Algae Disaster in My San Pedro Cactus Seedlings, My System and Odds & Ends
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- dealing with algae in my san pedro cactus flats by transplanting all of them. I have things to try out to try to avoid this problem in the future, like sterilized water and soil, and better air circulation.
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In the greenhouse, I like to cover all my seedling flats with a layer of perlite. This not only keeps the soil from overheating but prevents it from crusting and forming growth/algae
interesting. I could see doing that after they emerge at least.I would say if anything that vermiculite encourages it to consolidate and grow as a sheet. thanks for the tip
Why grow so much? Unless you run a store. You know how big San Pedro can get... in 20 years? Lol. I microwave my soil and zip lock the cactus and forget. There is plenty of psychedelic mushrooms around here so I grew sick of them along time ago.
@@jhowardsupporter Becaue people buy them and I hope by sending thousands out that a lot of them will eventually end up in the ground somewhere. In a word, proliferation.
I use bonsai tree turface, it's heavier than perlite and wicks moisture away from the surface while looking nice too.
so are you using a layer of that and sprinkling seeds into it? How thick and what size? @@rsh4599
All of horticulture is experimental. Thats what makes it fascinating. Loving all your seedings. Rick in Lakeport.
Thanks for sharing your experiences Steven.
Pro mix w myco-rhysal soil works really well for keeping slime mold algae and trich in check you still may get a little algae but it doesnt get out of control
thanks. I think this turned out to be a bacteria or something that grows and binds all the top surface together. someone said similar to the one that grows on the desert soils in peyote country that holds the soil surface together from eroding. this year I figured out how to sterilize the soil, so I'm going with that. I will probably try to water in early with some kind of soil innoculants. we'll see how that goes.
Sand makes algae grow crazy, i still use it, but right after germination i will topdress with fine akadama or gravel, both keeps the algae down. Or if you want to be sure, use a thin layer of pure akadama on top of the media before sowing, then algae cant grow well without the light. And the cacti can shoot roots trough the akadama after germination. Or just change the sand to pumice or perlite, will also help a lot :) But i find some seedlings like copiapoa grow best in sand based media. (it looks like sandy media to me) ^^ Best regards
I don't use any sand, but it also grows well on the charcoal and vermiculite I use. I'm going to experiment with putting turface on the current flats that just germinated recently. as soon as I think I can get away with it. this problem turned out to be something else besides algae. I had algae too, but this is thicker and not pigmented. someone said it might be the same as the bacteria that holds the soil together in the desert by forming this top crust. I was able to sanitize the soil by heating this time around too, so hoping that just doesn't get started and less of all of it I hope. moss can be a big problem for me too.
@@TeamWachuma Yes keeping the surface dry, with fast drying materials will help a lot. I sterilize all my soil and keep pots inside in incubators, and still get algae, so i think it is something you just have to try and keep down :)
I always microwave my soil in a plastic bag 3 times for 30-45 seconds and only use distilled water on small seedlings. Ive had very little algae or mold issues. i also cover the soil in bonsai turface, it's good for moisture and it give the seedlings a substrate to grab to.
It is challenging to sanitize soil on my scale, but not impossible. I usually already sanitize the char and this year I will probably just use freshly made char. I used distilled water before, but eventually went to my spring water. Last year I only had this problem in one flat that I can recall and was using the spring water on everything, so I'm inclined to think that isn't the source. I may go to using coco fiber and charcoal as my base, which are both not that hard to sanitize in quantity first. Vermiculite and pearlite should be pretty clean. I would not doubt that the coco blocks I used last year contained something that caused this problem.
@@SkillCult If you dont want to use gallon ziploc bags int he freezer, Ive used large aluminum catering trays in the over at 250 for 3 hours to sanitize larger amounts of soil. If is very important to sanitize the soil for cactus seedlings if you leave them sealed for months. Ive only grown about 300 from seeds, so Im not an expert, but I have learned a lot along the way.
@@rsh4599 I use very large amounts. I cook charcoal in a 30 gallon stainless cooker, but I have a 60 gallon stainless drum I could use for coco and charcoal. I will probably sterilize that stuff and then add amendments in. I think using less organic matter in the top layer will help too. I used to use only vermiculite/char for the top 1/4 inch, but last year I used 1/3 coco. I'm not sure if the seedlings will push through that and another layer of aggregate. I sow everything in divets on a grid then cover with vermiculite. Maybe covering with an aggregate instead. I'll have to do some more experimenting this next season.
