2018-01-07 Seed Batch: Part 1

Sowed on 7th Jan 2017.

Seeds

I got a pack of 20 mixed lithops seeds and 10 myrtillocactus geometrizans seeds in the first week of January, from a UK-based eBay seller called Justseed. I found out later that they have a website, which is probably easier to use if you don't have an eBay account. They don't have a huge variety of succulent seeds, but they're great if you want to try out growing from seed and want some peace of mind that you'll actually get real seeds rather than weeds from scammers. The lithops were £1.65, the cacti £1.25 plus an additional 70p for postage. They arrived two days after I placed the order, which is pretty reasonable.

Prep

I mostly followed instructions that I found from various internet resources. I used one of those see-through rectangular plastic takeaway containers as a nursery pot, and stabbed a hole through the bottom of them with a pair of scissors for drainage. For potting mix, I used my usual mash of Tesco's own-brand low dust cat litter and a random cactus compost mix I found at a garden centre. I kinda just eyeballed it, so it ended up at around 70:30 litter to compost. I'd read somewhere that you can sterilise the soil mix by putting it in the microwave, but I didn't bother; I just filled the container about halfway with my potting mix and moistened it before sowing the seeds.

Sowing the Seeds

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the seeds themselves, but you only have to Google 'lithops seeds' to see how tiny they generally are. With regards to documenting what different kinds of seeds look like, though, it definitely is a good idea to take pictures so other people who may be in the same situation can see what they look like. I know I've had trouble finding pictures of myrtillocactus geometrizans seeds and seedlings to compare to mine, so I'll make more of an effort to document every stage of my plants' growth.

I planted the lithops and cacti in the same pot. This was definitely a rookie error, and you'll see why later on.

I started with the cacti first. I shook them out of the wax paper bag they arrived in, into my hand, and used a finger to pick each individual seed up and place it onto the soil. This took a while as the seeds were small, but in general wasn't too bad.

I tried the same approach with the lithops seeds, but they were even smaller than the myrtillocactus seeds! They were so tiny and finicky that I gave up placing them on the soil individually after about two attempts. The seeds were getting stuck to my fingers, and after touching the soil I couldn't tell whether I had soil or seeds on my fingers. I decided to just shake them onto the soil from the packet, but unfortunately most of them came out at the same time and fell onto the same spot. I was worried they would't sprout or would choke each other if they were too close, but it seemed to work out OK in the end. If I were to do this over again, I'd get a pair of tweezers or something like that to help me be more precise with seed placement.

I put the lid on the container to keep the humidity high. January in the UK is usually still cold, plus I rent and my room isn't too well insulated, so it gets a bit cold in the early evening and during the night when the heating is off. To deal with this, I basically wrapped the bottom of the nursery container in a towel and balanced it on my radiator when I was home. I'd check on it every now and again to make sure I wasn't inadvertently cooking the seeds. I actually thought I was going to kill the seeds, but again, it seemed to work out OK and the seeds germinated quickly. 

Germination

The lithops began to sprout after only two days. At first I could only make out the barest speck of green, but I could soon clearly see about five seedlings after about a week. Each little sprout was about a quarter the size of an apple seed. The cacti were still MIA at this point, but I've since learned that they tend to take longer to sprout.

Lithops seedlings a week after sowing

At this point, the lid of the nursery pot was still on most of the time. I'd taken it off several times during the first week, but that was only because I was excited to see some seeds sprouting and wanted to get a closer look.

I didn't really water the seeds either, but because I kept opening the pot I gave the potting mix a few drops of water to keep it moist. I didn't water on a schedule or anything, I did this all by eye, but I ended up watering on average every few days. I pretty much just followed the rule to keep the soil mix moist, and to not upset the humid environment until most had sprouted.

All the lithops seeds fully sprouted during the second week, and I had around twenty seedlings growing on one side of my nursery pot. You can see in the pictures below that I was extremely bad at dispersing the seeds; there's a whole clump of them growing in the middle.

Two-week-old lithops seedlings

I started to get slightly concerned that I hadn't been giving them enough light, as some of these guys were pretty tall compared to pictures I'd seen online.

I think the lid of the nursery pot had prevented a lot of light from getting to the seedlings, especially as the top of the lid was covered in water droplets from the humidity.

I would have removed the lid from the pot by this point, but the cacti were taking longer to sprout than the lithops so I wanted to keep the environment favourable for the myrtillocactus seeds to germinate. This is another thing I would do differently if I could start over: I'd sow different species in separate nursery pots, as they require slightly different conditions.

To try and fix this, or at least to prevent it from getting worse, I put the seedlings under a bright lamp. It turned out to be an extreme over-correction, as the seedlings started to turn brown. So I just took the lid off and put the nursery pot in a spot with light shade.

The first myrtillocactus seed began sprouting early in the second week, and by the end of that week I could clearly see three weird-looking seedlings.

Three myrtillocactus geometrizans seedlings

I started to worry a bit as they didn't look like myrtillocactus geometrizans at all. As mentioned before, I couldn't find any images for comparison, but I expected them to be green and columnar, but they were pinkish-green blobs with two little cotyledon-like leaves at the top. I was reassured by a Redditor that cactus seedlings look like that, so I carried on.

Post-Germination

I ended up transplanting the seedlings into separate deeper pots about a week later, as I was concerned that the pot I'd initially used didn't have adequate drainage, and I wanted to separate the cacti from the lithops. I would have preferred not to move them so early on, but the soil mix was starting to smell and I figured I might as well separate the cacti if I was moving to a different pot anyway. Only four cacti sprouted in the end, but that's because they take longer to germinate and I moved pots before the rest could sprout.

I used a different potting mix this time: a 60:40 cat litter to John Innes #2 mix, and used pots about 7.5 cm deep. I basically filled the pots nearly to the brim with the potting mix, moistened it and poked holes in it with a cocktail stick, then plopped the seedlings into the holes. I don't have any pictures of the process either, but I can assure you it took a hell of a long time, as the seedlings were still tiny. The biggest was maybe the size of an apple seed. I was surprised at how long the tap roots on the lithops had grown, though. Some were about 3 cm long already!

Repotted lithops seedlings

Some of these are a bit brown from being scorched by my lamp

There are actually four myrtillocactus seedlings in this picture

The healthier-looking ones are the two survivors; the other two are dead now :(

The lithops seedlings sprouted quickly, but grew suuuuper slowly after that. I found myself worrying that I'd done something wrong, but upon Googling I found that it's pretty normal. So all I had to do was water them and make sure they got enough but not too much light.

I thought it would be smooth sailing from there, but nope! Turns out you can't water them with tap water, as they'll start to form a layer of mineral deposits on their leaves which, apart from making them look nasty, prevent them from getting enough light. Maybe adult plants are OK with tap water, but seedlings can't handle it. It took me a while to figure this out, as I originally thought they were wrinkling up from too much sun. This led me to water them more and put them in even more shade, which was the exact opposite of what they needed.

I finally realised the issue and bought some distilled water a week ago, which I've been using with good success ever since. I'm still figuring out lighting, though, as the UK weather is very temperamental. Unfortunately, I've lost two each of the lithops and myrtillocactus seedlings, to a combination of too much light, then repotting stress, then crusty mineral deposits and a bit too much water.

Welp, I guess it's all a learning experience!