It's that time of year to start some more Tephrocactus from seed.
I've had success germinating these types of seed in the past with the paper towel method.
But my success rates are much better if the seeds used are fresh.
I'll soak my Tephro seeds overnight in RO or distilled water.
The next day I'll put the seeds into a damp paper towel.
The damp paper towel with seeds inside is then placed inside a clear ziplock bag. Then I'll label and date the baggie, if I'm germinating more than one type of seed, just to keep track of them and what they are.
I like to germinate Tephrocactus seeds inside a seed propagator with a seedling heating mat.
I also use a ceramic reptile heating bulb suspended just above my domed enclosure where the seed bags are kept during the day.
Between the ceramic bulb and the heating mat, the temperatures inside the dome stays a warm 95F.
The seeds are kept in those warm temps during the day.
At night I move them to a cooler place in the house, aiming to find a place around 60F.
After a week I start to check for germinating seeds.
When I find them, I quickly move them over into a pot with some cacti potting mix.
If some of the seeds haven't germinated after about three weeks, I let those seeds dry out for about a month, and then I'll start the process over again.
So back to the paper towel method...
Here are some of the seeds that I had soaking overnight.
T. alexanderi geometricus DJF319
T. alexanderi geometricus 1250.277 from Mesa Garden
T. alexanderi geometricus DJF320 Also from Mesa Garden. I'm excited about these ones. Apparently the cladodes look like pink soccer balls.
T. alexanderi 1250.18 Fat round stems with super black spines according to the MG description on their site.
And this is what the bags look like before they go into my propagation chamber.
I'll leave them in there for about a week and then I'll start checking in on them once every couple of days or so.
dvg