Soil update and Sowing Seeds!
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- čas přidán 21. 06. 2023
- We have a good friend, Rob Romero, who has come on as an employee. Rob has been growing cactus since the early 90's. He joins Aaron today to talk about our new soil mix and to sow some seeds!
As soon as I heard “mushroom compost” I thought it would be Rob Romero 😊 That is so cool that he’s working with you growing plants!
Soil is such a fascinating subject. I'm growing mine in a mix of 60% pumice and 40% Pro-Mix. Thank you for being so open about your cultivation methods. I dust the tops of smaller seeds with sifted Pro-Mix for larger seeds and do nothing with the smaller ones. Such a great video. Amazing information.
I enjoyed watching😌🙏💖Growing cacti from seed is an Incredible process. I see you have tried a new mix. It's doing the job👍Your cacti are really rooted in that medium well. I grow Echinopsis hybrids. I use a volcanic clay soil called: Akadama and a soft soil that is like pumice called: Kanuma. I add a bit of potting medium and river sand. I live in Japan, and believe or not I can grow many cacti here. Astrophytums I can't grow because of the monsoon summer. Thanks again Aaron😊🙏
Excellent update!
Thank you very much for the content, this is priceless.
awesome, Thanks! Great info.. I gotta wonder why, as of now, 56 views and only 16 likes, hmm(!?!) Perhaps i don't understand YT . . . Good for you having Rob = someone who knows score. PEACE
looks good!!
I had decent germination on my first attempt with Pleospilos, Aloinopsis, Lithops with your original soil mix but I can see where the quartz top dressing would help. I may try some of the new mix on my next sowing -probably Astrophytums, Ariocarpis, and a few others. Great info.
9.07 I actually use that same aquarium rock from the dollar store as top dressing the seeds I sowed 😂
60% pumice 20% mushroom compost and 20 percent native soil sounds good. What was it before ? Native soil , perlite and vermiculite and coir ?
I use pumice ( dry stall ) Mojave desert soil and Mojave desert sand for sowing cactus seeds but I live in a coastal Mediterranean climate. Funny 30 years ago Steve Brack taught me how to sow cactus seeds over the phone .
i talked to steven also, must have been about an order. i asked him if he bought horst kuenzler's place, (new mex cactus research NMCR).they are both in Belen, which made me think that. and, i had just spoken to horst on the phone and he said steven was running everything and he that had retired, and i should call steven. to tell the truth i was flabbergasted horst was on the phone, i thought an employee would be answering. the person answering was his son, and when i stated the purpose of my call, he put him right on.
horst was a giant in the field, and there he was on the phone. (i had called the number on a very old NMCR seed catalog, and actually was wondering if it still worked.) we had a nice talk about the old days and how great the stuff was i got from him in 1978. i could hear him smiling in his voice about the plants he had back then and what i was looking for. i could tell he was enjoying the conversation, which put me at ease, and i am glad i had a chance random encounter with this luminary.
anyway i told steven, since i thought what a coincidence, a small town and 2 cactus seedsmen there. at the time, no internet, etc, they seemed to be the only 2 seed outlets in existence. steven said no, his operation was separate from nmcr. then steven told me horst had gotten nile virus from a mosquito bite, which had knocked him for a loop., and his son was living with him taking care of him. horst has sadly passed away now, but i just wanted to share this story.
Good to see your cactus seed mix and process. Do you do this for repotting or seeds? Do you use this for your mesembs too? Thanks!
Oh the pumice i hear about but i have to import it or buy from a bonsai nursery and i am not made of gold so i use burnt moler glay
Hello, i live in zone 7b in Turkiye (N36-42), and wonder when to sow the seed which i wish to grow :) need suggestions obviously :)
Thank you for sharing all those years' experiences 🌱
By native soil I assume you just dug out some soil on your property somewhere and added it. Is that what is meant?
@JorgeG I’m also in SA and I got pumice online. For small batches of soil that works but if you need to make large batches of soil it might be difficult. You could try turface (cat litter or Napa auto parts sells an oil absorber made from it).
Yes, we use the native sandy soil from our property in New Mexico.
Thank you I’ll try that.. I traced back a company in El Paso that sold it.. next time I’m over there I’m going to pick up a few bags
So what is the proper way to store cactus seeds? A couple months ago I tried sowing seeds that I've had for at least 15yrs and none of them sprouted. The seeds were several varieties but mostly Ariocarpus.
We keep our seed dry and cool in coin packets. Ariocarpus are certainly harder but if they are old seed, be patient they can take longer to come up. We sowed some old retusus this last summer and it took a long time but they eventually came up.
Ever thought of adding more organic compost? Maybe fir bark or something?
Cacti aren’t really a fan of bark or wood. We sift as much of that out of our mix as we can.
We use mushroom compost 20%.
Pumice is hard to come by in San Antonio.. is there a suitable replacement?
Same for Ohio
Can you get scoria/lava?
@@robromero5921I use lava sand, but I’ve not seen it sold in 1/4 in size
Aw no more native soil?
It’s still in there. The ratio is in the video, 20%