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Free Lophophora williamsii seeds

My wife and i attended a meeting with our local Cactus Club yesterday and had a chance to talk cacti and other plants with the members there.

One fellow was trying to give away Lophophora williamsii seeds produced by his own plants, but there was zero interest from the other members there.

At the end of the meeting, i approached him and asked him if he was willing to part with a few of those seeds, to which he replied "I was kind of hoping to do so".

I told him that i'd like to try some of these plants from fresh seed, and since it had been a while since i had sown any, this would be a great opportunity to do so.

So he doled me out a few dried seed pods from the ziplock bag he had brought along with him.

IMG_6648-1.jpg


Now all i have to do is clean these seeds up a bit and sow them.

dvg
 
These are illegal in the USA. :(

Though apparently several close look-alike species are allowed such as L. diffusa and so on since they are on Mesa Gardens seed list.
 
These are illegal in the USA :( so you might wanna specify the offer is just for Canada.


I don't think he's offering them, just saying he got them for free :p
 
Here are the seeds in a bowl, finally extricated from their sticky, pulpy wombs.

IMG_6721-1.jpg


There is still some of the fruit residue adhering to some of the seeds, but hopefully an overnight soak and a quick scrub tomorrow will remove any of the excess pulp from them.

Then they will be quickly sown.

dvg
 
Cool! I've wanted to grow L. williamsii under the cover of my 1/16th indian friend, but the illegality otherwise makes it difficult to get seeds in the US. Are you going to just grow them plain, or try grafting?
 
Grafting definitely speeds up the growth rate of seedlings.

Adult plants can be produced in three years with grafting, versus ten years of growing on their own roots.

Seedlings can be immediately grafted onto Pereskiopsis and larger scions can later be grafted onto Trichocereus or other rootstocks.

The scions grafted onto large Trichocereus rootstocks explode in growth with very many pups being produced alongside the mother scion.

dvg
 
OK, I'm a newb to plants in general, but you can graft cacti onto different kinds of cacti? THAT'S NUTS!
 
Don't know where you're from Jebbewocky but if you have Home Depot or Lowes hardware stores near you go have a look at the cacti and succulents, you'll see some weird orange and pink and purple cacti grafted to the stem of a green cacti.

Most often the colorful grafted ones are Gymnocalycium mihanovichii. The one below is mine which is on it's own roots, not grafted and is shown as it looks in winter, during the growing season it turns fat and green but later goes back to this color. The grafts are a more shocking pink than what you see here:

gymnocalyciummihanovichii.jpg



They graft others too but it's the odd ones without chlorophyll or insanely slow growers which are generally grafted.

Here's a very slow grower called Aztekium ritterii that has been grafted to speed it's growth up considerably:

aztekiumritterii.jpg


The small cacti growing along the ridges of the original is normal but unfortunately detaching them and rooting them doesn't happen, I mean, I've tried but they are so slow they do not grow roots before dying off. But grafting it as DVG discussed above is one way of creating more stock. The graft above is like 2.5" in diameter and would be an extremely old plant if it were on it's own roots.
 
It's been about four days and the seeds are germinating well...

IMG_6736-1.jpg


...the freshness of the seeds having allowed a 60% germination rate, thus far.

dvg
 
  • #10
Most of the seedlings have been potted up now.
IMG_7054-1.jpg


A pot with it's wee little green blob occupants. ;)
IMG_7057-072011.jpg


dvg
 
  • #11
One of the pots of L. williamsii seedlings, starting to show a few of their spines.

IMG_7140-1.jpg


These youngsters start out with juvenile spines, but don't keep up their tough looking Billy ****** image forever.

IMG_7182-1.jpg


These spines are eventually lost and replaced with a woolly hair.

dvg
 
  • #12
aww... they're so tiny! They're so chubby wubby! Seedlings are cute... :lol:
 
  • #14
Those look great. I am really wanting to get some Lophophora species from seed and give them a try. I was wondering how you germinate your seeds? It looks like they are on a paper towel? Does this work with other cactus seeds?
 
  • #15
Those look great. I am really wanting to get some Lophophora species from seed and give them a try. I was wondering how you germinate your seeds? It looks like they are on a paper towel? Does this work with other cactus seeds?


Oh sure, it'll work with other cactus seeds as well, especially the larger seeds like Tephrocactus or Opuntia, that need the extra moisture to germinate.

For very small seeds, it's probably easier to sprinkle them directly onto the surface of your potting medium, and just ensure that they stay moist.

The problem with germinating on paper towels is that they have to be transferred to a proper potting medium, and if they are not transferred soon enough, the seedling roots will grow right into the paper towel.

dvg
 
  • #16
Earlier today i had a chance to take a few photos and was able to do an update on some of these seedlings.

These babies were just watered again on the weekend, and were probably left a little on the dry side longer than they may have liked, but they appear to have bounced back nicely.

IMG_9910-1.jpg


Seedling cacti are better off kept a bit on the moist side for faster growth at that tender age.

Though they are growing well enough, they still have quite a ways to go before they get to this size...

IMG_9814-1.jpg


dvg
 
  • #17
Here's a group shot of all three pots of these lil fellars, with mechanical pencil for size context.

IMG_9930-3.jpg


dvg
 
  • #18
These little guys are adorable! They look great.

You should have heard all the little fan girl squeals I made while looking at this pics. My mom was like 'what are you looking at!' I told her and she laughed. Haha.
 
  • #19
These little guys are adorable! They look great.

You should have heard all the little fan girl squeals I made while looking at this pics. My mom was like 'what are you looking at!' I told her and she laughed. Haha.

Thanks lil hokie!

I'm sure the little guys will be very pleased to learn that they have a fan girl cheering them on!

dvg
 
  • #20
Awww... I wish I could grow those. Congratulations on growing such a rare cacti! I hope they do well for you.
 
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