When to prick out succulent seedlings

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Aiko
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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by Aiko »

esp wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:54 pm I don't usually pot on if seedlings are still growing vigorously. Notable exceptions are when smaller seedlings are being out-competed by larger ones, and when spiky plants are in danger of damaging each other as they get crowded.
That is excellente advice.

Lithops I would keep in the same pot for as long as I can. From my experience they don't like repotting. It would not be the first time when an entire pot with plants would suddenly rot just after repotting (unrepotted plants remain fine). Lithops and Pleiospilos have this tendency with me.
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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by el48tel »

Aiko wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 6:04 pm
esp wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 5:54 pm I don't usually pot on if seedlings are still growing vigorously. Notable exceptions are when smaller seedlings are being out-competed by larger ones, and when spiky plants are in danger of damaging each other as they get crowded.
That is excellente advice.

Lithops I would keep in the same pot for as long as I can. From my experience they don't like repotting. It would not be the first time when an entire pot with plants would suddenly rot just after repotting (unrepotted plants remain fine). Lithops and Pleiospilos have this tendency with me.
Adding those two pieces of information together .... will do for me.
Endeavouring to grow Aylostera, Echinocereus, Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium, Matucana, Rebutia, and Sulcorebutia. Fallen out of love with Lithops and aggravated by Aeoniums.
Currently being wooed by Haworthia, attempting hybridisation, and enticed by Mesembs.
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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by Tina »

I would put the Yucca in a deeper pot, I have a few from seed & I think given more space they will gorw a lot quicker, they don't need a lot of pampering or extra heat.

The other thing to think about is eg with the Aeonium, will you have space for 90 seedlings, sometimes you are better to select the strongest & larger plants then concentrate on growing them well, maybe offer the spares for branch sales or raffle prizes- just a thought.
I would leave all the others to grow on.
good luck
Tina

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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by edds »

Thanks Tina for the information - I will take your advice and pot the Yucca up in a month or so.

I've got a few people who are interested in some of the A.tabuliforme and Echeveria so will pot a good few (plus anyone on here who wants some!) but yeah I'm probably not going to do them all! I was thinking about pricking out a chunk of the seedlings in a month and leaving the rest in this pot as insurance.
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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by edds »

This week I have seen the Aeonium tabuliforme and Echeveria cante looking very overcrowded and reaching up and getting wobbly.

They were also the size I'd prick out Campanula or Digitalis seedlings, mostly with at least two true leaves and some with four.

So, to hedge my bets, I've pricked out a small crowded sections of the two pots into small modules. I have these under some lights for a fish tank to keep them well lit.

If these fail then at least I've made a bit more space for the others in the pots and, if they grow away well I'll know it's safe to do the rest in a few weeks. I'd expect to lose 10-20% when pricking out other seedlings this small so we'll see what happens!

Here are some photos.
Aeonium tabuliforme,
A.tabuliforme
A.tabuliforme
And the ones left in the pot,
IMG_20200208_185227.jpg
Echeveria cante Fresnillo,
E.cante Fresnillo
E.cante Fresnillo
And the many left in the pot!
IMG_20200208_185232.jpg
Ed

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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by edds »

edds wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2020 2:11 pm
iann wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2020 1:53 pm Don't try to move the Lithops yet. You might even get more germination still. They will grow quite slowly from this stage on. When there is no longer any soil visible between them, that will slow them down, but that's a couple of years away.
What about the tap roots though Iann? I was planning to prefil a larger pot using an empty 4cm pot to shape a whole in the soil and then drop the potful in carefully, hopefully without any/much disturbance. I was thinking the seedlings needed another month or two before even attempting this but I don't want to stunt the taproots.
I'm still not sure about what to do with the Lithops and when to do it (I'm hoping March at the earliest!)

If I leave them in these 4cm deep pots will I stunt their tap roots? When will their tap root length be decided so how long do I have to act?

I am not going to prick these out - in fact I'm hoping to permanently keep them in these groups in a big enough pot so I can see the seedling variation. I might need to space them out some more in a year or so though!
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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by Brian »

Ed. Yes the compliment was aimed at you, errr just got your name wrong, apologies!

Good idea there to hedge your bets. I have lanky aeonium seedlings, may just split them with different treatments and see what happens.
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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by edds »

No problem Brian, very easily done. Thank you. :smile:

What Aeonium are you growing from seed?
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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by edds »

It's 5 days since pricking out the tests and preliminary results look good!
Aeonium tabuliforme
A.tabuliforme 08-02-20
A.tabuliforme 08-02-20
A.tabuliforme 13-02-20
A.tabuliforme 13-02-20
Echeveria cante Fresnillo
E.cante 08-02-20
E.cante 08-02-20
E.cante 13-02-20
E.cante 13-02-20
The ones left in the pots are getting ever more congested but I want to give these a bit longer to check they remain ok before doing that.
A.tabuliforme pot 13-02-20
A.tabuliforme pot 13-02-20
E.cante pot 13-02-20
E.cante pot 13-02-20
And then I've got these guys to prick out too!
E.gigantea Tepozltan
E.gigantea Tepozltan
Ed

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Re: When to prick out succulent seedlings

Post by edds »

The cante seedlings were totally jammed together by now so I've bitten the bullet and pricked them all out. All 286 modules in the trays are full! I've got 78 Aeonium tabuliforme, 65 Echeveria gigantea Tepozltan and 146 Echeveria cante Fresnillo! They're not bad numbers from packets that were supposed to be 100! I also put two small seedlings in some modules and also threw about 50 cante seedlings away!

I've pricked them all out as I think I will still lose a fair few and can share them around to friends and family - it looks like E.cante bedding plants this year!!!

Pictures of them all,
E.gigantea Tepozltan 15-02-20
E.gigantea Tepozltan 15-02-20
A.tabuliforme 15-02-20
A.tabuliforme 15-02-20
E.cante Fresnillo1 15-02-20
E.cante Fresnillo1 15-02-20
E.cante Fresnillo2 15-02-20
E.cante Fresnillo2 15-02-20
Ed

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