I’m trying these (Vineland) and also their Willoughby Spit cactus seeds this winter. Germination is, as expected, slow. After a month and a week+ I have one Vineland and six Willoughby Spit seedlings. They’re cute little dudes; here’s one getting its first true pad:
I soaked them for twenty-four hours in filtered water before surface sowing them under humidity domes and on bottom heat. I’m thinking both—and the Vineland especially— might’ve benefited from some sort of scarification and/or stratification. Of course, it’s way too early to give up. Opuntia seeds are apparently notoriously slow and uneven germinators; I’ve heard of some taking months to pop up.
If any of you adventurous sorts want to try, they’ve still got these seeds in stock:
They also run an “open source” breeding program that might be of interest to some folks here: