Copiapoa #3

I sowed the seeds 2011-01-05 in a square 7 cm plastic polypropylene (PP) pot using the “baggie-method”. The baggie-method will be another story later on.

However, they germinated and grow well under artificial light and do so even now. I have been using 36 W compact fluorescent with the 865 color temperature, but I was told that rhey do not make them any more. Now I am growing them under LED-spotlight. Well, this is not just ordinary LED-lights; it's grow spotlights that I bougt from Grönt Ljus AB and it has only blue and red light in a 9/3 mix. The blue is in the 660 nm and the red 460 nm wavelength.

I haven't been using this light for a long time so I don't know if it works well, but time will tell...

Copiapoa #2

This is a grafted Copiapoa cinerea ssp. columna-alba and it's grafted on a Harrisia. Lets get back to the grafted part later on!

I was looking for seeds from Copiapoa cinerea all over the net, but the price was to high (including shipping and payment), so I bought plants from SuccSeed when he had some. But when the seed-list came up late in 2010 SuccSeed had the two species I was looking for. And what a coincidence; it was with the field number FK 39 and FK 41. I sowed them early in january 2011 and picked out som of the seedlings for grafting. The germination rate was so high that the space in the pot began to be very small and very fast.

However, I grafted some seedlings when they were a month old. To be more precise; I sowed the seeds 2011-01-05 and grafted some 2011-02-10. The one in the picture is about 4 cm in diameter and it's only 10 month old!

And I still have a pot full of seedlings...

Copiapoa #1

Let's talk a while about the genus Copiapo. There are approximately 32 species in the genus, with the subspecies included. They grow on one of the driest places in the world, and have relatively small and boring flowers. But somehow I like them very much. Some species are fairly simple to get to flower, while others take decades before they flower, if they ever do!

However, I collect them as best I can...

The picture shows a "seedling" that is several years old. I bought it from SuccSeed in April 2010 and it is about 3 cm in diameter. It is planted in a 6 cm pot.
According to the grower it has the field number FK 41, which says that the seeds come from Chile, 3km East of Pan de Azucar in the region Antofagasta and was collected by Fred Kattermann. And the seed came from a Copiapoa columna-alba, that latest knowledge says is Copiapoa cinerea ssp. columna-alba nowadays.

Christmas gifts

I got a couple of early Christmas gifts the other day. Now I finally got them in the pot after the quarantine.

This is a Copiapoa cinerea ssp. columna-alba that have the size 6 X 6 cm, spines not included. It's a really slow growing plant and it will never flower at my present. Well, that's as far as I know.

Since I'm about to organize all my plants, in some form of records, may it give me clear picture of which species I actually have in my collection.

I will publish a list later on.

Autumn darkness

It's that time of year when most cacti in my collection are in their winter dormancy. Now there is time to review, organize and label them. I recently purchased a marking device that comes in handy for this purpose.