I just watched this. Almost a year ago I began growing from seed. Found Mesa Gardens, and have never looked back. I have many Copiapoa, in addition to anything else that caught my fancy, and wasn't smart enough to start with 100 seed packs of less expensive varieties (your story on how you came to do this is funny--and relatable). I'll do my best to get a couple through and in a year or two hopefully be able to share some success! Thank you for all your inspiration and sharing your failures (learnings, right?) Waiting patiently for your seed starter soil experiment videos! 💚🌵
This is so wonderful that you're also growing cactus from seed! I also started with the smaller packs. Then I just went insane scouring the MG shop (always at night) and trying the 100 seed packs. I don't even know what got into me.... I think it was during the height of the pandemic when everything was closed and people were really picking up the cactus hobby so all the cinerea seeds were super expensive and impossible to find. Now I get messages sometimes from folks having interest in these "cheap seed" seedlings because no one grows them so you can't find them on the market and therefore they're unique and hard-to-find. It's so weird!
What will you do with all your Copiapoa? Wow, you could sell them. They are rare and so well grown! Happy to see Cookie. Hope she will continue to be getting better.
Thank you so much for sending the good vibes over, Nancy. We can use all we can get. I have been able to move about half a tray to new homes, cleared some space but may not be enough still. Now I'm thinking of experiment by putting some outside in the shade house to see how they do in our summer.
Thank you so much! The key is to sow so many seeds that it looks successful even if the rate of success isn't that high. It is a very fun to watch them grow up though, that's 100% certain.
Hi Jenny and Cookie, u made me buy 100 more seeds while watching your video 😅, I stick mostly to turbis and mammillarias cuz I don't have lots of space and heat up here in Montréal. Following your advice, DONT WAIT, GROW!
Thank you, Nancy! It's a mix of successes and failures for sure - but the secret is to sow so many seeds that even a low success rate looks like overall success!
Hi Kevin - I don't have Copiapoa seeds of my own unfortunately. I have only a few mature common Copiapoa that are old enough to flower but I only have one of each, so no luck in pollinating. Just about all of my seeds were purchased through Mesa Garden. It is super fun to watch the babies grow!
Hi Jenny, I know you may not see this comment, but if you do.... would you please do a video on how to decide a few things.... #1 how many seedlings/ plants to keep from each seed package /varieties . #2 what made you pick them to keep. #3How to house the ones your keeping (single pots vs community pots) #4 pricing the ones you're letting go.... or different prices if you are doing special prices for the society.
These are great questions... Some of which I don't know the answers myself either. I've been keeping all the seedlings regardless of health or size. I haven't reached the point of being able to cull seedlings... My decisions on how many plants per pot is mostly due to space considerations with an unofficial optimization that runs in my head with no real rules - as many seedlings as I can fit in a pot while still allowing them some room to grow, then up-potting when they start to stab each other. Regarding prices, I've only sold a couple handfuls of seedings in the past on a whim. I tried two styles, fixed price and auction via Instagram posts. When it's a fixed price I just pick something that's a little cheaper than you can find on the market, but that's just me, there's no good reason to underprice plants except that I want to. I've also donated seedlings to the cactus society and given away seedlings to local folks on a whim. I hope that's somewhat helpful but most likely it's not 😂😂😂
@@cookiescacti it's helpful 💗 I should have said "in the future " videos , once you run out of space and no longer get to wait 🤣. I have mesa garden Ferocactus hybrid seedlings that will need their own 2 inch pots soon and they aren't even 6 months old yet, but some have spines almost an inch long already, I'm not looking forward to repotting those 🤣🤣
@@barbie_t ahhh gotcha! It's a future-Jenny question 😂 I will definitely keep this in mind when I truly run out of space and share with you all what I end up doing. So far I seem to keep magically finding more space LOL!
@@cookiescacti I will definitely get a pair before I attempt to repot them, thank you 😊. I joke about keeping 911 on speed dail the day I do , incase I bleed out 🤣 seriously I'm almost afraid to see how long the spines will be next year 😅
Hello Jenny, Exceptional collection of Copiapoa, they really thrive under your care. Do you have plans on sowing some of the smaller species (tenuissima, hypogaea)? I think they would complement your collection perfectly. Best regards, Nino
Thank you, Nino! For some reason, this is the one genus of cactus that doesn't mind my method of growing. I would love to try hypogea but it's been difficult to find seeds.
I like to use the passage of time to look forward to other stuff in my life too. Like..."Hey, by the time I finish paying off my car loan, my Copiapoa should be going through their growth spurt! That's gonna be a good month."
Do you use just regular led tubes, or do you got some special plant lights? If so how much lux do they habe and how long you keep them running? Nice collection you got there, happy for you that it went so well 👍
Thank you so much! I'm using LED grow lights. I don't know the specs on the lights but I have a link to the ones I use in the video description here: ruclips.net/video/joCWkDb-cYI/видео.html I leave the lights on for 13 hours a day - no solid reason why, I think I just set it to this at some point and then didn't touch it afterwards.
Excellent collection. Wonderful. Does grow light actually work without natural light? I have almost no natural light and I wonder if grow lights are 100 percent working. For adult plants and seed growing as well.
I think it depends on where you live and what kind of plants you're growing. I only have experience growing plants in Arizona. The majority of cactus do better growing outdoors here. Succulents like haworthia don't do well with our summer heat so I grow them indoors. If you live somewhere much cooler and wetter you may have to grow cactus indoors, but i would check with other growers in your region who will know much better. I've only been more cautious with my Copiapoa seedlings and keeping them indoors much longer than my other cactus because I heard they're sensitive to heat. But I'm experimenting by putting some of them outside now and they seem to do fine. So you see, lots of trial and error for me too
@@cookiescacti Thank you very much for your answer. I have some small copiapoa and some seedlings. Unfortunately i dont have the outside option and have access to grow lights only. I wonder if in your experience grow light can totally substitute natural light for copiapoa.
Thank you, Mark! The germ rate really isn't that high for the majority, like 10-25%. But when you sow 1000 seeds, 10-25% is still over a hundred plants!
@@markgibsons_SWpottery Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to focus on the plants lately - good thing they don't mind a bit of neglect. There were many flowers that I missed this season or just saw for a moment and never captured on camera. No fruits seen yet on that mamm - I hope the buggos did their thing.
Omg thank you for the correction. When I looked up his name on google there were multiple spellings on his first name I had no idea which one was right! Maybe I'll just stick to K Knize!
haha it seems like the more desirable copiapoa tend to self destruct easier as seed form. i hear the mesa cinerea (the few pure cinereas in their cat) tend to rot like the kk611 as well. theyre 20 bux a pop.. i wanna try growing but im not confident enough. i find tho once they get big enough they become very easy to grow. and ur kk611s are probs not gonna rot anymore as they are quite big.
That's the law - the ones we want to live the most die the most! Yeah, a pack of seeds is close to $20 now... it was $9 when I bought the pack a couple years ago and I thought I was nuts for spending that much money, I should have bought more at that time lol. I lost one more KK611, ughhh! I have one left now. Not holding my breath. Try growing some of the cheaper ones to start! The cheaper ones are pretty cool - I don't understand why they're not more popular but it's probably a good thing, otherwise, they'd all be barely affordable.
@@cookiescacti i did. Most are doing pretty well. I got a few haseltoniana out of it so im happy. I might try some mesa cinereas soon. Nice thing about copiapoa is theyre really easy to grow once hardened off
Thank you for your interest! My seedlings are not for sale at the moment. I need as many to survive the winter as possible and then to get them to a certain size before deciding if I have enough to let go. My personal goal is to get my seedlings to flowering age so I can produce seeds of my own, so I need enough plants in case some die off over time in order to reach that goal. I don't have any online shops currently.
@@cookiescacti Thanks for the response. That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if you can make any cool hybrids when they flower. Seems like theres a lot of potential there. Good luck!
I've been using Miracle Gro seed starter with Miracle Gro perlite - basically peat moss cut with a bunch of perlite. The Copiapoa seem to like it for some reason but the jury is still out on other cactus genera.
![Chino Pacas - Modo Capone (with Drake & JOP) [Video Visualizador Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Zoc75M8Swhc/mqdefault.jpg)
What a wonderful Copiapoa collection! And all my best healing and feeling well vibes to sweet Cookie 🧡🖤🤍
Thank you, Heather! Thank you for sending the positive vibes sent over this way - we need all we can get!
I just watched this. Almost a year ago I began growing from seed. Found Mesa Gardens, and have never looked back. I have many Copiapoa, in addition to anything else that caught my fancy, and wasn't smart enough to start with 100 seed packs of less expensive varieties (your story on how you came to do this is funny--and relatable). I'll do my best to get a couple through and in a year or two hopefully be able to share some success! Thank you for all your inspiration and sharing your failures (learnings, right?) Waiting patiently for your seed starter soil experiment videos! 💚🌵
This is so wonderful that you're also growing cactus from seed! I also started with the smaller packs. Then I just went insane scouring the MG shop (always at night) and trying the 100 seed packs. I don't even know what got into me.... I think it was during the height of the pandemic when everything was closed and people were really picking up the cactus hobby so all the cinerea seeds were super expensive and impossible to find. Now I get messages sometimes from folks having interest in these "cheap seed" seedlings because no one grows them so you can't find them on the market and therefore they're unique and hard-to-find. It's so weird!
@@cookiescacti Delightfully weird and wonderful!!!
You’re doing EXACTLY what I aspire to do.
Yesss!! Happy growing!
What will you do with all your Copiapoa? Wow, you could sell them. They are rare and so well grown! Happy to see Cookie. Hope she will continue to be getting better.
Thank you so much for sending the good vibes over, Nancy. We can use all we can get. I have been able to move about half a tray to new homes, cleared some space but may not be enough still. Now I'm thinking of experiment by putting some outside in the shade house to see how they do in our summer.
You've done an amazing job, what a fun collection od seedlings, congratulations!!!
Thank you so much! The key is to sow so many seeds that it looks successful even if the rate of success isn't that high. It is a very fun to watch them grow up though, that's 100% certain.
Hi Jenny and Cookie, u made me buy 100 more seeds while watching your video 😅, I stick mostly to turbis and mammillarias cuz I don't have lots of space and heat up here in Montréal. Following your advice, DONT WAIT, GROW!
Wooohooooo grow grow grow, David! How long have you been growing from seed?
Wonderful collection! You are being incredibly successful. Love the weirdo plants the best.
Thank you, Nancy! It's a mix of successes and failures for sure - but the secret is to sow so many seeds that even a low success rate looks like overall success!
Excellent showcase, Thanks for showing us!
I'm so glad you enjoyed seeing all these little Copiapoa babies, Hud!
Nice update thank you for sharing
Thank you for tuning in, Anders!
That copiapoa lembckei weirdo plant is incredible!
It is one weird weirdo huh? And it's doing unpredictable things. It's so fun watching it do its thing!
Beautiful seedlings
Thank you, Gary!
Hi Jenny, do you sell copiopoa seeds varieties? I just love the intimidating thorns and watching them grow from seeds. Thank you.
Hi Kevin - I don't have Copiapoa seeds of my own unfortunately. I have only a few mature common Copiapoa that are old enough to flower but I only have one of each, so no luck in pollinating. Just about all of my seeds were purchased through Mesa Garden. It is super fun to watch the babies grow!
Hi Jenny, I know you may not see this comment, but if you do.... would you please do a video on how to decide a few things....
