I bought some seeds from Vlado Viglasky. I bought a packet each of Ferocactus Diguetii, Pachycereus Marginatus, Agave Americana and Aloe Dichotoma.

I had a cheap Bunnings storage box lying around so I filled that with 84 plactic tubes and planted a seed in each. It has a lid that clips into place. The plastic is white and lets though a very diffused light.

It's been 2 weeks since the seeds were sewn. So far I have 37 seedlings. All of the Ferros are up, half of the Pachycereus but only a few of the agaves and aloes.

P(oor quality p)ictures here:
http://i68.servimg.com/u/f68/12/68/71/78/ferros10.jpg
http://i68.servimg.com/u/f68/12/68/71/78/pachys10.jpg



I'm not sure whether the tubes are the best idea for cactii and succulents but hey -It's an experiment

Hey Rog,
sounds like you've done well.

Keeping the moisture up to them is most critical to get them to germinate - humidity is something they love, then you've got to dry them - depending on species - pretty quick before they rot.

Mind you, you can give them fairly wet / moist conditions while their yung-uns for a bit longer than you can imagine and they will go forward in leaps and bounds.

Great pics by the way - I would tend to plant 10 - 30 seeds in ONE container and let them huddle together, they seem to grow better in numbers and then plant them out at 1 - 2 years depending on their size.

Still you've done well and congrats are in order, Roger

Thanks.
I had read another post saying that I could keep the moisture up while they are young. Having said that I have lost a couple of the aloes so to be safe I have taken the lid ogg to let the soil dry out a bit. Will probably swing too far the other way now :-)

seedlings are always hard - but once you have them through a complete season, it normally gets easier.

my experience with astrophytum is very good. every time i sown astrophytum lots of plants germinate