I will be starting my first round of L. Williamsii cacti from seed, grown indoors. I am very interested to know what lighting and heating methods the pros on this site are using.
What type (brand) of grow lights do you use?
Do you use heating pads?
What timing cycles for the lights? the heating pads?
hey, i'm no pro buddy, but personally i think 12/12 with a heating pad (one designed specifically for plants, not the type your mom had) and around 18/6 lighting with two 40 watt CFLs >1 foot away for the first year or so. they burn easily. i even mark my containers so i know which direction they face. this is important with mature cacti outside to avoid sunburn.
to germinate, i put some cactus mix into containers with lids and good drainage. i water thoroughly. close the lids and toss them in the nucular for a few minutes. wait till they cool, wash my hands and then toss the seeds in quick. leave covered for 1 week unless other stuff starts growing in there. then uncover halfway with some airflow. allow to slowly dry, but monitor closely. then keep fairly moist at first allowing them to almost dry completely between waterings. if the plants turn red back off with the light. good luck!
16/8 for light.
6500k or better.
40 W foot @ 1 ft
we germ in open petri dishes on sand.
daily mist.
im working on an epic seed thread with LED
highly distracted ATM though..........
Thank you both!
I decided to go with Intelligent Light Source - GIY Series 24 - 50 watts (in germination mode it provides blue, red, and a little 6500k white light)
15" above the trays
Lights on 16/8
Heating pad on 14/10
I'll post updates on grow logs forums as it progresses.
If there is anyone else out there, please continue to post your methods/suggestions. This is my first time growing from seed.
Quote from: anne halonium on October 15, 2015, 03:57:53 PM
we germ in open petri dishes on sand.
daily mist.
I like this idea, seems like sand would make it easier to monitor many plants.
Do you use washed sand or silica?
When you say "open" does that mean you don't bag them or wrap in plastic?
What germination rates are you getting?
How long do you keep them in the sand dishes?
Thanks again anne!
we wash the sand.
open air petri dishes,
we dont wrap anything in plastic.
we mist daily.
you can monitor thousands at once easily.
we do runs of up to 10k seeds at once.
germ varies by seed lot.
decent seed, we will pull 95% germ.
we experience essentially NO rot this way.
we have cactus and fungi same lab.
we cannot allow contams AT ALL.
lemme fish out some pics tomorow.
work combat in 30 minits.
Should 40watts per sq/ft be good for LEd's too im assuming?
I have red/blue 60 'piece' Leds that screw in to a regular socket.
I'm guessing a piece is 1watt