New growbox

I decided to build a new growbox, intended mainly for seedlings and grafts. I simply put some plywood-plates together, added some white paint inside (reflectors) and finally mounted 2X 2X18W (4 tubes in total) fluoresecent tubes. The tubes gives 6500 Kelvin color (Phillips 965), cheap to buy & run, perfectly suitable for this purpose.



More grafts is on the way, it will probably be full this winter.

Grafting on Pereskiopsis

Its autumn again, a good time to do some indoor activities.

Since I got lots of Echinopsis Subdenudata seeds laying around (see previous posts), and my Pereskiopsis growing like weed, I figured I'd do some grafts again. In addition I have a couple of other grafts from earlier experiments.

The Echinopsis Subdenudata's quickly developed pups, as shown (note the difference between the seedlings from the same batch):


Here is a closeup:


I also succeeded doing a multigraft:



This is an Echinopsis Lagenformis. Compare with the seedlings on the left, which comes from the same batch:

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: