Great find in Amsterdam :)

[Raziel]

Hi folks, just thought I'd post to say I recently just got back from Amsterdam and I stumbled upon some great finds. I went over there to stock up on some seeds and other things, I spent the day looking in all the head/smart shops looking at what they had and comparing prices and decided to buy 10x san pedro and LWilliamii seed each for 12 euros both "seedsofthegods" brand. Thought it was abit much but bought them anay way and all the prices in all the shops were very simular, also saw live san pedro cactus for 20-30 euros but far too much and a L.Willliamii the size of my fist with 10-15 pups and was being sold for 210 euros! the price scared the sh!t out of me

So I had my 10x san pedro and L.williamii seeds so I was happy untill the last day I was there I found a flower market selling just standards flowers and seeds but a few stalls in my eyes nearly popped out of my head! There was a little old lady selling baby groups of san pedro about 2-3 inchs tall for 5 Euros !!! snapped one up right away then I saw she was also selling flowering L.Williamii 3-5 years old for 10 Euroes so snapped one up aswell. When I got back to where I was staying I noticed little black specks all over the top and instantly realised they were seeds ....

In total I got about 40 seeds of one cactus which only cost 10 Euros so I was so happy and as soon as I got back to the UK I planted these seeds in one tray about 4-5 days ago and already there are about 5-7 seeds sprouting. I've had real problems trying to grow cactus from seed as they always seem to die due to cobweb but some people on here recommended covering the seeds with some fine soil and it seems to have done the trick as there is no mould yet and the seeds have sprouted sooner than I expected, the pedros are doing well aswell as out of 10 seeds 4 have sprouted sooner than I thought too.

My only regret was I should have bought more than one of each and shouldn't have bought the seeds packs but any one travalling to Amsterdam should visit this market and I might be able to give you directions if you want.

I will post some pics in a few hours of the cactus I bought, newly sprouted seedlings and a batch of seeds I started growing about 12 weeks agao as all seem to be doing very well

[ez_goin]

Damn, that's awesome. Congratulations on the treasure trove. Good luck with the growing.

[suckerfree]

awesome find man....

[Raziel]

Thanks Folks ! I will try and get some pics for ya later, They are really nice catus and look in perfect health

[Raziel]

Can't get any pics because all I have is a cameraphone and my digi camera isn't any better

I lost one of the new seedling I planted about 5-6 days ago, it was looking really healthy but when I got home from work last night I noticed the very bottom of the seedling had developed a fuzzy white mass at its base and had started to go dull green/brown. Thought it was root formation but it was too large for roots and the colour of the seedling didn't look healthy at all. IME this was the beginning of cobweb mould so I just picked it out asap and binned it, didn't want it to spread to the others.

Still 5-6 still growing but can anyone tell me why a couple of the seedlings have grown above the soil and are being suspended in mid-air by their roots ? I almost looks like the soil is to tough to penatrate so the bulb is becomming elevated with the root exposed. The soil is no way near packed down and is fairly loose, could this be too much humidity ??? I made sure the soil was not soaking as IME this causes armies of contaminations.

Many thanks for any help or advice