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which_chickIt's been about a year since I started doing cactus and mesembs (succulents like lithops and conophytums and a bunch of other stuff you've probably never heard of) from seed. What have I learned in a year and change?
When you are learning to grow cactus and mesembs from seed, there will be unintentional murder. Things are going to die because you suck at what you are doing. You're a beginner. You will be making mistakes. That's OK. The cost of failure is not super high... seeds are inexpensive (mostly) and you will learn from your failures, hopefully, and fail less going forward.
But there will be murder. I don't have pictures of the murdered plants, many of which didn't get big enough to photograph before dying, but rest assured, there was murder. Mesembs were particularly at risk. I can't grow Lithops... tried like four species, only one lone lithops has survived thus far. I can't grow titanopsis (Three tries, three fails) and conophytums are also a negatory (Four tries, four fails) and I've killed one cheridopsis but I'm trying again because why not.
I've killed some mammillarias and some astrophytums and some turbinicarpus and every copiapoa seedling but one. (Cactus. These are cactus.)
But, like, everything isn't dead. There have been some pretty reasonable successes, definitely enough to keep me enthusiastic.
On the whole, I have done well with Mammillaria from seed. Not every Mamm, obviously not every Mamm, but mostly they have done well.
The variability in seedlings is... variable. Like, my M. longimamma seedlings are all pretty darned similar. They all look the same and I don't have much to select for or against aside from "grew the biggest the fastest" or "is still tiny for no reason". Same for M. magnimamma. There's just not a ton of variation in the seedlings.
On the other hand, my M. crinita seedlings of which there are many (20? A lot.) show enough variability that I definitely have a favorite. Don't believe me? Here are six of them, not even half of what I have. One, though, is clearly a standout, overachieving the assignment. Which one is that?
And same for my M. standleyi, I mean, none of these guys is a bad cactus, but there's definitely a star-quality feller in the mix and I think we all know who it is.
I also like one of my C. radians better than the others, but the field is a lot tighter than in M. standleyi. See if you can find the teacher's pet:
(They all look the same to you? Then you're not trying very hard.)
The amount of variability is making me want to see if they can be shaped further by selective breeding. I am pretty sure I do not have the patience to pursue DOING that (it takes years and years) but I kinda want to see about it anyway. Like, how spiky can I make a crinita? They're already pretty variable in terms of spikiness and whiteness already. So if I just picked the spikier and whiter ones, how might that go?
Also for standleyi. How much more photogenic could he get? I have questions.
When you are learning to grow cactus and mesembs from seed, there will be unintentional murder. Things are going to die because you suck at what you are doing. You're a beginner. You will be making mistakes. That's OK. The cost of failure is not super high... seeds are inexpensive (mostly) and you will learn from your failures, hopefully, and fail less going forward.
But there will be murder. I don't have pictures of the murdered plants, many of which didn't get big enough to photograph before dying, but rest assured, there was murder. Mesembs were particularly at risk. I can't grow Lithops... tried like four species, only one lone lithops has survived thus far. I can't grow titanopsis (Three tries, three fails) and conophytums are also a negatory (Four tries, four fails) and I've killed one cheridopsis but I'm trying again because why not.
I've killed some mammillarias and some astrophytums and some turbinicarpus and every copiapoa seedling but one. (Cactus. These are cactus.)
But, like, everything isn't dead. There have been some pretty reasonable successes, definitely enough to keep me enthusiastic.
On the whole, I have done well with Mammillaria from seed. Not every Mamm, obviously not every Mamm, but mostly they have done well.
The variability in seedlings is... variable. Like, my M. longimamma seedlings are all pretty darned similar. They all look the same and I don't have much to select for or against aside from "grew the biggest the fastest" or "is still tiny for no reason". Same for M. magnimamma. There's just not a ton of variation in the seedlings.
On the other hand, my M. crinita seedlings of which there are many (20? A lot.) show enough variability that I definitely have a favorite. Don't believe me? Here are six of them, not even half of what I have. One, though, is clearly a standout, overachieving the assignment. Which one is that?
And same for my M. standleyi, I mean, none of these guys is a bad cactus, but there's definitely a star-quality feller in the mix and I think we all know who it is.
I also like one of my C. radians better than the others, but the field is a lot tighter than in M. standleyi. See if you can find the teacher's pet:
(They all look the same to you? Then you're not trying very hard.)
The amount of variability is making me want to see if they can be shaped further by selective breeding. I am pretty sure I do not have the patience to pursue DOING that (it takes years and years) but I kinda want to see about it anyway. Like, how spiky can I make a crinita? They're already pretty variable in terms of spikiness and whiteness already. So if I just picked the spikier and whiter ones, how might that go?
Also for standleyi. How much more photogenic could he get? I have questions.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-04 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-05 03:18 am (UTC)