#1 how many seedlings/ plants to keep from each seed package /varieties .
#2 what made you pick them to keep.
#3How to house the ones your keeping (single pots vs community pots)
#4 pricing the ones you're letting go.... or different prices if you are doing special prices for the society.
These are great questions... Some of which I don't know the answers myself either. I've been keeping all the seedlings regardless of health or size. I haven't reached the point of being able to cull seedlings... My decisions on how many plants per pot is mostly due to space considerations with an unofficial optimization that runs in my head with no real rules - as many seedlings as I can fit in a pot while still allowing them some room to grow, then up-potting when they start to stab each other. Regarding prices, I've only sold a couple handfuls of seedings in the past on a whim. I tried two styles, fixed price and auction via Instagram posts. When it's a fixed price I just pick something that's a little cheaper than you can find on the market, but that's just me, there's no good reason to underprice plants except that I want to. I've also donated seedlings to the cactus society and given away seedlings to local folks on a whim. I hope that's somewhat helpful but most likely it's not 😂😂😂
@@cookiescacti it's helpful 💗
I should have said "in the future " videos , once you run out of space and no longer get to wait 🤣. I have mesa garden Ferocactus hybrid seedlings that will need their own 2 inch pots soon and they aren't even 6 months old yet, but some have spines almost an inch long already, I'm not looking forward to repotting those 🤣🤣
@@barbie_t ahhh gotcha! It's a future-Jenny question 😂 I will definitely keep this in mind when I truly run out of space and share with you all what I end up doing. So far I seem to keep magically finding more space LOL!
By the way, I highly recommend having some rubber gloves for handling spiny seedlings! Just general household cleaning gloves does the trick
@@cookiescacti I will definitely get a pair before I attempt to repot them, thank you 😊.
I joke about keeping 911 on speed dail the day I do , incase I bleed out 🤣 seriously I'm almost afraid to see how long the spines will be next year 😅
Hello Jenny,
Exceptional collection of Copiapoa, they really thrive under your care. Do you have plans on sowing some of the smaller species (tenuissima, hypogaea)? I think they would complement your collection perfectly.
Best regards,
Nino
Thank you, Nino! For some reason, this is the one genus of cactus that doesn't mind my method of growing. I would love to try hypogea but it's been difficult to find seeds.
MG has some on stock right now.
"ALL HAIL🙌THE COPIAPOA🌵👑 QUEEN AND COOKIE🐱"
😂😂😂😸😸😸🌵🌵🌵🙏🙏🙏 "Copiapoa queen and cookie" the most amazing set of word combinations I have ever read in my life!
I like to use the passage of time to look forward to other stuff in my life too. Like..."Hey, by the time I finish paying off my car loan, my Copiapoa should be going through their growth spurt! That's gonna be a good month."
I like that attitude! It's a way to look forward to milestones.
Do you use just regular led tubes, or do you got some special plant lights? If so how much lux do they habe and how long you keep them running? Nice collection you got there, happy for you that it went so well 👍
Thank you so much! I'm using LED grow lights. I don't know the specs on the lights but I have a link to the ones I use in the video description here: ruclips.net/video/joCWkDb-cYI/видео.html
I leave the lights on for 13 hours a day - no solid reason why, I think I just set it to this at some point and then didn't touch it afterwards.
Excellent collection. Wonderful.
Does grow light actually work without natural light?
I have almost no natural light and I wonder if grow lights are 100 percent working. For adult plants and seed growing as well.
I think it depends on where you live and what kind of plants you're growing. I only have experience growing plants in Arizona. The majority of cactus do better growing outdoors here. Succulents like haworthia don't do well with our summer heat so I grow them indoors. If you live somewhere much cooler and wetter you may have to grow cactus indoors, but i would check with other growers in your region who will know much better. I've only been more cautious with my Copiapoa seedlings and keeping them indoors much longer than my other cactus because I heard they're sensitive to heat. But I'm experimenting by putting some of them outside now and they seem to do fine. So you see, lots of trial and error for me too
@@cookiescacti Thank you very much for your answer. I have some small copiapoa and some seedlings. Unfortunately i dont have the outside option and have access to grow lights only. I wonder if in your experience grow light can totally substitute natural light for copiapoa.
