Dear Etsy Fans, Please find for sale 20 fresh seeds for Lobivia Dobeana cactus, also known as Echinopsis aurea var. dobeana This easy to grow cactus has a reputation of being extremely tolerant of neglect - so an ideal choice for inexperienced or forgetful gardeners! This is a clustering cactus with elongated stems with 14 to 15 sharp-edged ribs separated by deep grooves. It will readily produce beautiful red flowers. PLEASE NOTE: ALL ORDERS RECEIVED BEFORE 8PM (MON-FRI) WILL BE DISPATCHED SAME DAY SAVE PACKAGING MATERIALS - SEE OTHER INTERESTING & UNUSUAL SEEDS & PLANTS in MY SHOP INSTRUCTIONS - TO SAVE PAPER I NO LONGER SEND OUT WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS TO CUSTOMERS. INSTRUCTIONS ARE BELOW SO PLEASE BOOKMARK THIS PAGE. FEEL FREE TO MESSAGE ME WITH ANY GROWING QUESTIONS. Germination Guide Prepare a seed tray or individual pots with a moist, gritty, free-draining compost. Gently firm down & level the surface. Scatter the seeds over the surface & gently tamp into the surface to ensure good contact Cover with a very fine layer of vermiculite or sieved compost Mist the surface with water Potting mix should be moist but not wet Keep in a warm bright location (15c-20C) but out of direct sunlight Mist the surface regularly - do not allow to dry out. Seedlings will develop within a few weeks. Transplant / pot on the seedlings carefully the following spring using seedlings to avoid the spikes Fill around the seedling with compost & water well. Add more compost if necessary & then use the spoon to arrange gravel around the seedling. Keep in a sunny spot such as a windowsill, & pot on as & when you need to. Allow the compost to dry out completely over winter to reduce the risk of rot. Olly’s General Guide to Seed Sowing! I love sowing seeds & it runs in the family - dad, granddad & finally my great-granddad for whom the hobby helped him get over his experiences in the Great War. I still get a big kick when I see the first seedling poking through from a new plant that I have never sown before or been successful at. However, even the most experienced gardeners draw blanks from time to time. Whilst I sow all the seeds that I sell so I know that they are viable, some are trickier than others & problems can arise so here are some tips to make blanks few & far between: 1) Don’t Rush! Tempting though it is when that packet arrives in the post to simply bung the seeds in some compost! 2) Google & YouTube are your friends! Take some time so see the methods other people use to germinate the seed. 3) Think Nature! What conditions do seeds face? For example a seed from a tropical plant will fall to the warm, wet & dark jungle floor. A seed from the mountains of Europe will fall to the floor in Autumn, then have to endure months of freezing temperatures before germinating in the spring. So as growers, what we are trying to do is to simulate the conditions that the seeds will naturally experience & there are plenty of tricks that can be done to short cut the processes
