Cactus Seed Growing System Kit Instructions

Step One: Remove plastic wrap from seed starting supplies; 10oz cup, peat pot, seed package and plastic baggie containing growing medium.

Step Two: Pour growing medium into peat pot at bottom of 10oz cup, and set plastic baggie aside.

Step Three: Pour 1/8 cup of distilled or filtered water into 10oz cup, soaking the growing medium and peat pot. Water may take several minutes to soak in.

Step Four: Open seed package and sprinkle seeds on top of wet growing medium.

Step Five: Keep seeds wet inside of plastic baggie, and then remove baggie after seeds begin to germinate.

Ambient daytime temperature for seeds to germinate will need to be over 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Germination times will vary between 1 to 4 weeks, and some cactus seeds may germinate as late as 2 years after having been planted.

After seeds begin to germinate remove plastic baggie keeping seedlings uncovered. Water seedlings alternating between wet and dry growing medium until seedlings are large enough to transplant into their own small flower pots.

Echinocereus triglochidiatus

Adult Plant Growing Information

Five-Spine Rating - 3^?

This variety will grow quite large over time and with care it is possible for the plant to out grow the limitations of most interior living spaces.

Yes - tolerates low light levels. This variety will do well as a houseplant in locations with short periods of direct sun and some indirect or filtered light.

Yes - does well with cool winter time temperatures. This variety will tolerate temperatures down below 50 °F. if the roots are kept dry, and will do very well in a home with energy saving thermostat setting.

Yes - easy care root system. This variety stores water in the parts of the plant which are above the soil leaving the root system small enough to fit into a proportionally sized flower pot.

This variety is unlikely to flower as a house plant and they should be chosen with flowering as a low priority.

good locations

Potential living space locations include; East, West or South windows and three to four season rooms are good, but it will grow better outdoors. Please provide winter conditions below freezing for this plant, otherwise it will never bloom. This is a very cold climate cactus and will survive winters down to -30 °F. This variety is going to grow better and bloom if it is planted in an outdoor rock garden between zones 7 to 2, and it is better to grow this plant outdoors than on a windowsill.

This is the Echinocereus species with the broadest habitat covering most of the Rocky Mountain region where they can be found from Southwestern Canada to Northern Mexico at moderate to very high altitudes. The plants produce offsets and grow into large colonies, which often rise into impressive mounds. Mounds can get over 3 feet wide and are usually less than a foot high, but the number of stems produced by a single plant can be several hundred. Usually, they grow in sparsely wooded areas along with grass, and their brilliant flowers are true humming bird attractors.

Their flower colors are in the reds with only slight variations of bright red ranging from either slightly orange to deep crimson. An older plant with a mound of stems can produce multiple brilliant red flowers at once making in impressive display.

Spine colors are usually shades of grey and their overall visual texture varies making each plant a unique individual. Some variations of this plant are nearly spineless and the spines they grow are shed before the end of summer, and some plants don't make any spines. These plants survive in harsh climates where water availability is often sparse. They are able to grow in rocky soils where day and night time temperatures widely vary. Their cold tolerance abilities vary because the climates of their locations differ through out widely spread habitats.

size

In general the farther north this species grows the more cold hardy it is. Some high altitude versions of this cactus have very small stems, and versions in warmer lower altitudes can have wider longer stems sometimes up to a foot long and 6 inches wide. This is a species that has adapted to a vast region with a multitude of habitat conditions and the appearance of this species is also variable.

ancestry

Western United States and Mexico in the Rocky Mountain Regions

seed propagation origin

Plants and seeds are grown and propagated by windowsillcactus.com.

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