My seedlings all rotted, I dont know what I did wrong. Keeping them covered they rotted, uncovering they rotted.

On germination they benefit from short winter days and warm (80s) daytime temperatures for the first few months. Those things don't go together in the United States, but they do in South Africa. I've grown them from my own seed three times and I have found that when seedlings rot indoors it is usually because of foreign fungus (soil or container not sterilized) or too-cold temperatures. When they are little, a few minutes at 65 degrees can start the process of rotting. Once they have a couple pairs of leaves they can withstand the cooler temperatures a lot better but there's a window of a few weeks where I keep them on a heating pad 24 hours a day. I just turn it down to 70 at night.

Maybe they were kept too warm. They all died after getting first pair of true leaves but I had them on a sunny windowsill which got hot. Great for cacti but not these.

Right. Their requirements are different from cacti but just similar enough to confuse a lot of people.

I admire both of you for growing these from seed. I've never tried growing any cacti or succulents from seed. I was under the impression it would take years to grow to any size, but apparently they must not be that slow growing. Maybe I'll give it a try.

One thing I would recommend to avoid rot is sterilizing the pot and soil beforehand. I usually spray the pot and saucer down with a bleach bathroom cleaner, then let them sit for an hour or two, then rinse well. The soil can be sterilized in an oven but I like the microwave, using a low power setting over a longer time. It will cook more evenly if you do it that way, also if you start with the soil thoroughly moist.

Karen, the easiest succulents to grow from seed tend to be the ones with big seeds. Not Faucaria or most ice plants I suspect. The agaves and aloes tend to become independent pretty fast. So maybe that would be a good place to start.

Thanks, Baja. I agree I'm better with large seeds when I've done flowers or veggies from seed.

I wet then sterilize the soil in a $1 aluminum Dollar Tree pan, and use rubbing alcohol for the pots and bags. I use rubbing alcohol because it evaporates really fast. I keep most of my cacti seedlings in bags for at least 3 months but if I have fungus problems in that time I do open them and use Physan-20.

Most Mesembryanthemums I've dealt with have seeds which are near-microscopic. I planted Dinteranthus which were literally so small I couldn't see them. I know I planted them because they sprouted. Pereskia seeds are big and girthy, but I've had mixed results with sprouting them, even with stratification.