I don't know what your ratio of growth is, but what you have growing looks very nice! Very nice copiapo!
Thank you, Mark! The germ rate really isn't that high for the majority, like 10-25%. But when you sow 1000 seeds, 10-25% is still over a hundred plants!
@@cookiescacti We are under 50% on seedlings, but our grafts have been 100% successful!
@@cookiescacti Wishing you and Cookie well this fine day, and was hoping you had an update on those Mam. flowers!? 🤗
@@markgibsons_SWpottery That is awesome! I've heard a lot of good things about grafting!
@@markgibsons_SWpottery Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to focus on the plants lately - good thing they don't mind a bit of neglect. There were many flowers that I missed this season or just saw for a moment and never captured on camera. No fruits seen yet on that mamm - I hope the buggos did their thing.
Hi Jenny! Those tubs that you use, are those great for bottom watering?
Probably! I imagine these hole-less trays would work well for bottom watering. I think I bottom watered once and then went back to top watering again
Also maybe you could spare a bit of advice. A few questions I can’t get really any consensus on. But you’re cacti look great….
Sure! What questions do you have? No guarantees I know the answer but I can try!
Sometimes when you read off the catalog number you sound just like you're on air and saying the station frequency.
LOL, I had a similar feeling when I was editing and listening back. I felt like I was running an auction or something.
Awesome plants, every single one. Oh and KK is Karen Knize, not Karl :D
Omg thank you for the correction. When I looked up his name on google there were multiple spellings on his first name I had no idea which one was right! Maybe I'll just stick to K Knize!
Actually it's Karel Kniže, Czech botanyst. So, in US he would be called Carl 😀.
I can always rely on you, Nino!
haha it seems like the more desirable copiapoa tend to self destruct easier as seed form. i hear the mesa cinerea (the few pure cinereas in their cat) tend to rot like the kk611 as well. theyre 20 bux a pop.. i wanna try growing but im not confident enough. i find tho once they get big enough they become very easy to grow. and ur kk611s are probs not gonna rot anymore as they are quite big.
That's the law - the ones we want to live the most die the most! Yeah, a pack of seeds is close to $20 now... it was $9 when I bought the pack a couple years ago and I thought I was nuts for spending that much money, I should have bought more at that time lol. I lost one more KK611, ughhh! I have one left now. Not holding my breath.
Try growing some of the cheaper ones to start! The cheaper ones are pretty cool - I don't understand why they're not more popular but it's probably a good thing, otherwise, they'd all be barely affordable.
@@cookiescacti i did. Most are doing pretty well. I got a few haseltoniana out of it so im happy. I might try some mesa cinereas soon. Nice thing about copiapoa is theyre really easy to grow once hardened off
are any of your poas for sale? do you have an ebay? very beautiful plants.
Thank you for your interest! My seedlings are not for sale at the moment. I need as many to survive the winter as possible and then to get them to a certain size before deciding if I have enough to let go. My personal goal is to get my seedlings to flowering age so I can produce seeds of my own, so I need enough plants in case some die off over time in order to reach that goal. I don't have any online shops currently.
@@cookiescacti Thanks for the response. That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if you can make any cool hybrids when they flower. Seems like theres a lot of potential there. Good luck!
What do you use as soil in your young plants?
I've been using Miracle Gro seed starter with Miracle Gro perlite - basically peat moss cut with a bunch of perlite. The Copiapoa seem to like it for some reason but the jury is still out on other cactus genera.
So you’re the reason they are sold out of my favourite Copiapoas at Mesa gardens!!!!! 😡
LOLOLOLOLOLOL guilty