Outsidepride Cactus Seed Mix - 1000 Seeds

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This year, my parodia (I've had it about six years- it was my first cactus ever), flowered for the first time, then grew a couple seed pods that have yet to ripen. In anticipation of trying to sow its seeds, and being afraid of messing them up, I decided to try to grow some other seeds first. Though I keep a ton of cacti and succulents around, I've only really ever done garden plants from seeds (tomatoes, peppers, basil etc.), so I had a lot of anxiety about wasting what might be my cactus' only shot at propagating its genetic material.A thousand seeds sounded like a lot, but everywhere I read said to only expect a 20-30% germination rate, and I was sort of thinking, "eh... Amazon cactus seeds... If I get a *few* out of a thousand that's cool..." I guess I must have bought these at the exact moment when they'd be the most viable, because I had about an 85% germination rate. Which is great. Sort of.... I mean, if I ever think "Y'know what I really need? 850 cacti" again, then I will definitely be coming back for another packet.Here's what I did (sorry I don't have humidity stats or exact temps, but humidity was probably like 100% and the temp probably fluctuated from the low 80s during the on-time to the low 70s during the off-time).Sowed on 7/27/13 in Upstate NY, insideHydrofarm heating mat in approx. 12hr on/12 hr off cyclesMedium light in a North facing windowCoir peat, perlite and pumice, coarse sand, finished with a dash of compost for later, moistened, then nuked on high for about 2 min/quart to pasteurize before sowing (then left to cool forever!)I used sterilized plastic pots and assorted other containers (yogurt cups with holes poked in, take away boxes, those plastic cylinders olives from the deli come in) that I then put in individual ziploc bags.I watered the containers from the bottom with distilled water (or with furious spritzing, for the containers that I didn't poke holes in) before sowing, then just misted the surface to stick the seeds in place after I sowed them.The first one or two seeds germinated within 24 hours, approx. 30% of the total that came up were up in 6 days, by 2 weeks about 80% of the sprouting was done, and now (8/30/13) I am still getting one or two stragglers popping up here and there. I'm new at this, and I have had 7 seedlings die in the last two weeks - three "damped off" and the other four shriveled up like raisins. I'm sure I will lose more, because they are all smushed together now too, but that is my fault for not trusting that they'd come up, really, and sowing too close together. I had a little success transplanting them, but there are three in particular that I moved that look a little sad now....Oooh I almost forgot. Since this was sort of an experiment, I tried slightly altering what I was doing in about half of the containers. Generally, they didn't seem to care much one way or the other, but I noticed they were REALLY unhappy with having a dusting of fine sand on top of them (it was MAYBE one millimeter thick in places), which seemed counter intuitive to me, but hey... These trays generally had under half of the seeds come up, and one had no seeds come up (I scraped as much of the sand off as I could with the butt of a pair of steel tweezers, and that seemed to help them a little, though they still aren't as good as the totally not-dusted ones- lurking around 60% after the scraping, and definitely not as vigorous looking). It looks like the sand kind of becomes a hard sheet and the seedlings can't get through it.Anyway, hope that is helpful,Best,AToad

Requested succulents received a package that said flowers either way nothing has sprouted and it’s been a few weeks don’t waste your money

I am a vetted cactus grower, and have had lots of success growing cacti from seed. I am currently waiting on some seeds to arrive from overseas, which can take up to six weeks, so in the meantime, impatient to watch something grow, I decided it might be fun to try this variety pack, as it shipped fast. Upon inspecting the seeds, they are definitely cactus seeds. I separated out the larger seeds, which appear to be some opuntoid variety. I intended to separate them all, but found the task overly daunting after separating out the 82 opuntoid seeds...😂 I opted instead to sow the small seeds in one container and the opuntoids in another. My guess is that the folks that did not have success were beginners, so to help out any future folks who may want to give growing cacti from seeds a try, I thought I would share the method I use for seed sowing:1) Mix a batch of gritty soil mix: 2 parts cacti/succulent soil, 3 parts bonsai soil, 1 part sand.2) Microwave the substrate/container for 6 minutes to sterilize3) Spritz with an antifungal while the soil is cooling.4) Sow seeds when soil is cool. Seal the container, and do not open for 3 months. (I use clear food-safe deli containers)I also used a seed mat in the cooler weather, and I use a full-spectrum LED light bar about 6-8" from the container.Hope this helps others have more success in future. I am excited to see what varieties pop up, and will update with progress!UPDATE:9/1/20 - sowed seeds9/4/20 - seeds began to germinate9/7/20 - week 1, more babies popping up9/13/20 - week 2, so many babies! Lots of diversity between the seedlings...excited to see what they become!***PHOTO UPDATE 3/9/21 - Cactus seedlings are healthy, and showing lots of diversity in terms of color, shape and spine structure. I am excited for them to get a bit bigger so I can identify the individual species.***PHOTO UPDATE 8/30/21 - It was time to pot them up in their own individual pots. I took a few shots to show the different varieties...4/22 - Photo update: the cacti are growing into really nice specimens...looks like a variety of ferocacti, golden barrel, opuntoids, and other species...overall a nice mix of plants. I am really enjoying watching them grow!Overall, a fun and rewarding experiment. Give it a try!

The negative reviews are in my opinion unwarranted. I say that from years of experience growing cacti from seed. It's not the same as throwing down some Marigold seeds and watching them grow. I advise anyone trying cacti from seed to watch a bunch of youtube videos before even trying. I have a very overcrowded container in which I had sown the entire packet of 1000 seeds (can't recall if there were any Opuntia seeds, however if there were I would have separated them out and sown them separately) back on Sept. 1. I will be in the coming weeks starting the painstaking process of separating them out. I'm guessing there might be a couple of hundred seedlings. Many would have no doubt been suffocated to death by their neighbors. If you are new to cacti from seed this is an excellent, value-priced way to get into the hobby. But, again, learn the ropes before starting. My one slight criticism is that there are only maybe half a dozen varieties in the packet. However it's a good way to practice your skills working your way up to the more difficult species.

Germinated quickly but I received all ferro cactus.