I killed my cactus seedlings
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- When good intentions go horribly wrong...
Even more of my Copiapoa cactus seedlings continued to die after I made this video. It was actually quite sad to edit the video footage because a month had passed since I first discovered the seedlings dying off and dealing with the shock of the loss had already been settling with time. Refreshing my memory of which plants had died was like re-opening a healing wound.
However, I have to say that losing plants is very much a part of this hobby, including losing our favorite plants. There is no avoiding it. When I posted updates about this event on Instagram I received many messages from other plant lovers sharing stories of losing their favorite plants as well. We're all in this together. I'm paraphrasing but Al at Botanic Wonders presented at one of our monthly CACSS meetings and he said that if you're afraid of losing plants then this is probably not the hobby for you - loss is inevitable. I don't deal with loss well, so it's a difficult pill to swallow especially when I was the cause of the loss. Luckily, I have still have younger seedlings to try to raise so I must continue on despite the setbacks (otherwise, I might be discouraged enough to give up).
Have you experienced losing your plants before? Have you lost a favorite or perhaps a plant that had been in your collection or a predecessor's collection for a long time? Or perhaps you grew plants from seed that eventually perished after years of successful growing?
Connect with me on Instagram: / cookiescacti
Ouch ! Hopefully the majority will be ok and settle in. Copiapoa are basically winter growers, Autumn through Spring then go dormant or slow down in summer when its hot. It is actually safer to water them minimally near to winter if the temperature doesnt drop below 8 -10c, than when its hot in summer, however I rarely water mine really deeply at any time, i'm most likely to do that maybe mid Autumn as the weather cools a bit, as they are often dehydrated, if watered when turgid they can take advantage too much and split quite easily, though this isnt fatal at all. So long as they have a good mineral rich grit mix they will keep growing with minimal water. Misting them helps a lot, they get a lot of fog but not much water to the roots in nature.
Thank you for sharing! Is this care the same for mature plants vs seedlings?
@@cookiescacti Yes pretty much.
Ugh, this is heartbreaking to watch. My copiapoa make me so nervous. I love them more than anything else, and want to give them the best. I’ve been watering all small seedlings once a week, and the bigger ones every 2 weeks or longer. Greenhouse temps usually hit 100-110 in the afternoon. So far I’ve only killed one, but I’m pretty sure it was from deep watering too soon. Thank you for sharing your experiences, it’s been an inspiration and a big help. I’m certain you’ll have a lot of strong survivors when you get past this difficult phase.
Oh man... It's going to be a looooooong summer. The seedlings are still dying. I wonder if any will see October... We'll see.
I really feel your lost, it is devastating when this kind of things happens. But as you say before, growing cacti is killing cacti, is part of the process, we have to embrace it. Big loses come after big victories, this is such a huge lost because you had had such incredible results growing them.
I am trying to be positive and this comments are just open questions when dealing with problems in our cultivation method:
0. Check your growing conditions, is there any problem with the soil, exposition to heat and sun, humidity, etc.? Also, there are plants that just do not want to grow in our conditions, here in Spain I have such heat in the summer (all months from june to september) reaching 108F that most southamerican cacti do not survive, they either die from heat or from red mytes. Growing them from seed improves the chances but still are sub-optimal conditions.
1. If you have doubts or do not know how to do next, it is better to do not anything with this plants. If you do not know when to water, just give them a mist (it helps to cool them down too) and wait until they show clear symptoms of drought.
2. Most of our problems come from trying to accelarate the natural proccess of growth in really slow growing plants. They look plump and amazing but when growing to rapid the tend to be weaker. I belive that growing them harshly, allowing them to become really stressed, without to much feedings or hummus in the soil, push them to be stronger an more resilient to puntual errors with the watering.
3. When growing cacti follow the 3 P's: patience, practice and perseverance. You are gaining practice, do not lose your patience and continue to be perseverant, you still have amazing results. Everybody have far more failures than successes, try to change some variable at a time to observe if you are getting better.
Awesome comment! If I could write that well I would try to say what this guy said. Thank you.
good stuff! for red mutes i sugggest a fan, they hate air circulation and won’t be as likely to settle where there is flow 🤙
I really appreciate your words of encouragement and words to remember when triaging what went wrong. The last 2 P's are being tested for sure. Let's see what happens. Future unknown (like always).
What part of Spain are you at? I didn't realize it would be so hot!
@@cookiescacti I am in Madrid just in the middle of Spain. It is really hoy specially in the south, we are so close to Africa that the Sahara sand reaches here with extream heatwaves.
So sorry! It’s part of the learn, I lost many copiapoa seedlings last summer!
Oh no!! Was a heat and/or watering issue too? I hate having to learn in such a hard way.
I can totally sympathize. I had an old cinerea die this week and when I saw it my heart dropped.
Is this Aaron of Mesa Garden? I wish I could pick your brain on the ups and downs in your experience of being a professional grower. How do you manage setbacks? Does that heart dropping feeling ever go away? Or is it always hard losing plants?
Oh man, these types of updates are the hardest. I’ve shed many tears over plants that I’ve lost. It is so heart breaking, especially for seedlings that you’ve carefully raised for years. RIP seedlings, gone too soon. May their tiny plant souls continue to flourish in the great garden in the sky🫡
Essa é boa! 😂🤣🤣
Heat of Phoenix many ca tus go dormant I would water these copipoa and lihops very lightly during a az summer
@@kes1171 it's still spring!
Dawwwwwwww.... The older the seedling, the harder the loss. But it's part of the journey.. 💚💚💚💚💚💚 I swear we've all lost a favorite plant and shed a tear or two or hundred.
@@cookiescacti spring in phx is like March I used to live there. But it should cool off at night until the monsoons come. I don't know I didn't grow copipoa in phx what do growers there say ?
Ugh, I’m sorry Jenny. Anyone who grows long enough experiences these kind of devastating losses so we all feel your pain. ❤❤
Your words are very comforting, I appreciate you taking the time to leave this comment. I've received many messages from other plant keepers who have lost massive amounts of plants and then be able to continue growing. My role models! That ability to try again.
Dang. I'm so sorry for your loss, that's really tragic. On the other hand, though, I feel like you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. After all, you're growing these in extra hard mode, what with Arizona conditions and the birds and all. You're still doing really really good imo. It's a hard blow for sure, especially bc it's your favourites and the oldest, but silver lining you still have the other seedlings, and now you've learned a lil more that you can apply to them. Virtual hugs for you, and all the best. Things happen, but you're a trooper who can handle tough stuff ❤
Your words are so incredibly comforting, Kimmy. Thank you. Just the words alone gives a lot of encouragement 💚💚💚🙏🙏🙏
Probably too much heat and water. They probably go dormant with the high Temps unlike North America cactus that have evolved with it.
👍👍👍
I'm having a binge of your videos after a chaotic 2 weeks. Im sorry to see that you lost some seedlings. It's always so disappointing :(
I truly have empathy for you and your situation. I live in IL and have recently been losing cactus, they have been turning yellow and rotting. I thought I knew what I was doing and now am starting to question my methods. I have a greenhouse but I put most outside for the summer. It's been hot and sunny so I have been watering but probably too much. Good luck, I can hear the frustration in your voice, hang in there!
So sorry my friend. I think everyone loses a lot of plants at some point, you just got to keep at it, and newer give up :) I have lost so many plants last year to root mealybugs, atleast plants worth 3k euro. So i cleared the house from plants for one year, and are now growing a new collection from seeds. And this time baking off all media, only using inorganic, and newer getting a plant from the outside again. only seeds ^^
Oh geez that's so hard... Did you find that giving yourself that one year reset helped mentally? It's really hard to stay positive after massive loss. My seedlings have continued dying after posting this video, including more of my oldest handful of seedlings. It's hard to feel motivated to keep growing this genus.
@@cookiescacti It was depressing to be honest, for a long time. I now do regret not trying more things, but i gave up, which i regret this day. But i learned to be paranoid and not take any risks, we will see if it also ends in big catastrophy at some point again :p But now i can live my old dream, and try to make a full collection out of seeds only, which would be pretty cool ^^ i can only see that the heat made your plants go dorment, but at the rate your copiapoa are dying i still find it a bit strange. Focus on the genus that do well for you, and dont let one mistake, take away the pleasure of having so many amazing plants as you do. Best regards my friend 😘
So sorry to hear that. But don’t beat yourself up. Seedlings are very vulnerable. In nature, the vast majority of them die before reaching adulthood. We’re talking about a fraction of a percent that make it.
That’s why here in Europe a lot of growers graft sensitive species.
That's so true. It's an absolute miracle that any of these plants can grow and reach maturity in nature at all. And I guess for humans the equivalent is just trying and learning and trying and failing and trying and learning and on and on and on...
I am so sorry. You put so much work into them.
🙏🙏🙏 let's see how this summer goes...
It's sad to see those loses. But if you want to be a plant grower, you need to accept that you can loose everything in a moment, with a mistake or by an accident. And every loose makes you reconsider your methods and then you grow.
There is one thing - I just wonder if all of the dead plants are those that have been panic repoted, or they die randomly regardless of being repoted?
Wise words to keep in mind. The attachment to the firsts is a source of huge anxiety, but now I'm being forced to cut those attachments, not necessarily a bad thing. It was the panic repotted plants that died in this video.
@@cookiescactiIt seems that you don't need to ask the reason anymore, as you've already found the answer.
If there is one thing that I can recommend you in case of over watering in the future, is to never repot your plants. There are drainage holes at the bottom of the pots, so the only thing that you need to do is to put the pots on a pile of fine dry sand and wait for several hours. Sand will act as a sorbent, like a sponge and will take all the excessive water that has flooded macropores and take away all the perched water (which in many cases is the real reason of root rot). The substrate will still be quite moist, but there would be enough oxygen to let the roots breathe, so in most cases, they will be all right.
Grafting sickly seedlings has a low success rate in my experience. It’s best to graft them when they’re healthy and actively growing. It’s worth giving it a try when your seedling is on its way out anyways, but don’t get your hopes up.
If you’re gonna do it, make sure to remove all of the diseased tissue. You can graft just a small piece of it. It will regrow a new plant from an areole. Use some pantyhose or a breathable grafting tape to apply pressure. Plastic wrap can trap too much moisture and rot your scion and root stock.
Have you been able to successfully graft a Copiapoa areole? I always thought you had to overlap the center ring (I don't know the technical name) of the scion with the graft stock. That would be so cool if an areole is sufficient.
I'm thinking about doing a grafting project with my younger still healthy seedlings. Might as well since now I know I struggle to keep them alive beyond 2+ years, especially if my goal is to breed and produce seeds rather than sell.
@@cookiescacti I’ve never grafted areoles of Copiapoa specifically, though I’ve grafted plenty of newborn seedlings with great success. Right now I have a Copiapoa sp. “goldii” growing on a dragon fruit seedling as rootstock. As far as grafting areoles, it is very possible. It’s important to remember that areoles aren’t just some fuzz and a few spines. They are a complex “organ” of the plant where a lot of activity happens.
Grafting a single areole is not as rudimentary as grafting a whole plant vascular ring to vascular ring, but it’s not particularly hard either. Some species may work better than others. I’ve seen plenty of Mammillaria tubercle grafts. Areoles do contain vascular tissue. Thats how they give “birth” to branches or flowers.
For areole grafts, you need actively growing and vigorous fast growing root stock like Pereskiopsis or young dragon fruit. They’ll have the lowest failure rates but also the fastest growth. Areole grafts can be exceedingly slow to start growing. It can take months. The faster they bond to the root stock, the better. Otherwise they will dry out.
You should also use young areoles with active meristematic tissue, ideally from the top. They should have higher success rates. Old tissue from the bottom of the plant, especially woody tissue will have very high failures rates.
While areole grafts are a very niche topic in an already niche area of a very niche hobby, areoles are used in tissue culture all the time. Entire plants are regrown from teeny tiny areoles.
Lophophora growers sometime use both ends of lophophora when grafting. The top as with a normal graft, but also the root part. It’s called a butt graft. They are pretty much a form of areole graft as the butt part may only contain a few active areoles. They are famously slow to get going, but they do work.
As far as grafting Copiapoa, I recommend grafting fresh seedlings to dragon fruit or Pereskiopsis. Then once they are big enough, moving them onto something like a Myrtillocactus or a Trichocereus. Grow them that way until they are large enough for your liking, then degraft them.
I’m sad for your losses… heartfelt video. We all lose some. My variety collection is outside in MA with a clear covered roof as it rains too much. I have higher humidity and it sustains them somewhat. Def enjoy the moments… it’s such an experiment by both species and geographical environment. Keep plugging! Thx for sharing little details as they help us all learn.
It's really amazing that all of us around the country and around the world may not share the same challenges but we each have our own challenges. May we all overcome the challenges and keep growing!
My heart breaks for you. The stress of watching the plants go one by one is horrid😢..on the plus side you have so many other nice lil plants, don't get to discouraged.
