Hooray - my first Lophy seedling !

19 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
19 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.
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ajaykamath
Original Author
19 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
19 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.
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Hooray - my first Lophy seedling !

Comments (3)

cactusoldman

ajaykamath
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Hooray - my first Lophy seedling !

Comments (3)

cactusoldman

ajaykamathOriginal Author

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ajaykamath
Original Author