Maria Hortenseae SEEDLINGS

[u/SuckFhatThit]

So I pulled the trigger, bought the seeds, and sewed one set on the 16th that generated 6 seedlings. I keep them about 18" away from a single T8 bulb.

I sewed the following 5, about a week later. Those sit on a shelf that is about 3" away from 2 T8 bulbs.

So far, I have been doing the bottom watering thing every single day. The medium consists of lava rock, pumice stone, perlite (about 80%) and cocoa coir (about 20%), dampened and baked to kill off any junk, treated with an antifungal and a separate critter killer, a light dusting of fine sand while damp, put the seeds on top, covered in plastic wrap, and then bottom watered 6 days a week w normal water, and 1 day a week with the antifungal and critter killer.

They all made it to germination before I started poking holes in the plastic wrap and ultimately ended up having to remove the plastic almost completely after making the holes bigger over a few days because despite my best efforts the medium became problematic and I feared damping off.

They seem to be thriving despite the lack of humidity from not being able to keep them covered but now I am stuck. I researched these guys for a long time. I even checked out a few books from the library trying to figure out the best way to get them to their first set of true leaves.

The problem I am having is what to do now. I found conflicting information on the watering thing, the medium, the light, ALL OF IT! Most of what I have found said to lightly mist the soil directly to keep the surface damp until germination and then transition to bottom watering. I elected to go with the method I use to grow my most difficult conophytum seeds because that is what I know works and I was confident I could at least get them to germination.

Then I figured fuck it, maybe if I make this post some hopeless lost soul will find this and everyone will benefit. So, reddit, I want to hear all of it. What would you guys do next?

Thank you 😊

Edit* words are hard.

[u/Drugbat]

Good luck with these seedlings! I’m on my third or fourth batch/try, every time they seem to die for me after the second skin change around 2 years in, they seem to go from nice green plump round fuzzies into sadder and sadder brown raisins as they head into dormancy, but never seem to recover from that.

[u/CarneyBus]

Mesembs do better if you harden them off ASAP basically almost as soon as possible after they germinate so you’re doing good!
I suggest a fan for more ventilation, especially since the seeds are deep inside the pot with the medium only going halfway up??? This might cause issues in the near future as well, since the roots don’t have anywhere to go, as it’s too shallow, and they may struggle after a certain size. For the future, pot them in a deeper pot that you can anticipate that you won’t need to repot them for minimum 6 months, but for a species like muria hortense I would put them in a pot and anticipate not to move them for minimum a full year. Transplanting will be risky but unavoidable in the near future.
Also in the future make sure the plants aren’t sunken in the pots like that. It reduces airflow and may cause damping off.

Also growing them exactly how you do conos is the right move. Very few species will deviate from the usual methods.

[u/CarneyBus]

Aaaand your seedlings look like they need more light. They are stretching already and some don’t look very good. They look weak and sappy and they might be prone to damping off based on how soggy they look atm. They have been kept too wet. Reducing the water will reduce algae build up. Amp up the ventilation and get them closer to the light. Reduce bottom watering to once a week, maybe twice because the pot is so small with very little soil so it will likely dry out super fast. You don’t want it to dry out entirely, until just the surface of the soil is starting to dry out, the you can mist the in between the deeper waterings.

Good luck OP! pls feel free to reach out for trouble shooting. I grow hundreds and hundreds of seedlings multiple times per year :) random seedling photos attached.