This was surely a tough experience, one of the toughest plant challenges emotionally that I have ever experienced. I have a feeling that heartbreak is part of the hobby and it seems to be the case reading messages from other much more experienced growers. Certainly discouraging but life is too short to focus on the setbacks, it means we have to grow even more!
So sorry to hear of your losses. It's all a learning experience.
heads up. ❤
💯💯💯 onward!
I do try to avoid all repotting in the summer. We usually wait until spring or fall. We have been potting up some Gemnocalycium we purchased by mail bare root, so far so good however it’s taken them a few weeks to adjust from Florida humidity to desert 107 8% humidity.
The crazy thing is that it's not summer yet... This die off happened when it was still considered "cool" here. I mean our overnight lows were still in the upper 60s-70s at the time I did the repotting. We haven't even reached our 90 degree nights yet!
Noooooooooooooo!!! I live in Iowa, and lost 90% of my succulents, cactus, and tropicals, in one night. Heater went out on a -30 degree F night, froze the entire lower level. Had only a few plants on shelves 6 feet off the ground survive. I was broken for a while, but my collection is going strong now, and i'm building my 1st greenhouse! Keep it up! Your set-up is gorgeous!
Omg I'm so sorry to read about your loss... That must have been absolutely devastating. I'm so glad you were able to recover and rebuild your collection - a very positive outcome from tragedy. I'm still in that broken phase, the seedlings have continued dying after posting this video. It's going to be a looooooong summer.
@@cookiescacti I can imagine! I wish there was a known way to save them! Maybe someday!
"What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.
Aristotle
"You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over"
Richard Branson
Keep it up, keep your head up. Keep learning. You’re learning and teaching us and entertaining us and you’re doing great. Very impressive. 🙂
RIP seedling cacti
Those quotes also embody this entire TH-cam channel! Total learn by doing (on everything we do in life!). Do, stumble, do again, fall, do again and again and again... I love your comment, it's so encouraging 💚💚💚🙏🙏🙏
I actually seen your channel on my Google News feed and now I'm here awesome
Woah! My channel showed up on your Google news feed? That's insane! I saw a significant bump in viewership for this video with analytics indicating the views are coming from an external site, especially Google. You just helped answer my question on what in the world is going on! Lol!
You know what Cookie? I've been growing cacti and succulents for 45 years, and I am sure I have killed maybe more than I have grown ( I lost a couple of big special Ariocarpus last summer to Fusarium. One was a 6 inch wide A. agavoides which I grew from seed. I did not let them make me more than momentarily mourn.) I don't let myself dwell on it - I just take any lessons I can from it, take it as experience, and concentrate on what I've still got and what I'm going to do next - I look on it as an opportunity to expand into something new and different.
Another thing - I know every place on the Earth has a different environment and different needs - but in non-porous pots (in fact, I stopped using porous pots some years ago), I never use a top-dressing, because it keep the soil wet for too long.
Learn what you can, and look forward to the next project! In cultivation - "The plants are there for us, we are not there for them."
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this message, Karsten. There's something so comforting reading the experience of an experienced grower. I can't even imagine losing a plant that old that you grew from seed.... But if I keep growing it will happen to me too. I love your attitude towards all this and I will take it to heart. Thank you.
@@cookiescacti ❤
I am guessing it could be the heat shock...im more echeveria grower. Echeveria gets heat shock and can get melted when the temperature goes too hot while the plant is weaken by overwater or underwater or just headchopped (propagated) or repotted...etc
A few weeks ago, I did the first repot of my astrophytum asteria I grew from seeds and I melted half... so i can overwrap that sensation when you started to find dead seedlings one after another as i found asteria babies started to melt... especially defferent looking ones, something get more hope kinds, melted.
Germination rate was 100%, growth rate until repot was about 98%, thrn survival rate of the 1st repot...i pull it down to 50%. Oh, man...
Don't be too discouraged and keep up your great work of growing cactus and sharing that experiences over youtube and instagram !!!
Oh gosh I feel like many growers go through some huge loss at some point but we don't get to hear about it. I'm so sorry you lost half of your Asterias! I'm also glad the other half made it. I've struggled a lot with asterias melting on me too. May we be able to pick ourselves back up and continue growing despite setbacks. I appreciate you sharing your story here and I appreciate your encouraging words to keep going! 💚🙏
RIP little cacti 😢
💚💚💚🙏🙏🙏
Oh no Jenny! This was so sad to watch :( I’m so sorry this happened to you! 💔
Youu have such a beautiful collection and I love watching your videos! ❤️ I hope you decide to sell your babes cause I want some :)
What are you using as top dressing? Are those marble chips? 👀
Awwwwww thank you so much! I'm afraid I won't have many seedlings left by the end of the season judging by the continued die-off. Sigh! The top dressing is decomposed granite, my favorite.
