Growing lithops from seeds

In the end of May I planted some lithops, which I got from succseed. There were 3 types:

Lithops fransisci
Lithops marmorata v. elisae
Lithops schwantesii v. marthae


I dont have any experience with lithops, and I had limited success with these. L. marmorata seems to be most difficult one, with only 3 survivors out of aprox. 15 seeds. The L. fransisci, however, had a germinating rate of around 90%.



The picture shows 3 L. marmorata on the top-left, L. fransisci on bottom-left and L. schwantesii on the right. As you can see, there is some moss growing too which is caused by too much humidity.. it will probably disappear as I will keep it in more dry and ventilated conditions which is ideal for Lihops.

Cacti on steroids: grafting

3 months ago, I mentioned little Pete, my first graft ((L. Williamsii v. Huizache). This summer has been quite hot and sunny, and this has resulted in tremendeus growth for most of my plants.

Here is Pete 3 months later:



It measures ca. 2.7 X 2.8 cm, which I guess is not bad for just 3 months growth :)

Harvest

The Echinopsis from the previous posts was self-fertile, and I pollinated it by just blowing carefully on the flower. (There was also a second flower, which I did not do this and therefore didnt yield any fruit)

The fruit grows from the base of the flower, and falls of by itself when mature enough. There is probably around 200-250 seeds. I am not 100% sure about how the germination rates are for self-fertilized plants, but I'll give it a try. Of course I will graft the seedlings on Pereskiopsis.

In bloom

My Echinopsis has been quite busy the last few hours. The bud started opening, and in a couple of hours it opened up:





The smell is incredible, my whole apartment is filled with a fantastic odor..

Tentacles

Around two years ago I bought this cactus which I believe is a Echinopsis subdenudatum. I kept it in a cold window sill during winter, with temperatures around 12-15C. This results in blooming for most cacti, and these Echinopsis'es has some real big flowers compared to their size. Here is the first tentacle coming out:

Gear

Here is how I propagate my seeds (very useful in the dark wintertimes and in rainy & cloudy periods). I use the following stuff:

2 Megaman flourescent plant-bulbs, 15W
1 banana cartboard box
1 mini greenhouse

The bananabox is beeing repapered with white sheets, which act as excelent reflectors. When the seedlings get to a certain size, i will put on the dome on the mini-greenhouse. I open the plastic sheet over the seedling a couple of times a days to air out. The megaman bulbs works quite fine, but I give them some real sunlight when the weather is on my side..

Also, if the box is kept in a cold room, you can easily put a heat-mat under it (adjust with some wooden boards or something like that).

These pictures should explain most of it:

New seeds

Today I got a packet of seeds in my mailbox, from Succseed:

Lithops fransisci C 140
Lithops marmorata v. elisae SB 1205 (N Jackalswater)
Lithops schwantesii v. marthae H4886
Mammillaria sempervivi ML 24
Pilosocereus magnificus HU 224
Trichocereus bridgesii

So, tonight I'll probably put some of them in soil. I will also plant some of these:
Lophophora williamsii (Huizache, Mex)
(these are the same kind as "little Pete" mentioned i my previous post. He is doing very well, actually.)