from what i have read often enough those small gardens you purchase do not often take into consideration the water needs of the different plants in the pot, so it would be impossible to water properly. if you started your own pot with your own seeds you can plan ahead and find plants with like water requirements. and for the speed at which they grow depends on the plants that you pick. even if you start with slow growers there will still be a greater sense of accomplishment in a few years time. cacti and succulents are much like bonsai as they both require a great deal of patience and imagination to achieve what you in-vision.

Doug

Hi Jodie,

Doug is right in his comment about many of these cacti & succulent dish gardens tend to be short lived. Because cacti come in many different forms & so do succulents. Often they have varying watering needs & desire different amounts of direct sun. Given that, it's difficiult to do well.

I suspect (haven't done much of it myself) that growing from seed can be slow & has lots involved that may not be obvious. The need for set up (enclosures, bottom heat etc.)

Sorry, it's a nice idea, but not practical realistically.

I love growing plants from seed and I think anything is worth trying out. You may be waiting quite a while for results though.

Probably too difficult and time-consuming, and I agree with what already have been said about the garden dishes. Depending on what your growing conditions are, your skills, and what species you get you will have to wait about 3-8 years before you have plants of a suitable size.

Yes, some cacti grow much faster than other. Especially epiphytic cacti can be fast, but they are even less suitable for garden dishes that "desert" cacti.

Do it! Just for the fun of it!! It may take time....but they won't take much space. You can crowd a bunch of them together in a 3 or 4" pot until they are large enough to transplant. I am in cold NJ with little space etc. An office coworkder brought me one of those little clear plastic "eggs" a few years back to grow your own cactus. I did, and now have 3 "large" cactus in my office, each about 2" high and wide. I also grew "Dragon Fruit" cactus from seed in a store......they are very fast growing. I had to eventually get rid of the plants as they got too BIG!!

One of the best thing about growing from seed is you can obtain species that are not available as plants

Growing potaluca