Hi there,

I have decided to stop buying adult cacti (as a general rule) and got into the habit of buying seed and propogating cacti from seed. Have a bunch of them from late last year and this year. Some Astrophytum, Ariocarpus, Gymnocalcyium, Mammillarias, Melocactus, Lithops, Blossfeldia, Strombocactus.

I figure that once I have 2 or 3 for me, then the rest are up for grabs one way or another. They are all leaping forwards in an exciting kind of way. Trouble is, when is it time to swap / sell them?
I for one would be happy to receive smaller plants, ones like mine and watch them grow, but is the rule to wait until they are more mature? Wait until they are on their way to flowering age?

What does anyone else think?

cheers,

Calycium

I am happy to swap smaller plants etc. at some point, I have a lot of seedlings growing (a few hundred) of various types. Not sure how far along yours are? Mine aern't ready yet.

Yeah,
mine are a bit small at present - a few to several hundred, although I have a lot of chins and melos. Made it my mission to get a lot of stock from a lot of different places for the sake of diversity (before they are all banned for importing) and am growing them. Got about four or so more hundred more seeds to germinate, but considering waiting for a few month until it warms up, but in my greenhouse, I'm still getting some new seeds popping up.
Happy to trade, mine are all from september 2007, and a lot from feb this year, a LOT of different Ariocarpus and Astrophytums - my pets.

cheers,
Calycium

from a hobyists point of veiw, i would think a couple cm so they handle shipment good. from a breeders point of veiw, they want larger plants cause babies are too variable and unsure of what they will look like...thats why many Astro/Ario CV's are always sold big. they want garaunteed nice plants for breeding projects

Thanks Kada,
hadn't thought about that - most of my young uns are nowhere near a cm in diameter, so I might have to wait for a while. Got many dozens of Astros, so they will be with me for a while from what you say.