The young ariocarpi should be kept in this closed environment for 12 to 18 months, but not necessarily under lights, depending on space availability, the seedlings can be transferred to the greenhouse away from direct sunlight. It is best if they are uncovered during the winter months for a gradual adjustment to a drier environment. With the coming of spring some of the plants will be ready for their first transplanting and some will have to wait for up to a year more. At this point there might be a small lapse of growth until the seedlings become established in their new environment, but after growth commences it is rapid. One can hardly keep up with potting-up especially the larger growing species like A. retusus and A. trigonus .
Greater patience is required for the slowest taxa A. bravoanus, A. hintonii and A. scapharostrus.
A flowering rock is certainly what comes to mind. But even for the flower-snob anthesis is a desirable event, a sign of maturity and health, a confirmation of our cultural practices and a tender reward for our labor. I was prepared to wait a few decades before I would see a bud on my seed grown ariocarpi. A. kotschoubeyanus and its varieties v. albiflorus , v. macdowellii and 'elephantidens' flowered the following year. Many sowings and several generations followed and flowering times have more or less followed this pattern.