Such is life sometimes but from a misshap come experience, from experience comes wisdom, and from wisdom come mastery. Although the loss is painful it is something we all go through. Cheer up Charlie you will find the golden ticket!
Love your words of encouragement. And words of reality. It goes and it goes.
Oh no, sorry to see them go.
I'm new to cacti, and I've been watching a lot of TH-cam videos about them. I learned it's safe to repot them during the summer and not to water right after repotting if the roots were disturbed. The advice is to let them heal for a few days before watering. One nursery adds a spoonful of white vinegar to a bucket of water to lower the pH level when watering. I just repotted my new cacti. Hopefully, they will be okay.
Yes, those are all good general rule of thumb that I follow as well. I wait a good 1-2 weeks before watering after repotting, sometimes longer. I've heard multiple sources on lowering pH of water, makes sense to me. I used to do this with vinegar until I had too many plants to manage. I collect rain water and use it on seedlings. Seasonal activity highly depends on where you're located. Repotting in summer in Phoenix is very different than repotting in summer in San Francisco for example. Happy growing!
that's cool that you get to make seed from your own seed grown plants. tell Cookie I said hi!
Love that you're focused on the positive side 😊 Cookie is hanging out with me in the office right now. I'm saying hi for you and giving her a pat.
Don't they go dormant in high heat?the same like with low temperatures. It's probably different for you in the desert.
Yes, when overnight lows go above 80-85F. But it hadn't even come close to those temperatures at the time that I did the repotting. However, perhaps Copiapoa go dormant at lower temps than other genus.
When it said 5 days later and that sad music hit. Broke my heart. Have you considered air flow?
That music got me when I was watching back while editing too. I have a giant fan in there near the end of the video...
I’m so sorry for you! But you know, this too shall pass ❤
💯💯💯 the wisest words 💚
I’m sorry you lost some beloved plants. I don’t know the backstory, but we live and learn. At least we try our best. ❤
So when I water my babies I do it at night. Although you just repotted them so they were sensitive and probably cooked the sensitive roots with the heat. Is what I’m thinking happened. Also take all the ones you tampered with pull all of them out and get them dry now then leave them in shade. That’s what I would do. Good luck 🍀
I also water at night in the summer after seeing cactus quest's video with Woody. The pots are already thoroughly dry. No more watering in the foreseeable future! I can't pull them out of the pot, that's what caused them to die in the first place - I pulled them out of wet soil and let them dry out. This caused shock which killed many of them.
this is so sad - perhaps copiapoa undergo a heat dormancy during the hottest months?
It is very sad 😢. I've heard cactus go dormant when night time lows go above 80-85F. But we had not reached those temperatures yet (it's still spring here). I'm suspecting Copiapoa may go dormant at lower temperatures.
I know how you feel, I just noticed one of my favorites, Ferocactus glaucescens has something funky going on. I’m freaking out a bit.
I hope your Ferocactus is doing okay! I don't think we'll ever get used to that sinking feeling in the stomach when we notice something is wrong
Looks to me you killed them with too much love. RIP little seedlings.
💯💯💯
I left my Asclepias seedling tray out overnight before a hard rain this spring. I feel your pain, but keep going and save who you can. Learning is an important part of raising baby plants, unfortunately
Oh no!!! I've heard so many stories of hard plant losses from other plant growers and hobbyist. It's hard not to feel discouraged. I'm getting tired of seeing who else has died over the past month, it's becoming a daily event now.
@@cookiescacti Ive heard transplanting at night and on overcast days can help with transplant shock. I wonder if in the future you can move the larger ones inside by a sunny window or under a grow light, or even under an extra shaded station in the shade house, for an “intensive care” type spot to give them a few weeks to grow into new pots if you emergency transplant during the summer heat? I’m going to try transplanting some spring seedlings on “cool” nights in Central TX this year. Both into new pots and the garden, which I know will have a longer shock period. Fingers crossed it works out in the shaded garden spots
A few thoughts I have…
I am into cacti approx the sam etime as you. I live in a very different climate than you. Maybe comparable to nebraska kansas iowa etc, and i mainly grow mexican plants and usa plants from sonoran and chichuachua deserts.
