Choosing, sourcing, and storing seeds

So you want to grow some Trichocereus seeds! But which ones, and from where? To start, learning a little about genetics will help you decide which seeds you want to grow.

The mother is the plant that grew the fruit and seed inside of it. The father plant donated the pollen to the mothers flower. A variety (var.) is a specific set of genetics (aka “clone”, or “strain” in the cannabis world). If you cut a plant and regrow both pieces, you have two of the same variety with the same genetics. A cultivar (cv.) - from cultivated variety - is a subtype of variety that was intentionally bred by humans.

Trichocereus are not self fertile. This means that for a flower to grow into a fruit containing seeds, that flower must be pollinated by pollen from the flower of a plant that was grown from a different seed, which will have different genetics. So there is no such thing as seeds of one pure cultivar that will produce perfect copies of its parent. It works like human families: two parents are required, the kids will each have some of their mother and fathers genes, but will each be unique. We call the kids’ individual set of genes and traits phenotypes.

Sometimes you will see a cross with only one variety listed as a parent, Maybe with the letters OP after the name. This means the seeds were not intentionally pollinated by humans in a controlled manner but rather were pollinated by nature or in an uncontrolled manner. This means the mother plant is known, because that's where the fruit was, but the father pollen donor is unknown. It's possible for pollen donated from multiple father plants to pollinate different seeds within the same fruit! So one fruit of OP seeds could contain different crosses within it. Sometimes breeders may intentionally pollinate a cross but not cover the flower, so this can still occur in crosses if the breeder chooses this or is sloppy.

Trichocereus can crossbreed with several other cacti genera! While an exact list of which species they can and cannot breed with is not complete, we do know that they can cross with some Echinopsis, Lobivia, and quite a few others. Intergenetic crosses are most commonly bred with the aim of producing beautiful colored flowers. While Trichocereus have white flowers that occur only rarely, intergenetic crosses have been produced that sprout large flushes of huge colored flowers of a wide range of colors and gradients.

When we choose which seeds to grow, we are typically selecting parents with specific traits to produce offspring with good chances of having those traits. Some examples would be extra short or long spines, spines with specific colors, a particularly blue farina, monstrose growth, particularly fat columns, cool looking notches, fast growers, extreme weather and climate resistance, or athleticism. If you aren't yet sure which traits you might be the most interested in, spend some time looking at these beautiful plants to develop your own taste, or consider growing a mystery mix to start.

Genetically strong, vigorous, fresh seeds will have very near 100% germination. Seeds that are older, intergenetic crosses, or with weaker genetics may have lower germination rates, seedling vigor, or may even produce some non viable seedlings such as albinos. How seeds are stored will heavily impact their viability as they age. They hold better for longer in lower humidity, in lower temperature, in the dark. Seeds can be considered fresh without worry about storage methods for about 6 months. If it will be longer than that before sowing, it's best practice to take measures to store them more carefully. For example, a sealed airtight container such as a ziplock containing a desiccant pack and a paper envelope containing the seeds, placed in the fridge. Germination rates will drop over time but storing properly greatly slows the speed at which this occurs, and some may still germinate as long as four years after harvest in the best conditions. So for the best germination rates, make sure you choose a reputable breeder that stores seeds properly and doesn't hide how old they are.

Recommended seed vendor list here

Next, you might want to set up your grow area.