudolithos sphericus seeds. Some of these should have been sowed in Autumn but I will take a chance on growing them- they should germinate and hopefully they will be ok if I keep them in a cool spot. The Tylecodon, Adromischus and Conophytum seeds were so tiny I have no idea whether they will still germinate and the Cheiridopsis seeds were soaked for 24 hours to soften the seed pods. I haven't sowed the Euphorbia or Pachypodium seeds yet because they are summer growers and they can wait a bit. I want to sow them in individual pots and the plastic wholesalers was out of stock on the tiny pots but they should be getting more this week

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Tough cookies they are! 5 years is a long time. I wonder what type are they... and if it is just one that is so suborn :)

Conophytum bilobum - like mint candies.

There does seem to be more than one type but mostly the survivors are long and pointy.
Cono bilobum has been on my want list for a long time, I hope I can grow these. They are supposed to be much easier than the other conos

Super!!!
Let them sprout faster !!
And we, later, will admire their flowering !!

Since they are succulents, that will take a while

Nothing, I'll wait! :-))

HEHE very nice!

Five years? That's pretty damn impressive! On the other hand, I know there are parts of the desert southwest here with lots of plant life where the rains are so scarce that flowering only happens once every 3-10 seasons, so maybe that's just a "cactus thing?"

=^..^=

Thats so exciting! Those new succulent seeds look incredible.

Beautiful picture and 2nd picture is amazing and superb. Thanks for sharing.

Cacti are very unpretentious plants. Even after such a long time they sprouted.
I read that scientists could grow wheat sprouts, which archaeologists discovered and the age of the seeds was about 800 years old. I can not believe that the seeds could have survived so long.

How exciting. I often see Tylecodon wallichii in people's gardens around here

That's awesome,
Keep us posted on their progress please!

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