Hooray - my first Lophy seedling !

18 years ago

I'm quite excited as this is the first time I have been able to germinate Lophophora Williamsii seeds in my home made seed grower/germniator (what ever you wanna call it). I planted 9 seeds on 19-Jun-05 . As of today I have 3 seedlings. The soil temperature is maintained at 22-24 Deg C (measured at a depth of 20 mm below soil surface in a 2 inch pot). Humidity is at the 80-90% range. Air temperature is 26-28 Deg C.

Sadly though, my Lithops Optica var Rubra have not sprouted at all ....

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Comments (3)

cactusoldman
18 years ago
Congratulations, that is great news.
I would be interested to find out a bit more about this seed grower/germinator of yours, it sounds very interesting.
Good luck with your Lithops, maybe they just need a bit more time.
ajaykamath
Original Author
18 years ago
The germinator is a 2.5 foot long aquarium suitably adapted for the purpose. For heating I use a 60 watt incandescent bulb and for circulation I have fitted a 12V computer fan behind the globe. The bottom 2 inches of the tank has been filled and leveled with crushed scoria. This helps to maintain the high humidity required for germination. The 60W bulb maintains a low of 22 (sometimes 19 Deg C) during the night) and 24 DegC in the day time. I showed my setup to a friend of mine who is an authority on cacti seeds and he suggested that I bump up the temperatures to the 30-35 Deg C, as, that is what is prevalent in the desert conditions along with high humidity. So, I changed my bulb to a 100 W and now, the night time temps are 25 while the day time are 32. I did this modification day before, so I am yet to see any results of the higher temperatures. I believe that the higher temperature should increase the germination rate and percentage.
I planted 9 lophy seeds out of which 3 have germinated, by the weekend I hope to have more !
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cactusoldman
18 years ago
That sounds like a very simple, yet effective setup. personally I think that the more complicated something is the more room there is for something to go wrong.
Best of luck with your seedling, let me know how things pan out.

Hooray - my first Lophy seedling !

Comments (3)

cactusoldman

ajaykamath
Original Author

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Hooray - my first Lophy seedling !

Comments (3)

cactusoldman

ajaykamathOriginal Author

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ajaykamath
Original Author