Taking the algae out when it’s just starting out every couple of days saves time in the future. The main problem I find is the don’t like. Ring transplanted so young. Seems like you have a good setup though. And I like your content I wish you would upload more.
I prefer to transplant older, but this is an emergency, so I figured it is better not to wait. Hopefully I keep up with watering and don't lose too many. I tried to pluck some bits of algae and mold out early on, but it removes some of the soil and I don't think I would have been able to keep up with so many flats. I am already neglecting my other main channel, so it is hard to make time to do this one. I"ll try to upload more though. I do have other videos I want to make.
I understand mate.
Also you can sterilise the soil, do you have a pressure cooker? You could do a large batch. Or smaller batches in the microwave. That should stop the algae iirc. Good luck. What’s your other channel?
@@RedWolfRedWolfRedWolf I would like to sterilize. until this year I steam sanitized all the top layer, but that is only 1/4 inch. to even sanitize that rest of it is way too much to pull off. those trays hold a lot. Other channel is @SkillCult
Love your show💯 you got this.
I really think a fine topdressing of an inorganic substrate (such as sifted lavarock, or fine charcoal) maybe 1/8 of an inch thick would ensure the toplayer exposed to light would dry much faster, i think this could be one potential solution. I could see you dusting on a fine layer after you cover the seeds with your normal, organic soil would be fine and wouldn't slow growth as a sifted, consistent inorganic substrate would move out of the way with little resistance to emerging seedlings.
After the seeds are in the divets, I cover with vermiculite. I have tried different things, and that is what I've settled on. the mix is in 1/3rds of verm. char and coco. this is the first year I've used the coco, so maybe that is part of the problem. I also useually sterilize, and I did not steriliize it all this year. Last year it was 5050 char/vermiculite. The char dries a little too fast, so I like having some water holding verm in there. The problem is really when they are still covered when they are too vulnerable to uncover. at the earliest stage, then can pretty much die if dried out even once. But I could probably keep them slightly drier. last year I killed some letting them get too dry even with the lids on, so I may have gone a little overboard on watering this year. A big problem is I have no consistency. Until I get a more consistent growing environment it is going to be hard to dial everything in.
@@TeamWachuma Oh good to know! Ive been sprouting a lot of tropical seeds as well as astrophytum using a 1/16in screened pumice, completely enclosed in a clear plastic shoebox case with water constantly being wicked from a bottom resevior of 1/4in screened pumice. Very consistent results for me in terms of moisture wicking, and for initial seed germination i think an inorganic substrate is fine as long as you use some kind of liquid feed, I really like Dyna-Gro Foliage pro 9-3-6. I think the largest problem with organics is that they break down and change properties over time, along with it being an inconsistent mixture from the start makes the whole substrate fairly inconsistent, I have since switched all of my tropical and succulent plants to pure, 100% pumice and the Dyna-Gro
Ive found bonsai turface works the best for this. It dries fast and has a visual indicator of moisture. It's more expensive but I recover all the turface after I transplant them by sifting the leftover dirt.
I’m look in your videos but do you sterilize your soil ? I seen some do and some don’t not sure what to do thanks in advance
Use less organics and maybe except you can’t water twice a day and the seedlings will be slower but hardier
thanks for the suggestions. This is the first time I've had a widespread problem with algae. The problem is more related to the early phases when the lids are on than watering in the greenhouse. The mix I use dries out pretty fast. I have killed seedlings not watering enough, so I'm a little on the side of excess rather than not. The top mix is only 1/3 rd coconut coir, the rest is charcoal and vermiculite. I have had algae on vermiculite too. I have been fertilizing fron the top, so that might be an issue. Algae definitely likes to be fertilized. I may need to provide more air circulation sooner. I also used to sterilize the top layer, but I did not do it in all cases this year. I would probably better to sterilize the whole soil, but I'm not sure how I could pull that off because there is so much of it.
Dude using the same knife to dig in bad soil and new soil transfers mold, algae and other stuff.
Have you tried using Physan 20?
Never heard of it. I'll check it out, thanks.
Kinda off topic, but have ever eaten the fruit of san pedro or related species?
yeah. I've had them and also trichocereus spachianus. they are very sweet, but pretty bland. No acid or much flavor. They are okay and could certainly be processed, but not exciting to a fruit person like me.
It's really good. I've wondered if enough seeds are active to eat.
Are you a chef?
No, but I do like to cook. sometimes good, sometimes not so good.