Just sowed them tonight. I used a 72 cell liner, with a bottom heat mat. They are covered. They are under a 6' double flouresent strip light. I used reg pot. soil mixed with sand. I barely covered them and pressed them into the mixture. I misted them very well. I just did not want to soak them cuz they are so tiny. They were very fresh from phoenix, lets hope their up in a couple weeks. I put about 3-4 seeds in the middle of each cell, so hopefully, i wont have to repot/move them. I love golden barrel cacti, just dont love handling any cactus. Wish me luck. I also used captan45 fungicide for damping off as a soil treatment. I think i have done everything right, it was not easy, let's see if they really are "easy" to grow!

SJN, I think I may have written my explanation poorly. What I meant is bamboo grows from the ground up to it's full height then leaves out.once it does that the culm will never get thicker or taller but the subsequent years culms will be bigger than the previous years until the max size is hit. To use Marcias plant as an example....if she had left it in the pot this year it would throw out new culms and if it was happy they would be bigger than the 3 already in the pot. But things in pots tend to stay smaller so max size in a pot will never be as big as max size in the ground. While bamboo can get larger in a pot or the ground it can also get smaller......if the roots are damaged or it is unhappy it can send out smaller culms. Just the other day I was propagating bamboo and the single culms I cut out of the ground with a reciprocating saw were about the circumference of a nickel......I put each in a one gallon pot and topped them to balance the leaves with the roots. In a few weeks they will send up new culms (or die lol) and those culms will be smaller than the parent due to the damage I did to the plant.

As long as you have lights, heat, and water it doesn't really matter what time you start;). Especially for seedlings. You can start them now. I would suggest getting a seedling heat mat. I'm finally breaking down and am gonna get one. I think mine will grow faster. They slow down a lot in the winter. I'm pretty sure because their roots are chilly. I keep my seedlings in a guest bathroom, but it gets cold in there. When they sprout pull them farther from the lights. They really don't need as much light as a mature plant. In nature these seedlings are tucked under the mother plant or rolled into cracks. Just keep them moist and warm:). Goodluck:). I really love Echinocactus grusonii aka Golden Barrel. They're common around here, but stunning as a mature plant. Heck even as little guys they're pretty darn cute;). The last show I went to I bought a cactus I've wanted for a bit, E. grusonii inermis aka spineless Golden Barrel. It doesn't look like much now, but mature these are soooo beautiful;). Mature plant from the internet:).

I've grown a few cactus plant in the Midwest US. I'm not an expert, but wanted to bump your thread. The round type, as opposed to the columnar, shoudn't etiolate. Also, if you can keep them cool and dry in the winter, they will rest instead of grow. Then they'll do most of their growing outdoors in the summer. It's still good to give them a lot of light in the winter, but next to a sunny window will be OK. That's my thought. :)