How to Grow Cacti & Succulents From the Seeds

Fill a 6-oz. container without drainage holes with sharp builders' sand, which is available from building-supply stores. Use a 6-oz. Styrofoam cup or similar container for the planter. Leave ¼ inch between the soil surface and the pot's rim.

Add tap water to the planter until there's some liquid standing above the sand surface.

Broadcast up to 100 seeds over the water surface.

Place the planter in a well-lit room or 9 inches below a fluorescent lamp 12 hours a day. Let it stay undisturbed until the excess water evaporates, leaving the soil still wet.

Cover the pot with a piece of clear plastic film. Keep it in place with string tied around the planter, or tape or a rubber band. Continue to maintain the seeds in bright light but away from direct sun. Place them in a room that stays at 70 degrees F. Put the pot on an electric seed-propagation mat with the thermostat set if you can't raise the room temperature.

Check the moisture level under the plastic regularly. Spray the sand with water whenever the surface begins to dry.

Replace the plastic film as soon as the first seedling germinates. Germination takes about one week. Leave the plastic on for several weeks or months until the seedlings have developed several spines. During this time, continue to spray the sand regularly with water to keep it from drying out. Start using distilled water to irrigate the seedlings.

Begin to fertilize the young plants after you remove the plastic film. Dilute a general fertilizer to quarter strength. Water the plants with the solution every time irrigation is necessary. Continue to maintain the seedlings in indirect sunlight or under a fluorescent lamp.

Transplant the seedlings to individual pots when you can no longer see any of the soil surface in the 6-oz. cup, which usually takes at least two years. Introduce them gradually to direct sun after transplanting.