I sowed an old packet of cactus seeds that were about 5 years old on 's suggestion and a month later, I thought that the whole experiment had been a flop. I got some new seeds in the mail and decided to use the tray. Imagine my surprise when, poking through the mix, I found 15 germinated seedlings. That's probably about a 1% germination rate but it's impressive for seeds that old. It is probably an invasive species but who knows. I'm all the more surprised because I left them out in baking sun and freezing cold temperatures but they did their thing. I moved them to a different container and on to the heat mat since their roots are still undeveloped at this stage. They will have to grow quite a lot more before they are identifiable
I also count 2 new sprouted Haworthias so perhaps there is still hope
The new seeds I bought are a variety of succulents: Conophytum bilobum and Euphorbia obesa
Pachypodium succulentum and Tylecodon wallichii
I also got Tylecodon leucothrix and Tylecodon pygmae, Cheiridopsis glomerata, Adromischus marianae and Pseudolithos sphericus seeds. Some of these should have been sowed in Autumn but I will take a chance on growing them- they should germinate and hopefully they will be ok if I keep them in a cool spot. The Tylecodon, Adromischus and Conophytum seeds were so tiny I have no idea whether they will still germinate and the Cheiridopsis seeds were soaked for 24 hours to soften the seed pods. I haven't sowed the Euphorbia or Pachypodium seeds yet because they are summer growers and they can wait a bit. I want to sow them in individual pots and the plastic wholesalers was out of stock on the tiny pots but they should be getting more this week