Windowsillcactusblog

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

outdoor cactus seedlings

This week there are lots of cactus seeds starting to grow in flower pots and under shade cloth outdoors. The weather conditions have been great with lots of rain and temps. from the high 60s at night to above or close to 90 in the day. Humidity is high too so the growing mediums are staying wet enough for the seeds to grow.

There are mainly two kinds of set ups for the seedlings to grow in. Glazed flower pots with rocky growing medium, and these are sitting out in the open with no shade cloth. The seedlings begin to grow under the rocks and as they begin to mature they start to grow out of the cracks between the rocks. The second method is a sandy growing medium in black plastic seed starting trays and these are under 50% shade cloth.

Growing cactus seeds outdoors in Wisconsin is turning out to be much better than using artificial lights. I hope to write about these methods in more detail on this website when I've a better understanding of how well this is working. So far these seedlings are growing faster and healthier than anything I've ever grown under lights.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Astrophytum myriostigma

The Astrophytum myriostigma are starting to bloom and they've been outdoors for over a month now. These cacti will take very low temps. and can be set outdoors in the sun even when there is still a risk for frost. They were starting flower buds a when they went outdoors and I was afraid that the cold nights would make them abort these buds. They held on to the flower buds and are now starting to bloom

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Echinocereus viridiflorus flowering

The Echinocereus viridiflorus plants are starting to flower and they are bright beautiful and green. Hopefully, they will make plenty of seeds and we will have a lot of new seedlings later this summer. We plan to plant the seeds we still have from 2008 and keep the 2009 seeds to sell.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Disocactus ackermannii flowers

The Disocactus ackermannii plants are blooming and these flowers are big and beautiful. For the first time every I have two plants with flowers at the same time, and I hope to have them make seeds. It may be at least a few months before seed pods would be ripe enough to harvest, but for now there are lots of red flowers to enjoy.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

waiting for more flowers

The Pediocactus simpsonii var minor have stopped blooming and hopefully they will soon have seed pods. Now, I'm waiting for some of the Echinocereus plants to bloom and they are showing lots of buds. I wish I could have cactus flowers all year, but at least in the spring and summer there is usually some variety of cacti making flowers.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Pedio cactus flowers

The Pediocactus simpsonii var minor have been blooming this week and the flowers are beautiful. I tried to pollinate them today, but it was cloudy and the flowers were barely open. I think some of them may have already been worked on by bees which means I've lost control of keeping pink flowers from crossing with white ones. I'll have to wait till next spring if I want to try and keep my flower colors pure and know what the seeds will grow into.

Most of the bees around here are native to Wisconsin and live solitary lives in the ground. Hopefully, the Pedios will make lots of seeds and they will be planted as soon as they mature with the adult plants. If the bees didn't get them pollinated I will continue to use a sable brush on the flowers over the next few days.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Pedio flower buds

It is very exciting to see the Pediocactus simpsonii var minor plants getting flower buds this spring. This seems early for setting on buds because the weather here is still at freezing at night, but if they are ready they must like these conditions. I'm hoping to have more seeds from these plants and plant them to get more plants.

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