Hi Mark
my guess is some Dyckia seedlings will survive a very light frost if they are dry, but they all look nicely hydrated so I wouldn't risk it. Larger plants of many Dyckia species can survive a fair bit of frost, but seedlings of many plants are generally more tender than grown plants, so the same probably applies to Dyckias.
I am not sure how frost tender Hechtias are. I guess it depends on where they come from.
Ali

Thanks Ali, luckily I live on the coast so frost is quite rare. But to be on the safe side, I think I'll bring them in on those cold nights.

Not all Dyckia are frost tolerant even at maturity

Can you install heat pads/wire underneath? That might be a lot easier.

That is an interesting collection. How long have you been growing bromeliads from seed and what do you plan to do with them all? Is there much of a market for them in the UK?

Thanks bromadams, I never thought of using heat pads,that would work great. Only started growing from seed this time last year, for me it was the only way of compiling a collection as very few nurseries have broms in europe(not much of a market) but there are a few enthusiasts who are willing to trade.

{{gwi:510399}}

According to the Baensch book you can grow seedlings 300% faster if you supply constant illumination. I'm very tempted to try it. I have all the required hardware on hand.

wow bromadams 300% faster i would hate to see your electricity bill, oh well instead of waiting 15 years for some broms you might only have to wait 5 I love the idea though might have to wait until I have a house of my own.

marko7 love that collection and setup of yours what mix are you using as I am using dead peatmoss with 10-20% permiculite. and once a month give a one tenth of the recommended strength of orchid fertiliser but i think it might be still to much as all my neo seedlings are going strappy.

I was thinking one 10 or 20 gallon aquarium with a florescent bulb on a timer so it runs 14 hours a day. I may need a small fan too. That would let me test the idea and see if it is worth the expense and trouble.

You guys that grow indoors, how much light do you give your seedlings?

The substrate i use is diatamaceous earth,a type of clay granule (Some cat litter products are exactly this),I just water with a week nutrient mix,the cat litter provides excellent aeration as the odd shapes of the rocks allow for the formation of air pockets throughout the root zone.

Hi marko - You certainly have some nice healthy looking seedlings. I don't grow Dyckias so I can't help you with your question on cold tolerence; but having got them this far, you don't want to take any chances.

bromadams - Wouldn't growing them 300% faster rob you of the fun and anticipation of waiting for the results to occur naturally?

By the way, I read somewhere that a fan of the type used to cool the inside of computers is ideal for an aquarium set-up and can be purchased for next to nothing from computer repair centres.

All the best, Nev.

hey marko7 i got enother question do you sow your seeds straight onto the kitty litter stuff i thought that they would fall through and not get any light to germinate or do you start of in something smaller than pot them up as sowing 50-100 seedling indeviduly can be annoying. thanks
Phil

Yes Phil i place the cat litter in any sealable container which light can penetrate. I then scatter the seeds on the surface and then spray a fine mist of water on top to settle the seeds inbetween the crevices of the grow rocks, where they happily germinate.

Here is a link that might be useful: cat litter

Splinter, I have the seedling pipe line going, so I have plants at all stages and I get the "complete" joy of watching paint dry. But, I wouldn't mind putting a few on a faster track so I can see what I have while I still have the brom bug.

I have plenty of computer fans. But what size? Also they run on 12V DC power, I think, and where am I going to get a cheap and efficient power supply? Might as well buy a purpose built terrarium fan. However, I think I want a set up that doesn't require the fan.

Hi guys this question is hard to answer correctly.
Brazil from where most dyckias comes is a huge country. I live here! In South and Southeast we may have deep cold some snow and frosts. The temperature here in the mountains where Dyckia reitzii grows happily may get -15 degrees centigades!!!! But this is not for days in a roll. This is for brief periods, few hours.
So in order to answer your question correctly I may ask:
- which species this seedlings belongs to?
- how old are they?
- how deep is this cold?
- for how long will last this cold?
- how wet is the substrate?
One very inteligent answer is: do you feel good in a temperature below freezing point? No? So your plant doesn´t too!
Dyckias enjoy the temperatures you enjoy. Simple as that. If you do not have how to do that for your Dyckias...try peonies and tulips, they are gorgeous plants.
Dyckias are too rare and are all at risk in nature to be left freezing. The question is what is the best temperature for my dyckias? Give them only the best.
Cheers from the Dyckia land Brazil.
I would like to cultiovate tulips and dafdills but how? They melt even in picture here.... I do love polar bears but may I have them easyly and happy in Amazon?

Here is a link that might be useful: Dyckia Brazil

Hi guys - interesting thread.

I haven't tried the controlled environment thing with brom seedlings, but after trying a few things that didn't work so well, I did end up making one that I used very successfully for 12 years or so to germinate and grow orchid seedlings in flasks. Some of the pitfalls I found may be of interest.

The main issue I found that I had to contend with is that if you want an enclosed environment so you can keep relatively stable conditions without burning heaps of electricity, then you end up with a highly unstable temperature because all of the heat gets trapped inside - unless you have extra equipment to regulate the temperature and keep it where you want it.

Seems like a statement of the bleeding obvious and I didn't think this would be a problem when I started, but I soon found that the heat from a couple of "Gro-Lux" fluorescent tubes (needed 2 above an area 45cm wide to give enough light intenstity) was enough to send the temperature through the roof in an enclosed space. Woops -the heat didn't go through the roof - that was the problem!

So I ended up with a heating pad on a thermostat to only switch on when the temperature dropped too low (maybe up to several hours after the lights switched off depending on ambient temperature), and a temperature-operated vent in the top to let the hot air out when it got too hot. Between the two, this kept the temperature in the range 22-28 degC and it worked really well (I had it under the house where the ambient temperature didn't get too high in summer - otherwise it would have needed a cooling system as well!).

With all the stuffing around I went through to get to this point, it would have been easier to just buy a terrarium control system - except that back in those days, cheap hobby-type ones weren't around. But maybe you can deal with the heat-control problems better than I did - it would be interesting to see how you go!

Hope this helps. Cheers, Paul