Strike rate

Joined : 30 Jun 2008 Posts : 51 Location : Kilcoy, QLD

For those that have grown a lot from seed, what sort of strike rate do you get?
Ie, out of say 100 seeds sown what do you actually expect to make it to maturity?

Joined : 28 Jun 2008 Posts : 34 Location : SEQ

How long is a piece of string? I can be anywhere from 0 to nearly 100% depending on how good your conditions are for the paticular species, how old the seed is etc.
Allso the degree of difficulty varies from species to species, even from clone to clone sometimes.
As a general rule most seedling that survive their first 12 months or so will survive to maturity although there are allways the touchy buggers that will drop dead when they are looking healthy just to spite you; (i have this prob with Hoodia's).
Personally I'm happy to get 50 to 75% but if i get 1% its better than none, at least you've got a new species & or clone.

Subject: Re: Strike rate Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:18 pm

Roger - I got poor germ without a heat mat and light because, it was all hit and miss with the temperature. Sometimes 0% sometimes 80&. Now I am getting about 80% on most seed, and am VERY happy with that. I've noticed that 27degrees feels cold, and suspect I have normally tried to germ at too high temps.

Joined : 07 May 2008 Posts : 602 Location : Melbourne

The germination percentage is dependant on many environmental factors including temperature, moisture and humidity present. Also internal factors such as freshness, ripeness and quality of the seed involved and if it was stored how so.
i have got very near 100% germination of some Gymnocalycium sp. with seed straight out of the fruit, and 50% from the same seed stored for a few months after. some seed i have bought from commercial sources and got 0% germination, presumably due to the seed being old. on the flipside i have also got near 100% germination from commercial seed as well. it's all a matter of the fore mentioned factors and a little bit of luck too.
As for the percentage of germinated seedlings that reach maturity, well this is also dependant on the conditions provided. Rots, fungus, sciarid fly grubs (gnats), drying out, algae, salt accumulation and light and temperature problems among others can all take their toll on young seedlings.

Joined : 05 Sep 2008 Posts : 72 Location : Perth

Mine have been hit and miss - some lophs have been 90%, some 20%. overall for them, i'd think it was up around 60%.
Most trichs (pretty fresh) have been around the 80% mark....
My hoodias were 100%, my echinocactus grusonii were 2% Sad

I'd go with a lot of the above -

Joined : 05 Apr 2008 Posts : 163 Location : International

species and seed quality are huge factors...self pollinated seeds are often weaker than crossed, for example...

in a very general guess, i would say all in all, all species together, probably 50% make it to adult hood. my aztekium i grew a little while ago about 20% pulled through seedling stage, my astrophytum/lophophora are generally 95% now. so it really depends.