Dividing Agave, Aloe helenae update, Cyathea spores, and a Platycerium

A lot has happened in my collection the past few days. I got some seedling trays so that I could divide the Agave seedlings. Got some Cyathea lepifera spores to try my hand at fern germination. A bunch of Aloe helenae seedlings have popped up. And I got a new fern: Platycerium ridleyi.

Divided out the individual Agave victoriae-reginae seedlings (25 total). That should be a 100% germination rate!

The spores look like dust.

I ordered some Cyathea lepifera, a type of tree fern, from eBay. The seller was in southern California, so hopefully they were freshly harvested from one of his plants, as was indicated on the eBay listing. Using the YouTube video released by the Fern Factory, I sterilized a plastic container using 70% strength isopropal alcohol. Perlite was sterilized in a microwave for 7 minutes then layered around 2 inches thick in the bottom of the plastic container. Some peat moss was wet then sterilized in the microwave for 7 minutes. I layered the peat on top of the perlite, and poured boiled water over the peat and perlite. After the whole thing cooled down, I sprinkled the spores on the top of the peat. The container was closed and is currently sitting in my room. Hopefully in a few months I will see prothalli.

Look at all those little Aloe helenae seedlings!

It looks like the Aloe helenae seedlings are making some good progress. Although, the supplier said there were 100 seeds, so it wouldn't be a very good germination rate if this is all I get. I am happy with as many as I got but would be happier with more.

Platycerium ridleyi looking good

I love the staghorn ferns (Platycerium) and see them all around the place here in Los Angeles. Though I have had a hard time finding any other than the common Platycerium bifurcatum. I decided to order this guy off of eBay and am pretty happy with what I got. It looks really healthy and haven't show any signs of stress so far (I got it a few days ago). I have sprayed it here and there, but read that it should be kept on the drier side. It is located in front of a window which I keep open all the time, so gets any sort of cross breeze coming through my space.