Potting Up Succulents

We have quite an inventory of succulents at work right now. I spent a little time potting some of them up into clay pots, since they seem to sell better in clay pots than in plastic pots.

Massive Quantities of Succulents!

Last fall, the Horticulture Gardens acquired a bunch of leftover succulents from one of the undergraduate classes. I've been nursing them along in the greenhouse all winter. I started taking cuttings a few weeks ago, since I was to propagate enough to use some of them out in the garden displays.

We currently have almost an entire greenhouse bench of succulents, with about a dozen varieties. There are more trays in the propagation house rooting out.

I learned that these Aloe vera are carrying a common virus that caused black spots on some of the leaves. It's mostly an aesthetic issue, not harmful to any other plants, so we will keep them as long as they look good. I'm planning on using some of these in outdoor containers in some of our hotter areas of the garden.

These hens and chicks are doing really well, they've grown a ton since we first planted them. This is a mixture of varieties so some of them have cool purple coloration.

This variety was growing very spindly, so I cut them back hard (and used the cuttings for propagation). They are already starting to branch out from being pinched.

 This Crassula 'Campfire' is one of the faster growing varieties, so I'm going to use it in the display gardens. It goes through a rainbow of colors during the growing season.

This Senicio is also one of the faster growing varieties, so I'm hoping to include it in some outdoor containers this summer.

Cactus and Lithops from Seed

I haven't posted lately about the cactus and lithops that I started from seed this spring (partially because I had them tucked away on my deck behind hundreds of vegetable seedlings that were stealing my attention most of the time. However, I recently moved my entire cacti and succulent collection to my picnic table. I've put them there each summer since I moved here and they really seem to do well outside all summer.

Some of the lithops are starting to crack open and grow their next set of "leaves". They are still really tiny (smaller than a pencil eraser).

The mixed cactus seedlings are doing really well. I don't think I've ever had them get this large the first year. The especially large ones are probably various types of opuntia because they always seem to grow faster. I should probably try to transplant some of them soon because they are forming a solid mat in some areas of the seed tray.

Tangled Sedum

I put in a small rock garden last year using a variety of sedums that I had purchased the previous year (sometimes it takes me a while to find homes for all the plants I collect). I guess I planted them too close together because they have now formed a tangled mess. Not only are the different sedums intertwining, but there are tons of weeks everywhere. Hopefully I can find time to deal with this part of the garden soon. Since this area is being converted into my fruit garden, maybe I'll just relocate them completely!

Cactus and Lithops Update

My cactus seedlings seem to be do especially well this year. I wonder if it is due to the added heat from my seedling heating mat. The cactus and succulent seedlings got to hold the coveted heat mat position for about  a month...until more important things (like tomatillos, peppers, and tomatoes) came along. Maybe just a few weeks of heat really did the trick.

Some of these seedlings are already larger than the ones I started a year ago! 

I was worried that my lithops seedlings weren't going to make it, but a few did. I think I kept them under the humidity dome for way too long because some of the seedlings got damping off. I thought maybe I would get a few more seeds to germinate if I kept the tray in the humidity dome, but it ended up harming the seedlings that had already germinated!

I didn't manage to kill all of my lithops seedlings.

"Little Green Aliens"

A friend of mine described my tiny cactus seedlings as "little green aliens". I'd have to agree. They do seem to resemble little alien pods. Maybe if I keep watering them they'll hatch into something cool.

My lithops seedlings seem to be doing well too. I only had 8 or 9 seeds germinate at first, but an additional 15 or so seeds germinated in the last couple days. I'm hoping that I'll be able to start distinguishing between the different varieties soon. They all just look like little green blobs at the moment.

Insecticidal Soap: A Cautionary Tale

I've had mealybug on some of my houseplants for a couple years now. Most of my plants seem to be immune, but a few have it pretty badly. I have a lot of succulents and they seem to get the worst case of mealybug (especially my jades and aloes). 

Aloe with mealybug

Unfortunately, even the "safe" houseplant insecticidal soaps are not safe on succulents. I once lost a gorgeous, enormous jade plant (that I had owned for over a decade) after spraying it with insecticidal soap. I guess I should have done more research before doing the spraying, but I assumed it was safe for all houseplants. Instead, that beautiful jade started dropping all of its leaves, then sections of the stem started to fall off...eventually the whole plant collapsed. The loss of this plant was really upsetting!

From that point on, I've used a different tactic to combat the mealybugs...I just let them be. The infestation hasn't spread to any other plants, and the infested plants seem to do just fine (despite looking a little furry). I put most of my houseplants outside over the summer which seems to knock their numbers down. However, they always comes back when I bring the plants inside for the winter.

Mealybugs on my potted rosemary. I just wash them off and eat it anyway!

