Too hot to germinate?

[steve.smith]

Thats very informative Dave. Its interesting to see that that a Parodia has the lowest optimal germination temperature - 10 of my 36 pots contained Parodia / Notocactus seed, none germinating thus far!

[Ross M]

I always turn the propagator off at night, which I think is particularly important for high altitude genera.

[iann]

Thats very informative Dave. Its interesting to see that that a Parodia has the lowest optimal germination temperature - 10 of my 36 pots contained Parodia / Notocactus seed, none germinating thus far!

That Parodia is almost certainly referring to the "original" Parodia which are high altitude Bolivian plants. Rge lowland Brazilian species now included probably have quite different needs.

[DaveW]

Yes Parodia "Parodia" not Notocactus "Parodia"!

John Donald once said to me long before they were combined that Parodia were just high altitude Notocactus, but obviously the oldest name takes priority when combining the two.

As Ian points out the higher altitude the plants come from the lower their optimum germination temperature is likely to be, plus the more effect on germination a fluctuation in day to night temperature is likely to have.

[Ewen]

I keep the temperature at 23C most of the time but drop it once germination has taken place to 21C or 19C

[CactusFanDan]

Those Pachycereus seedlings at huuuuge! I suppose they are big plants though. Also, you're wasting a fair bit of light there, Ewen.

[Ewen]

Hi Dan, yes the Pachycereus seedlings are just superb, really strong and as you can see, very fast growing although they're nowhere near the size of the Adansonia (Baobab) seedlings.

As for the light loss, it's on the list of things to do I just bought another 3 shelving units to help me store the dormant seedlings I have. I'm quickly running out of space but there is as they say, a master plan I'll post a wee photo of them maybe tomorrow, showing the chaos ensuing in another room in the house lol