Hatchling cactus

Surface sown a bunch of various random cactus seeds (bought from eBay) in a home made germinator (cut up Big Gulp cup filled with 50/50 cactus & succulent soil mix and perlite, all in a vegetable/produce ziplock bag). 10 days later a hatchling appeared. I was really surprised actually - cacti has really long germination time, up to 3 years I was told. So to have a seed actually hatch within 10 days is a cause for celebration! 

Big Gulp cup cut down to size with drainage holes poked in the bottom. All
sealed up in a vegetable/produce Ziplock baggie and kept moist all the time.
All this was placed out doors under the shade of the deck steps so it recieve
filtered light and exposed to the elements and changes in temperature (as well as
watered every so often with natural rainwater that seeped through the baggie's pores.

Say hello to little cactus hatchling! Gizmo hatched on the 8th of July.

Better focused picture of Gizmo

Cacti grows oh-so-slowly and is a plant that requires quite a lot of patience! Not a good project if you're not a patient gardener.

Here's Gizmo at 12 days old. He's turning a bit reddish orange which either means he's a bit sunburnt or he is a reddish purple cactus!

Gizmo at 12 days... you can clearly see the cotyledon pseudo leaves. The actual
cactus will grow in the middle of the pseudo leaves. I'm beginning to think that he
might be a purplish red cactus!

You can see the seed capsule from where he emerged.
Picture was taken on the 12th of July 2011.

Another cactus seed on the verge of hatching. The black seed coat turns a
lighter shade of brown when it is about to hatch! That's a useful thing I found
out by accident

Also trying to germinate Aloe polyphylla, Cereus forbesii spiralis and Dioscorea elephantipes. I'm not really sure why I'm more interested in weird plants rather than the usual *flowers and vegetables*. The stuff I'm growing are all either edible or have some medicinal uses or really strange looking. Would love to get a venus flytrap at some point, too!  Maybe next year.

Recycled a supermarket roast chicken takeaway container for a germinator.
Notice the condensation? Very humid in there! Picture taken 0n 03/07/2011

Cereus forbesii spiralis and Aloe polyphylla in the larger container,
Dioscorea elephantipes in the smaller one.

Also couldn't resist getting myself a really strange looking succulent that is called "Gollum". No one could be certain if it's actually Crassula ovata or Crassula portulacea. I think it's a mutation/cross from both. I love the way the leaves are deformed into Gollum like sucker-fingers.

The Gollum's name is Smeagol!