The atacama is a relatively cold desert. A reason I dont have copiapoa in my grenhouse which i keep between 96-111F. I use soil wich is 10-20% organic, rest is mainly granite, perlite and terracotta pieces.
I whater generally alls 4-7 days in the season. But I have one main difference and that is something i recommend to anyone at least for there valuable plants. non glased teracotta pots with a rather corse substrate. Thes pots completely dry in 1-2 days. Overwatering is very difficult. These nursary pots cont dry that fast. Your substrat als has at least for my taste to many fine particles.
2ndly I only repot in winter when possible, in bone dry substrate.
3rd id install ceiling fans from a restore or so to keep air mooving.
4th if i need to repot a plant in full summer i take it then indoors.
At the end of the day it is part of this hobby that plants die and change, thats the difference between collecting something alive or light bulbs…
never water that frequently in plastic or glacéd ceramic pots!
Thanks for sharing your care instructions for more of a Midwestern climate.
It's less than 10% humidity here right now. And it's not even summer yet!
Terracotta would be nice if it was more space efficient and had the pot depth I need. I can't fit 500 terracotta pots in my grow space.
so sorry for your loss, Jenny 😢😢😢😢😢
It's okay Smokiesmom. Onward we go!
-> repotting too soon after accident
-> watering once a week for big plants is not good idea
lessons learned ?
-> Less is more. (example: mesa garden has some plants for years in one pot and they look great)
-> Dont do panic mode.
-> Chill. ;)
Keep up with good work. Thanks for this vid. 👍
Excellent summary! Hoping we can all take away something from my mishaps 🙏
I'm wondering if you could take out every other pot? And leave some air to dry out the other containers. It's really dry in Phoenix right now, and I believe that it's the heat that is causing the problem. Possibly the heat with the water in that type of dirt. But right now, if you have them growing in the ground, they can take a lot of water Because it's so dry out.
I grow up in new River, and I grow in the ground, so I'm not the best to give advice. But I know that they like more water than people think. Especially around here where it's dry and really sunny. I think that providing shade, and allowing them some extra water, but allowing them to dry out afterwards within a half a day is good.
Sorry about your loss.
I'm interested to find out if there's a way to remedy it or if it's just they don't like the heat.
Oh wow, do you grow Copiapoa in the ground here? I have a big challenge on space and shade is a huge premium both under the grow area and in the landscape. That would be interesting to try planting some Copiapoa seedlings in the ground though. I probably need to wait until October to try with whatever seedlings are left by them. It's going to be a long summer...
I learned. Thank you.
🙏🙏🙏
Es lamentable 😢
Que se pierdan tan bonitas plantas ,parece que un riesgo profundo y luego un trasplante con tanto calor estresa mucho y mata a la planta
Very unfortunate... Who knew spring was already too hot for these guys. Talk about learning the hard way ..
Just curious, did you water them during midday when the ambient temperature was in the 90s? I was told to water only early in the morning or late in the evening.
I water at night in the warm season.
Usually i don't put them under direct sun after repotting at least a week and slowly introduce sun after. Hope this helps
I don't either. None of my potted plants are under full sun, that would be a guaranteed death sentence here. All my potted plants are under 70% shade cloth.
That’s devastating! I felt so bad when I saw this on my feed. Comments are saying Copiopoa go dormant in summer so it’s better to water less often. Personally I don’t water any cactus once a week only if they are tiny seedlings. After they start getting bigger, I water only when I see wrinkles. Yours look very fat to me lol. I prefer to wait to see wrinkles or see them get a bit skinny, not on a scheduled basis.
They're still dying, sigh. It's hard to stay motivated with something like this. The hobby is supposed to be fun! Unless anxiety is considered fun...
@@cookiescacti I’m sorry to hear that. When something like that happens to me, I try to take a step back and just let it be. Nothing you can do now. Focus on the plants that are doing good.
Hmm.... I've never grown Copiapoa - just due to space/time really. But just a thought - when they get to those sizes, should they get dry enough to shrivel a bit before you water them? In view of the fact that they come from (as far as I know) the Atacama Desert, the driest desert on Earth?
Most likely. This is the first time I've ever gotten Copiapoa seedlings to this size, so there's a lot of trial and error going on. I continue treating them like babies not realizing they're already large enough to take care of themselves for a while.
@@cookiescacti One thing I've consistently found with plant growing of any sort - when something was new to me, I always went WAY overboard with extremes of care. And then after a while, for almost everything, I realised they needed much less mollycoddling 🤷.
