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May 28, 2020 sowing Set 7
Peniocereus greggii SNL1 (50) max germination count = 35 Count Sept 19 = 32 Astrophytum capricorne (100) max germination count = 76 Count Sept 19 = 66
Echinocereus triglochidiatus (150) max germination count = 59 Count Sept 19 = 77 Escobaria missouriensis SNL155 (150) max germination count = 95 Count Sept 19 = 32.
Two weeks later. Apparently I had bad luck in Set 8 (next page) with germination of P. greggii. Set 7 has twice the germination as Set 8. This is not unusual. I and every seed grower have seen the same seed source giving close to 100% germination in one pot and very little, even ZERO!! germination in another pot. The two pots may be right next to each other when all this happens. No explanation has ever been found. More germination has happened in the E. triglochidiatus cell since counting was stopped a week or so after sowing. The A. capricorne have lost a few members. This is an important point. When you do stuff like this with a large enough sample of any living system, stuff dies. If nothing dies, it's a miracle. Miracles don't happen. (I had a summer job once taking data of a very expensive experiment on cloning Douglas fir trees. We measured the tree growth as a function of some variables. A colleague technician was extremely good at taking care of his trees. They were doing splendidly. Then his boss noticed. None of the trees died. Everybody else had a few dead trees. It turns out that the colleague, rather than measure trees, was spending his time not in the field, but getting drunk somewhere and making up the data.) Death is very evident in the Escobaria missouriensis cell. Note the little starry things with brown centers scattered across the cell. Death by fungus, probably. Lost 66% of the original population, so far.