Young Mammillaria balsasoides

This is the largest of the Mammillaria balsasoides seedlings from my April batch. Three months after sowing...





The seeds of this species are unusually large. I only got 10 seeds but now I have 8 seedlings! I think that is a pretty good germination rate, and I hope to see them survive the rigours of my garden. This one has already been potted up into a 2" pot and is out in semi-sun, and I want to get the others potted up soon. I got enough pots - just need to have enough soil and enough space!

This is supposed to be very similar to the Mammillaria beneckei (which I already have mature plants of) but this one is self-fertile, clusters less easily, and the offsets are more firmly attached. At least, so I am told. I guess in a few years I will (hopefully) find out for myself. I wonder what would happen if the two were cross-pollinated. Maybe something for me to try later on when I have babies that are all grown up.

A long shot of my "seedlings"

I took this photo of my plants grown from seed as I have them all laid out on these crates at the moment. The ones on the yellow crate in front aren't from seed but just about everything else is.





I have been catching up on my cataloguing and numbering and I'm up to just about 250 plants from seed now over two years old. I need to find an effective way of labelling them - I'm using stickers on the side as well as plastic labels but both have challenges - the "permanent" marker fades, and the stickers seem to get eaten by the "wildlife". Eventually I will have to devise a suitable system if I want to have each one uniquely identified.

I'm really happy with how they are progressing, and also my babies (under a year) are doing very well. Where will I put them all is the question, but I'm sure I will figure something out when the demand exceeds the space I have now.

Some photos of the recent "repots"

Last week I mentioned that I had moved up some of my larger plants grown from seed into 4" pots. I'm having difficulty figuring what to call them since they are now really too big for me to call them "seedlings' but since I grew them from seed I can't help but still consider them that way, and I feel I need to differentiate them from those grown by others.

Photos of a few of them...


Mammillaria dixanthocentron sowed August 2004
Almost glowing in the sunshine


Ferocactus gracilis 'coloratus' sowed August 2004


Mammillaria without ID sowed April 2004
I love these spines!

Echinocereus knippelianus

I particularly like this species but only have this one plant that I have managed to keep alive from seed for nearly four years now (Wow, didn't realise it was that long!)

It was attacked by some predator some time back, hence the disfiguration, which it overcame by sprouting a healthy branch/arm. Sometimes I wonder if it is really okay because the body shrivels, but I've come to realise that this is part of its self-imposed dormancy - also seen in other Echinocereus seedlings in my collection.

So last week (or the week before) I was happy to see another new growth... soon it will have two heads!



Now I'm looking out to see if more will sprout since it is seeming happy and fat for the time being, or maybe it will turn out to be a once-a-year occurrence. I need to check my photos to find out when the older head appeared.

My fingers are crossed for continued healthy growth!

Been repotting my "seedlings"

This past week I have been potting up some of my plants grown from seed into 4" pots since I am trying to make space for the tiny ones under a year old that now need to be put out into the "open". The problem is, while I make space for small seedlings this way, the big ones now have no place to go. I think I potted up about 15 or so, and they take up at least twice as much space as before.

NEED MORE SHELVES!!

Actually, this may be the time that I need to get going on building that greenhouse since my collection is steadily expanding and demanding more space. I have just sowed some of the seeds that I got on my recent trip to San Diego and I have a lot more of those to work with. Don't know where they will all go but I still feel the need to try to grow all these different species. Not satisfied with just having a bunch of cactus - need to know what they are and feel that they are "my babies", so I don't even have the great urge to get pre-grown plants except for those that I know are really hard to grow from seed.

Still working on improving my success rate and keeping these babies alive to maturity. I think I'm actually getting better, but it's still hard when I watch a whole batch just keel over for no apparent reason when I thought they were well on their way. I think I 've found some conditions that are quite favourable, so my recent batches have had a high survival rate so far. Again I wonder - where am I going to put all those when they grow up?

I'm sure something will work out.

Some more "seedlings"

Mammillaria sartorii


Mammillaria schiedeana


Mammillaria roseo-alba


Mammillaria wagneriana tortulospinum

Some plants from seed

I should have been posting photos of my babies from seed but have fallen behind terribly.

Here are a few:

Mammillaria zuccariniana


Mammillaria bocensis


Mammillaria gigantea


Mammillaria huitzilopochtli

Seed-grown Mammillaria albilanata

This week, Mammillaria albilanata - the two and a half year old plant grown from seed that I posted earlier when it started budding. I'm so proud of my first seed-grown flower - well, technically this was the second but I didn't get a photo of the first one (but the withered bud is still showing).





Every day I'm now busy searching all the other seedlings for any sign of flowering action - I think I need to just be patient and stop looking so hard.

First buds on a seedling

Just before the New Year, I spotted buds on one of my Mammillaria albilanata plants grown from seed. It's now just about two and a half years old and still in a 2" pot, so I was surprised and extremely pleased.

Can you see them?





Of course, I went searching the other six babies but no sign of anything there. Still, it gives me hope and encouragement that I'm doing something right.

Guess who will be buying more seed early in 2007?