October 9th at 7pm PST
Redlands Church of the Nazarene
1307 East Citrus Avenue
Redlands, CA 92374
Elias Aparicio has been a member of the Gates Cactus and Succulent Society since the Summer of 2022 and has been growing cacti and succulents from his home in Yucaipa, California since 2021.
Elias is a geologist by profession with over 14 years’ experience in large scale groundwater contamination studies and treatment plant design, and more recently as an Engineering Geologist in the Mining Division with the County of San Bernardino.
As a native to southern California, he grew an appreciation for the native plants and desert landscapes of the nearby Mojave and Colorado Deserts.
After joining the Gates Club in 2022, his collection of cacti ballooned from just a handful of small plants to hundreds, and now has two small hobbyist greenhouses, a 10-foot by 20-foot shade house, and a seedling germination tent. Elias enjoys growing plants with locality data from seed and grafting plants with an affinity for genus Ariocarpus, Turbinicarpus, Copiapoa, and Gymnocalycium.
Program: Cacti Seed Propagation
This month’s talk will be focused on seed propagation techniques for the cacti/succulent hobbyist. We will explore techniques and equipment that can be utilized on a small scale to grow large numbers of plants from seed.
Growing succulent plants from seed can be a cost-effective alternative for hobbyists and collectors to have access to otherwise expensive plants Seed propagation can also act as a starting point for hybridization or breeding projects. While some folks may fear that the bar to entry for growing from seed may be too high or too time costly to be viable, with a little ingenuity and experimentation, any hobbyist can have access to ethically grown seedlings.
Come explore a live demonstration of seed sowing/propagation techniques and take home some free seed to start your journey.