Rapid Germination of Succulent Seeds!

I was surprised to see cactus seeds germinating after only 3 days and lithops after 4 days! I'm already beginning to think that ordering seeds from CactusStore was a better idea than buying mystery cactus seeds from the hardware store.

There's a tiny lithops seedlings in the middle of this tray. Can you find it?

Look at all the seeds that sprouted! This is only 4 days after seed sow!

Lithops and Cactus Seeds

I was pleasantly surprised by how fast my cactus seed order arrived from CactusStore.  I have to wait several more weeks before I can start any vegetable seedlings, but these cactus seeds can be started whenever! I was not expecting the lithops seeds to be so tiny. I had to mix them with some very fine vermiculite powder before sprinkling them onto the soil.

Dust-like Lithops seeds.

Three packets of cactus seed.

Labels for my pots

Lithops tray with vermiculite dusting.

Cactus and Succulent Seeds Ordered!

I've been having trouble finding cactus seeds this year in any of the local stores (and I forgot to add a packet to my vegetable seed order with Pinetree Garden Seeds). As a result, I just placed an order with CactusStore last night for some mixed cactus and lithops seeds. I'm a veteran cactus grower, but I've never tried lithops before. I've been reading about Gayla Trail's experiences growing lithops over at You Grow Girl and it sounds really interesting. Hopefully this is a decent seed company. I've never ordered from them, but they seem to have pretty much anything you could possibly want in terms of cacti and succulents.


Here's what I got:

1. CACTI VARIETIES MIX: A very diverse assortment of cacti seeds including: Cereus, Golden Barrel, Hedgehogs, Mammillarias, Notocactus, Opuntias, Organ pipes, Ferocactus, Gymnocalycium, Trichocereus, Saguaro and more.
2. MAMMILLARIA MIX: alamensis, armillata, baxteriana, bocasana, columbiana, gasterantha, asiacantha, magnimamma, and others. Profusely flowering cacti, easy to grow.
3. ECHINOCEREUS STRAMINEUS MIX (Strawberry hedgehog): Clumping growth habit to 2' tall. Can become a colony with hundreds of heads. Large purple flowers to 5". Origin: Southwestern USA, Mexico. Seeds collected from West Texas plants.
4. LITHOPS SPECIES MIX (Stone plants): A mix of many varieties, including: aucampiae, bromfieldii, dinteri, divergens, dorotheae, fulviceps, hallii, hookeri, optica and several others.

Grow Your Own Cacti From Seed

Did you know that you can grow cacti from seed? I've been doing it for several years now. It's a very slow process, but actually very easy and interesting. Seed packets can sometimes be found mixed in with vegetable and flowers seeds at your local seed display (I've found them at Walmart). Pinetree Garden Seeds also offers a cactus seed mix for $1.75.

Tiny cactus seedlings in a 50/50 soil/sand mix.

The cultivation of cacti from seed is very similar to how you would start any other flower or vegetable seed. However, a fast draining potting mix should be used. I use 50% regular potting mix and 50% sand. Choose a pot or container that you're happy with because the cactus seedilngs may be in this container for over a year before they need to be transplanted. I often use a plastic ground-beef tray as my container. Read the seed packet to see if the seeds should be covered with potting mix. After sowing, put the container in a humidity dome under lights until germination. Continue growing the seedlings under artificial light.

Cactus seedlings look very different from the adult plant, which is one reason they are so fun to grow. Seedlings have a pair of cotyledons (tiny leaves) surrounding a button-like lump of tissue. Over time, the seedling will absorb the cotyledons (or they slough off) and the button will enlarge. Eventually the seedling will start to grow spines and resemble a mini-version of the adult plant.

These teeny tiny cacti are actually two years old!

Once the outside weather warms, your tray of cactus seedlings can be put outside to get bright sunlight for most of the summer. Water if necessary. If you live in an area with lots of rainfall, you may want to put your cacti in a protected location so they don't get overwatered and rot. The seedlings will gradually grow larger, but the process is very slow. 

After one whole year, my seedlings are still smaller than a pencil eraser! Once they get to a size where they can be handled easily (i.e. without the use of tweezers and a magnifying glass), they can be potted up into individual pots. Bring the plants inside for the winter and put them in the brightest location in your house. They are unlikely to grow much over the winter, but should maintain themselves until they can be put outside the next summer.

In my experience, survivability in the first year is fairly low. While most of the seeds may germinate, only a handful might make it to transplant size. However, over the years I've accumulated a nice little collection. Cacti are so interesting and easy to care for...it's worth the wait.

3 year-old twins!

3-year old cactus

These 3-year old cacti are huge compared to the others!

Have you ever grown cacti or succulents from seed?