@@karstent8138 ha! This hits very close to home. I'm 3 years into growing cactus from seed so everything is still new, so many mistakes made. The oldest seedlings unfortunately are at the mercy of a beginner grower.
@@cookiescacti Well here's something you might like to try - after 35 years which included a reasonable amount of seed-sowing, I reasoned on it, thinking of the seeds growing in habitat. I ditched bags and any covering, used 100% mineral substrate, and let the pots stand in water until most had germinated. I sowed them in spring and summer and put them in pretty sunny spots, no extra heating of any sort. And covered the seeds with a thin layer of grit that was just large enough to stop algae growing, and small enough to allow the seedlings to grow through. That was the only fiddly bit - I had to dry and seive sharp sand to get the right size grit for this.
But - no damping off from high humidity (would it ever be that high where they grow in the desert??), and no hazardous and annoying "hardening off".
I kept the light levels just so the seedlings were between green and purple/brown.
By the way, I'm near London, England UK.
Sorry.
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Oh no ...😮😮😮
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this is hard to watch! so sorry!
It was hard for me to edit the footage! Oh well, we can only move forward.
I went through this with my Huernia, ha 32, by the time I realized I had a problem and it was mealy bugs I had 4.
Oh geez! I'm so sorry for your loss! Those remaining 4 are absolutely incredible. May we be able to overcome the setbacks and keep growing!
On the plus side: you have more space for new cacti!
😂😂😂 there's always a silver lining
@cookiescacti and every silver lining has a cloud ☁️ and on it goes.
Watering once a week is totally wrong. It greatly increases chance of rot for those that are not yet fully dry by the time of next watering. Not every plant dries the same, it depends on so many factors. Every two weeks should be the go to approach. It's the safest way. I much rather have my plants grow a little slower if any, than losing them by rot. They are much more resilient this way, both to rot and pests as they have a harder epidermis which in turn makes it harder for pests to penetrate. I have a huge collection, and the problems subsided once I reduced watering to every other week.
Totally depends on climate
Watering once a week is not totally wrong. Many factors depend on watering. Climate, size or type of pot, indoor or outdoor, type of soil.
@123thehandymancan mine are outdoors, full sun almost desert climate. Once a week is sometimes too much for some of them. Gritty soil and unglazed pots. As a general rule two weeks works the best for me. One week works fine, until some go dormant in high heat of summer and rots on you. Less is more with cacti. Most important is to soak whenever you water.
Agree with the other commenters here. It completely depends on climate, type of plant, soil medium, pot type, etc. I had no issues last summer watering certain plants once a week. But past doesn't necessarily determine future. I agree that less is more for cactus and succulents.
@@melp9884is “almost desert climate” similar to 100+ degrees daily for 3-4 months and 85+ degrees at night? When they are super dry and potted, the roots drying out all the time is not good either. It’s a crazy balance.
This is so sad 🥲
😭😭😭 oh well.... Maybe we can all learn something from the experience at the very least. Nothing we can do except that I stop watering the plants lol
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Aww man! 😭
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Jenny, why do you grow so many cacti? Just for your pleasure, sell to retail nurseries, or online sales?
I grow for fun! There was a bit of foreshadowing in a video I posted either at the end of winter or beginning of spring saying my goal is to make seed with my plants. So I need many of these plants to handle potential yield losses. Little did I know that yield loss would happen so soon...
i bet ya its the panick repot that killed em. also some of them look sunburnt?
Yes that's what I think too. No sunburn, they're all under 70% shade cloth.
@@cookiescacti oh! I have mine in 90% clear poly sheet tunnel but im in canada. Not as hot
Did you water after you repotted?
I did not. The first started dying within days of repotting. Not even enough time to water yet.
That 3 year old u showed first could be saved I believe.
Not salvageable, trust me. Even the ones that looked salvageable I tried grafting and they ended up killing the graft stock. It happened more than once.
It’s sad for sure, but how do you know they are dead
Unquestionable rot unfortunately.
Well snails eat most of my seedlings and after a hard winter this hobby of mine is kinda rough and not the relaxing thing is was last year
Oh no, Anders!!! It's interesting reading your comment because I'm starting to feel the same. This hobby is starting to create more anxiety and stress than fun and relaxation a few years in. I'm hoping for both of us that this phase can pass and enter into that relaxing fun part again.
