Experiencing up close how a magnificent cactus develops from a tiny seed fascinates young and old hobby gardeners alike. Pure seed is available from specialist retailers, from cactus clubs or in exchange rings. These instructions explain how to successfully sow cactus seeds yourself.
Cacti can also be sown
Proper preparation is halfway to success
The germination of cactus seeds is greatly improved if you soak the seeds in advance. For this purpose, fill the seeds in an empty tea bag and hang it in a thermos flask filled with 50 to 55 degrees hot water for 45 minutes.
Please use a purely mineral substrate for sowing, such as fine-grained lava granules (€13.99) or perlite. (€37.51) This ensures that the delicate roots are supplied with the right proportions of air and water. A potting soil with humic components is not structurally stable enough for a long period of up to 12 months and harbors the risk of mold growth.
Sowing and cultivating seeds - this is how it works
While the soaked seeds are drying on absorbent paper towels, pour the substrate into square pots. A 4 x 4 cm pot is big enough to sow 10 to 30 seeds. Please spray the substrate with soft, lukewarm water or horsetail tea until saturated. How to proceed:
- Scatter and press down the seeds
- Sieve thinly with lime-free quartz sand (15.85€) and moisten again
- Label the pots with notes on which the species and the sowing date are noted
- Place the pots in a germination box and close the lid except for a matchstick-thin gap
- Spray regularly with soft water in a bright location at 16 to 28 degrees Celsius
When the seedlings have reached a diameter of 0.5 to 1 cm, they can be transplanted. This measure is usually carried out after 12 to 14 months. As a rule of thumb, the older a seedling, the better it will handle the procedure.
tips
When 2 cacti of the same species bloom, creating purebred seeds is child's play. The ripe flower pollen of one cactus is easily transferred to the stigmas of the other cactus with a hair brush. Ripe pollen can be recognized by the fact that it takes on a light, powdery consistency. When the resulting fruits are ripe, the single-variety seeds are removed to sow them according to these instructions.