Takeaway Tek - A Comprehensive Guide for Germinating Cacti Seedlings l Mallacht’s Plants 

Thanks for sharing this video, always like seeing them. Not sure the orgin either but they call it take away Tek because growers recycle their plastic take out containers for this grow method. I have had great success with this Tek and I am about to start the coke bottle Tek for my winter seed grow along side with more take away Tek. Happy growing everyone!

Never a dull moment. Stay sharp 😎🌵

thanks for the vid. It gave me some things to think about. the system I've been working on uses a thin germination layer of about 1/4 inch over deep soil, with the intention to leave the cactus in place long term, instead of transplanting. I didn't do too well with natural light this year, it just seemed like too much heat for them in closed containers and opening them a little made it hard to control moisture levels. That was under shade cloth and a sheet of remay. I'll have to experiment more with natural light, but it really didn't seem to work out too well. My take on redness so far is that it really doesn't seem to matter much. I will take seedlings from indoor to the greenhouse and almost all of them turn red immediately. Of course they would be exposed to strong light in natural conditions as well. It just seems to be a temporary stress response to various stressors that they grow out of when they start sizing up. It would take a controlled experiment to be sure, but it doesn't seem to slow them down much if at all, so I don't worry about it. I find that when they reach a certain size and have enough food and water, they green up. They will also do it if dried off as larger seedlings, even in good light. Algae has been a big problem for me and managing moisutre level, but my system is not as well sealed as that. Once they have a few spines and starting to leave the very small juvenile phase, I'll take the lid off and throw them straight into the greenhouse without a gradual transition process (40% shade cloth over greenhouse though). They seem to do fine if kept well watered. Again though, that is ignoring reddening. Every year is an experiment though basically. there are a lot of wildcards in any gardening.

Super love your shirt bro I want to get me one of those and can I get the link to the website please

Your seeds were awsome! I grabbed some as a first time practice run before trying to gerinate some exspensive lophophora seed I bought and your seeds gerinated great for me. I used a baggie method with (presure cooker) sterilized soil and im on about week 2 baggies still sealed. 22 of 47 seeds germinated & almost all have their first spines which was far beyond my expectations considering I started with cacti like a month ago & know basically nothing xD ps: your comment about benefitial bacteria has me now planning to try a earth worm casting tea after the seedlings are hardened off for a month or so.

Lol it's called takeaway tek because it was originally done with take-out containers, I guess called takeaway in Australia maybe?

My dragon fruit seedlings are an inch tall now and doing very well, many of them already look like miniature cacti

Cool videos , many thanks. Could you do one on how to deal with pests? Thrips especially 😂❤

I just pop some Saran Wrap over top of whatever container, poke a couple more holes every week or so until they are “hardened”.

Yeah, it loos lie what I got. I think the quarter inch is synonymous with 6 mm. I also a little more recently ago got some 1/8th inch from ace is the place but it made it up to the rafters. Some day I'd like to take a crack at those sieve/sift/agitater boxes myself.

You are So Cal, which is a lot of microclimate' going on. I am in central valley, near Merced, and grow cactus inside. Nights in summer in 60s. 90s during day. Do you have any problems with germination outside? I use heat mat at 75. Great videos

Thank you so much for this. I unfortunately bought some Copiapoa Cinerea seeds before I learned how difficult they are to actually germinate, and I've been scouring the internet for every scrap of info I can find. One question I didn't see you address in the video is what your soil mix is actually comprised of, or the ratio I should aim for. What would you recommend for that?

I assumed its called takeaway tek because you could do it in take out containers. I've seen a few people use used blueberry/strawberry containers from the supermarket to do this. the containers you're using are about the same size and also plastic

Nice seed video. What is your soil mix you sifted?

Which soil grew better?

Sweet!

Thanks for the video, do you ship to Canada? seeds and cuttings?

Do you have an update on these seeds?

I want that t-shirt

Do you have globular on your site?

I can’t get my seeds to germinate 😞

Peroxide kills everything, not just the baddies. Shake cinnamon powder generously over the seeds, even mix it in a little before sowing the seeds. I write everything on the sides of the seed boxes, including the quantity and date. This way, if you take more than one lid off, you won't mix them up.

Take away tek because to go containers are used.