Omg Im sorry
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When night time temps stay above 77 (I think), you should never water. The cactus don't open their stomata at night to take in the water, so they rot. Sorry.
True for many cactus when i.lived in Phoenix I had best luck with desert species like ariocarpus and on the coast they are too cold and coppiapoas are fine
But it wasn't that hot when I did the repotting. I think overnight lows were still in the 60s at that time. It's crazy to think that we haven't reached summer yet...
I'm assuming you're referring to the Copiapoa with regards to watering? Otherwise the other cactus like the Astros and Arios did fine with watering during our nastiest summer ever last year. I don't think they ever went dormant. The south American cactus may be a different story.
The North American cactus seem to love this climate. But we have master growers who keep plenty of Copiapoa alive here outdoors for years through many summers. But who knows what their die-off is like since we only get to see the ones that are still alive.
Go on Research Gate and type the botanical name of the cacti you want to see what tests they did or research on it and maybe you will find some tips.
For me it helped about Cupressus Macrocarpa about propagation media to use and what are the best ones to use.
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing this resource!
Maybe you don't need to water deeply for awhile
Yeah, I'm gonna hold off for a while. It's crazy that last year the dozen Copiapoa seedlings I put outside as an experiment had zero problems being treated like all the other genuses. Maybe it's all about the size and age of the seedling.
you grow them wrong and you try to fix the wrong, its a lot of wrongs haha
1stly, i had the same "mindset" about cactus and water relationship,
but when i bought cacti from a seller that he potted in 100% peatmoss and they grew just fine under vietnam weather.
if you grow cacti outside of the greenhouse and trying to achieve pinnacle form and color of themselves- you are not going to make it and will kill them eventually just like this video.
clearly you dont have issue with the ones in the greenhouse.
why? because you and i dont understand cacti fully to how they grow at all, we know so little.
cacti will react to climate- in the case of water, it is humidity- so constant changes is going to tire the plant, weak plant-> dying chance. so being in a greenhouse with constant humidity is ideal.
now you bring the cacti outside, you forgot aboout RH- relative humidity and you have winds, etc, this is when the cacti will adapt-> harsh grown style,
but then you lack knowledge, and wish it to look as good as grown in greenhouse so you water them-> this kills them, basically you shocked them.
this explain why people have success in growing 100% peat tropical of cacti originated from north America- also selection of breeding genetic and more.
i have some exp in astrophytum asteria cv kabuto/ miracle, it is recommend to import plant that is around 3cm and bigger, because they are strong enough to survive the shipping.
they can go on drought for 10 weeks and wont die, and more importantly when they reach the destination, they are still have the RELIABLE strength to be potted and acclimate- this is why poached cacti would die they cannot acclimate or it takes tremedous knowledge
inconclusion, so what you should do is DONT grow them optimal looking outside greenhouse at all, make them "thristy" a little bit is fine.
bonus point for you, some cacti act very differently growing and adapting despite being the same species or same parents, some will grow root in a way that retain water in the pot better than others, despite being watered at the same time, this is why you NEED to hold pot and test water retention! what this means is that, you can possible kill a cacti because that specific cactus develop a health strong clever rooting system that held on to water better, but you watered it not knowing that. too much water, kill it off anyway
happy growing
I don't have a greenhouse, so I'm not sure what you're referring to. Do you mean the ones growing inside my house? All the structures I have outside are covered with shade cloth so they are subject to Phoenix aridity. We grow with whatever resources and environments we can and sometimes find out the hard way what works and what doesn't. By the way, only Copiapoa are having trouble. All the other genus are fine.
That's a major bummer. Usually this comes from overwatering but you're using almost pure pumice here. Very odd. Maybe parasites? Ok there is something you did that caused this, find out exactly what. You should be contacting well known specimen cactus growers to get their opinions of this die-off. Taken from a copiapoa specific website "Despite their hardiness in their natural environment, in cultivation Copiapoas are often prone to a few problems that most Chilean cacti are prone to. Although the Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the hottest in the world, cacti from here are notoriously prone to damage from overexposure and overheating. " TOO HOT, maybe. You might want to try fans or such.
Probably the transplant shock due to hot weather. If this keeps happening it may mean I can't grow Copiapoa here. We'll see how many make it by the end of summer... Only the strongest will survive this climate.
Sorry for that. But, it is nature, not cruel not kind.
It's very discouraging. Oh well, cactus farming non-native plants is definitely challenging.
Copiapoa likes to be on drier side.
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