Germination (or not) of Crassulacea seeds from Koehres

[MatDz]

Howdy Koehres aficionados!

I've been emailing about our miserable germination rates with Ralph for some time and at least 2, if not 3 times mentioned that I will make this post, so here we are.

My Crassulacea seeds from the recent group order, alphabetically with germination numbers to the left.
* Germination rate as "seedlings survived to date"("how many more germinated") - for some it was really a guess, e.g. caesium and confusum, as I was "counting" when they were barely visible.

Code: Select all

Germ.*   Seeds Sp.
13(+1)   25    Graptopetalum filiferum
10(+5)   25    Graptopetalum pentandrum 
5(+2)    25    Pachyphytum brachetii 
17(+10)  25    Pachyphytum caesium
16(+~15) 33    Pachyphytum confusum 
3(+4)    25    Pachyphytum cuicatecanum 
5(+2)    25    Pachyphytum hookeri 
1(+1)    25    Pachyphytum kimnachii, Alameda 
3(+2)    25    Pachyphytum saltense 
2(+1)    25    Pachyphytum sp nov., Tamaulipas, huastecaensis (Pachyphytum huastecanum ?)
4(+2)    25    Pachyphytum viride 
2(+2)    33    Pachyphytum viscidum 
0(1)     25    Pachyphytum werdermannii
1(1)     10    Tylecodon grandiflorus 
0(0)     10    Tylecodon paniculatus

I wonder how this went for others who were sharing these packets? We might need a group cutting exchange action in a year or so!

[edds]

I'll update with numbers tonight. Some seem better than your numbers but some are even worse - I'm down to one P.cunicatecum (but my cutting from you Ralph is doing well).

[ralphrmartin]

Out of the 9 packets of Pachyphtum and Graptopetalum seed I had, I have exactly 3 plants germinate - luckily all of different species.

Perhaps the problem is that the seed is very fine and does not stay viable for very long?
I don't think it is my approach, unless these need special treatment in some way, as overall, over 75% of the packets of mainly cactus seed I planted gave satisfactory germination.
Whatever the cause, it is pretty disappointing.

They are growing exceedingly slowly, too - but that's another issue.

[MatDz]

The exchange will need to happen then, let's make sure we all have at least one adult plant in a year time! They should propagate from leaves easily later on.

On the sowing, I did the following for about two weeks:

• Zip-lock bag for everything (which might have helped, but was also quite a disaster for some I believe, especially Tylecodons);
• Heat mat at about 25 C;
  Then I opened the bags and begun watching the little cotyledons damping off one by one...

For the future me:

• Open the bags after <1 week to give just this initial germination boost, or ditch them completely.

Ed, Ralph, how did you approach this?

[esp]

I know that Echeveria laui seed stays very viable a year after harvesting, I don't think Crassulaceae seed necessarily has a short viability.

I suspect that Koehres was the source for some / most /all of the Crassulaceae on the 2020/21 BCSS list as well.

So in total, for a previous Koehres order, plus your order plus BCSS:

Cotyledon (3 types, BCSS) - 3 surviving seedlings in total from 1 type only, didn't notice any/much other germination
Crassula (2 types, BCSS) - didn't notice any germination
Echeveria (3 types, BCSS) - didn't notice any germination
Aeonium (2 types BCSS, 1 type summer 2020) - good germination and survival for 1 type, about 6 survivors from another type, 3 survivors for another type, didn't notice any/much other germination

Grapto pentandrum superbum
Pachyphytum sp nov., Tamaulipas, huastecaensis (Pachyphytum huastecanum
- mixed sowing of the above 2 types, about 12 germinated, mostly but not all the Grapto I think (can't distinguish at this stage)

In contrast, I get excellent germination from Ech. laui and have had good germination from 2 Echeveria types from Succseed recently.

[edds]

I bought some seeds direct from Koehres before Christmas and then had some from the group buy. The ones I bought I have only sown 1/3 or so of each so comparable seed numbers to the group buy.

Graptopetalum filiferum Batopilas - 19
Graptopetalum rusbyi Culiacan - 18
Pachyphytum cuicatecanum - 1 (I think 5 germinated but I lost the others.

Other order
Aeonium palmense - 28
Aeonium nobile - 32
Echeveria carnicolor - 34
Echeveria subrigida Pinal del Amoles - 29
Echeveria purpusorum - 17
Echeveria rosea - 3 (5 germinated)

So not too bad and will be very willing to send spares to anyone who hasn't had any germinate.

[MatDz]

It seems like at least some of the Pachyphytum seeds either weren't the best quality, or are much harder to germinate, given how other genera or even species of Pachyphytum germinated fine with, I assume, the same method. I was hoping someone else simply got all the seeds of the packets I failed to germinate...

[Astro]

I expect Koehres doesn't harvest all the seeds from their own stock plants, but has some suppliers of their own.

The only Echeveria I've ever sown from them (actually the only I've ever sown, period) was agavoides 'Ebony' a few years ago, okay germination at around 30 plants out of 100 seeds (more than I can handle for sure). I even have a few that can pass for 'Ebony', so that's a success.