Part Three: It’s Alive!

Okay, now you’ve received the seeds you ordered, cleaned your pots and soil, planted the seeds, watered them, put them in a plastic bag and checked them every hour for a week until finally you see something. A small green thing has appeared at the surface, then another, and another. Germination! For the next week or so more and more come up, or sometimes you only get a few. Perhaps you won’t get any, which happens sometimes.

At this point you may realize that you’ve made the most common error when planting seed: too many seedlings. You should have used fewer seeds or a bigger pot. If you had known how well the seeds would germinate you could have provided the right size pot. But, when you only have 25 seeds to start with, running a germination test would be a waste.

After about a week or two from germination, you should be able to recognize distinct bodies and/or the seed leaves of your new plants. If, like me, you did not cover your seeds you will also see a lot of fine roots. Now is a good time to sprinkle on some coarse sand, washing it down over the roots with a spray bottle. Your young plants will need this in order keep themselves upright. Your new plants can stay covered in their plastic bag for a few more weeks or they can be taken out. Do not expose them to full sun at this point, you can gradually work them up to full sun when they are a bit older.

You have now successfully started your own succulents from seed. Now you must finish them. The most critical time in the life of your new plants will probably be their first transplanting. Do not get impatient, transplanting can be up to a year away at this point. You will have much better success at transplanting when the plants are older and getting crowded in the pot. Concern yourself now with the health of your seedlings.

At this young age your succulents will require more moisture than when they are adults. However, they still will rot if kept too wet. Fertilizer should not be necessary until they are a month older or more. Adding fertilizer too soon can lead to excess weed growth.

Weeds? Yes, even your little pot you can have a problem with weeds. These are not the dandelions of your lawn or the grass, mustards, oxalis and spurges of your mature potted plants. Now that you have taken your seedling pot from the plastic bag you have allowed algae and moss to blow in with the breeze. If they grow too fast they can cause problems for your little succulents. The solution is in prevention, don’t keep the top of the soil overly wet – you can still water your plants from the bottom by sitting the pot in a tray of water. In general I have had few problems with moss and algae, as they prefer cooler temperatures and by the time they get established, I have cut down on the watering of the seedlings.

Your succulents will grow slowly now, except, of course, the ones that don’t. What I mean to say is that the Cactus, Lithops, Conophytum, and some other popular ones will grow slowly. Some, like Pelargonium, Ipomoea, Othonna and many other caudiciforms can grow quite rapidly. These speedy ones will need to be treated more like bedding plants and transplanted to larger containers quickly.

One of the keys to seedling success is attentiveness. Look at your plants frequently and take care of the problems as they arise instead of being surprised by them when it’s too late.

Next Month Part Four: Getting Ready to be a Grandparent.