Hello Kevin,

I guess keeping them indoors at > 70°F and fairly moist created the ideal environment for mold! Since I left them outside I did not see the mold any more. On the new ones just recently sown I did not see any mold coming up until now. As soon as there's more green coming up I will open the tunnel a bit more for better aeration. For the moment it is open on both ends.
You were absolutely right about about the lighting conditions - I just looked on the foto of that pale green something I posted last year- The ones just recently germinated look much better and are bright green, not as pale as the ones "grown" indoors close to the window!

Seeds are germinating nicely. I looked yesterday and and found single seedlings on about 7 crosses. Today it's already 17 crosses that are starting to germinate. Looks like I'm on the right track...

Michael,

Good for you! You will have such fun with these!

Too bad you won't be with us at the clinic. Maybe next year. we have some great surprise guests this year!

Kevin

Kevin,

as my wife is more tolerating than supporting my hobby I will have to carefully select the right moment to ask her if I may go...

Bring her with you Michael, she will have fun in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

11 more crosses started germinating within the last two days! Only 40 more to go....

Wow Michael, that is wonderful.

I could not resist and had to look again...
This time I found a (most probably only temporarily) very distinct seedling sitting next to its dicot sipplings:
My very first semp tricotyledon! and perfectly symmetric one. too!

I hope you don't mind the foto quality. I took the foto indoors and had to use a magnifying lense as it is currently less than 2 mm in diameter.

Love it! How very cool!!! Wonder if this is anything to do with 'cresting' ???

Wow, great photos Michael.
Very exciting. Don't let it get lost.

I had three tricots among my Pereskia seedlings in 2009. Two (that were perfectly symmetrical) turned into normal looking plants when growing true leaves. One (that had 1 cotyledon smaller than the others) however turned into a dwarf version with stronger ramification. The whole plantlet only had the size of 1 leave of his sipplings, yet looked like a micro tree. Unfortunately it died when someone accidently broke its tiny stem...).
In semps it might lead to more true leaves or double (triple?) rosettes. I don't think it leads to cresting. But maybe it will also turn into a normal plant once it starts its first true leaves. Will keep this one under special observation!

Enclosed fotos of that Pereskia seedling and a leave of his (partly variegated) sister. In the second foto you can still see the three cotyledons:

That's wild!!

Oh what a sad loss.

sown on Feb. 23. 2016 (mother is 'Anneleen' father: need to ask the bees)

Success! and great to look at!

They look great Wolfgang. Now for the excitement of waiting to see what they will grow up to be.

Hallo Wolfgang,

very impressive. I wished my germination rate was as good as yours - the seedlings seem to have started all at the same time. In some of my crosses I only have 1 seedling so far... Looks like I did not do a very good job in replacing the bees
As we are living more or less in the same growing conditions - could you share some information about how you are keeping your seedlings? Do you keep them outdoors or in a grow tunnel? Do you fertilize your seedlings? At what state of development would you start using fertilizer (if at all..)?

parttimegardener,

All seedling I have outdoor. Just for control, I sometimes hold back indoor a small seed tray (windowsill). The first days/weeks until germination I cover with a glass pane. No direct sun. Permanent moisture seems to be important.

After germination I remove the pane. I do not use fertilizer.

Hallo Wolfgang,

for the fast reply. I also saw that moisture seems to make the seedlings germinate and grow faster. When do you start to keep them dryer to prepare them adulthood?

parttimegardener

As long as they only have the two cotyledons I keep them moist and uncover only during the night.(because they are CAM plants). When the second leaf couple appears I dry down step by step.

Wolfgang,

I NEVER cover the seedling pots except to protect from cold. If they don't get strong light they will become etiolated and extended. Those types of seedlings are very difficult to transplant. Also they NEED light to do photosynthesis. They accumulate malate at night but fix it in sugars during the day.

You do want to keep them wet for quite a while. After transplanting, I water them FREQUENTLY until I see new growth. I use a transplanting type liquid fertilizer when transplanting and then once/ week through the season. You are more likely to lose them for LACK of water than too much. I slow down watering and fertilizer and water in September so they will harden off before winter.

As Lynn can tell you, the growth I get on seedlings is quite phenomenal. I have plants with 5-6" rosettes one year from seed with numerous increase.

Hope that helps!

Kevin