Pterbocharged Pterocactus seed

[Cidermanrolls]

Less than ten days after sowing, I’ve just moved a pot of Pterocactus hickenii seedlings from the hot and humid propagater (25c) to the warm and drier one (13c).
I sowed the three seeds (ADLBPS) on the 5th. The first germinated after four days and yesterday it looked like the final seed was just pushing through. Today all three are clear above ground.
I find Pterocactus seedlings fussy and they can damp off if left in the hot/humid area. Often I prick out individual seedlings to move them out and let the rest of the seeds in the pot germinate, but with all three through I can avoid the root disturbance at this early stage.

[Darren S]

Congrats!. I will be sowing mine in a couple of weeks.

With regards pricking out. Last year I pricked out the early germinators from my sowings of australis and gonjanii and returned the pots to the propagator. In both cases another seedling popped up and I left this one in the seed pot undisturbed.

These undisturbed ones are four times the size of their pricked-out siblings. This seems counterintuitive.

[Cidermanrolls]

Congrats!. I will be sowing mine in a couple of weeks.

With regards pricking out. Last year I pricked out the early germinators from my sowings of australis and gonjanii and returned the pots to the propagator. In both cases another seedling popped up and I left this one in the seed pot undisturbed.

These undisturbed ones are four times the size of their pricked-out siblings. This seems counterintuitive.

I guess the pricking out damages the root, but without it there is an increased risk if you keep the seedling at high humidity.
I’ve only got one pot of Pterocactus this year. I went overboard, though, on different locality versions of Maihuenia from Jan Novak. The catalogue suggests lots of different spine length and colour. Nothing has germinated in those yet, but there’s plenty of time. The Ariocarpus from ADBLPS is germinating well.