How to raise winter growing succulent and caudex plants from seed - the Arid Zine method

This is a standardised method used in the sowing of succulent, caudex and bulb seeds from the winter rainfall region of South Africa. The method has been successfully used for the following genera: Albuca, Bulbine, Drimia, Ornithogalum, Othonna, Crassothonna, Pelargonium, Sarcocaulon, Trachyandra, Moraea, Eriospermum and members of the Aizoaceae such as Conophytum and Gibbaeum.
The video also addresses species specific modifications for success with Pachypodium namaquanum, Aloe pillansii and Crassula umbella.
Includes a post-script to show the beginning of the germination process
Arid Zine is the educational wing of Bayou Bros Nursery and Cactarium. Lend your support by buying a plant or some cool merch at www.bayoubros....

[@Northerncacti2021]

Right on brother

[@AridZine]

Cheers

[@matt-pelargonium]

Great video, very informative, and a great range of rare species. Love the stepelia shirt too!

[@AridZine]

Cheers man!

[@jerhansen8149]

Good vid, nice job! Thanks for sharing your experience

[@AridZine]

Thanks for watching!

[@icariumrage3137]

Where did you get the T shirt? I can only find cheap or gaudy looking ones.
I sow my seeds in a similar way except for record keeping. I got some bulb seeds from you.

[@AridZine]

Nice! Yeah check out www.artofzig.com for the shirt - good local artist

[@Malprincess]

Can you explain a bit more about the maifan stone? What makes it your favorite over something like vermiculite? This is coming from someone who hasn't used vermiculite, I don't do much with seeds.

[@AridZine]

The best thing about it is that it changes colour when it’s moist, so it’s easy to tell when you need to water and maintain that humid environment around the seeds. But any sort of mineral top dressing is fine, I’ve used vermiculite, scoria, pumice. It all does the same thing.

[@Malprincess]

@@AridZine Thank you! It's always a good day when pumice comes into the convo, super available where I am!

[@Malprincess]

How does the humidity affect the cacti? Do you find that they get more rot or fungal issues? I don't know enough about Australian climate to know if the humidity is a common thing.

[@AridZine]

Depends on the species - some of them love more humid conditions, some will pretty rapidly rot away. Most of these winter growers are fine with the sort of humidity we get in Sydney.

[@Malprincess]

For the top dressing do you ever use anything that is finer like sand? Or does that hold too much moisture?

[@AridZine]

Nah sand is too moisture retentive. I avoid sand in general for that reason.

[@drumfish2744]

Awesome video man! Your collection looks amazing. I’m growing some cacti and caudiciforms from seed. Astrophytum, uebelmannia, dioscorea and kedrostis.

[@AridZine]

Thanks! And nice work… starting any collection from seed is the most rewarding way to go in my opinion.

[@Malprincess]

How do you store the seeds? Is there a way to preserve their longevity or make them viable for longer? A year seems so short!

[@AridZine]

Keeping them in the fridge is a good bet to extend their life, but some species will last longer than others. Lithops seeds will probably be fine even after a decade; some Stapeliad seeds starts to lose viability within a few months.

[@Malprincess]

@@AridZine Thank you! That's good to know. Lithops are the one cacti I've been debating on whether to grow for my local market.

[@spicychilicrisp]

Epic video! Have you had germination on Othonna lepidocaulis? Apparently very difficult.

[@AridZine]

No, I’ve never tried. I’ve used this method with success on Othonna herrei and Othonna cremnophila though

[@spicychilicrisp]

@@AridZineThat would make for an interesting video topic

[@Malprincess]

When you say "winter growing" are you saying that the plants don't grow in other seasons? Like they won't germinate at all? It is like some crops that need to be put in the freezer and thawed to get them to sprout? How do you know if a cactus is winter growing?

[@AridZine]

These plants grow during cooler weather and go dormant - ie stop growth - when it warms up. The seeds don’t really need a freeze to germinate, just lower temperatures - overnight temperatures below about 10C is a good bet. There aren’t a lot of winter growing cacti that come to mind; but in terms of succulents, they’re almost all from western South Africa. Only a small number are common in cultivation, like Albuca spiralis.

[@Malprincess]

@@AridZine Super interesting!

[@Malprincess]

How do people collect the super fine seeds? Do they come in some sort of a pod?

[@AridZine]

Yes, typically they’ll be in a pod which can then be harvested, usually broken up or shaken, to release the seeds.

[@Malprincess]

@@AridZine Are there any cacti that do spores type seeds? Or other wind dispersal?

[@AridZine]

Not spores as such - but different succulents do have wind dispersal systems. Seeds with fluffy tufts of hair to collect the wind is a big one that soars across several families

[@Malprincess]

@@AridZine Super interesting. Cacti seem like they've taken a leaf from so many other plants' books.

[@hansgregory85]

Nice video. By the way, have you grown adenia from seeds as well? Any pre-treatment for the seeds or sow it directly as in the video? Thanks

[@AridZine]

Adenia are frustrating, a few species like A. venenata grow well using this method - although replacing cold temperatures with heat. But many of them seem to require very precise temperature and watering to replicate their habitat conditions. I’ll make a video about Adenia seed sowing at some point, because I’m working on cracking the code, but it’s still mostly trial and error.

[@Malprincess]

What are those cute spotted cacti called @15:12?

[@AridZine]

They’re called Conophytum obcordellum ‘Mundum’.

[@Malprincess]

@@AridZine Thank you!