Fenestraria with the Winter Blues

[CrazyPlantLady]

My dear little Fenestraria Baby Toes has a terrible case of the Winter blues. The poor thing was in a sunny window, but the terrible weather in the Northeast left it sun-starved. Is there anything I can do to help it get better, or just put SlenderPlant in the summer sun and wait?

I'm a little new to this whole succulent keeping thing, a lot of my collection is in tiny keychain capsules.

[greenknight]

It's a winter grower, goes dormant in the heat of summer. You might get some stronger growth before then. In hot weather just mist it, no major watering. Always water those very sparingly, they're adapted to a really dry climate.

[CrazyPlantLady]

I plan to keep it indoors over the summer so I can control the water. Thanks for the tip about misting. Do you have any ideas about how I can help it grow more compact? It's legging all over the place.

[Saxicola]

I plan to keep it indoors over the summer so I can control the water. Thanks for the tip about misting. Do you have any ideas about how I can help it grow more compact? It's legging all over the place.

More light. You won't get those particular leaves to be more compact, but with plenty of light the new growth will be shorter. I'd put it out for the summer if you have anywhere that is sheltered from the rain. In almost every case a shady spot outside will still receive more light than a plant indoors. It may well grow for you in the spring during the period when the frost danger is over and the summer heat sets in. During that time it will be somewhat like winter in its native habitat.

[CrazyPlantLady]

I'm just worried about it being outside during the summer because the potted plants outside get watered with the hose and that would drown my poor little plant. I don't do the watering, my father does. My window is west-facing so that summer sun comes right in.

[Saxicola]

Ok. If that is the case then just keep it in your window. It will do what it will do there since light is really the only way to keep it compact. It still looks great so just love it as is!

By the way, do you keep it down with the other plants in your picture, or up right where it is? If with the other plants then the location is fine. If it is up on that shelf I would move it up next to the window. Mere inches make a real difference in how much light actually reaches the plant.

[CrazyPlantLady]

I keep it down on the table with everyone else, the old scar on one of the leaves is actually an accidental scrape from my Devil's Tongue cactus when I was turning my Fenestraria. I only bring my plants up on that shelf for photo shoots to get better focus on the individuals.

And thanks for the comment, the Fenestraria is the only succulent I've ever had flower for me as of yet.

[WayneByerly]

I plan to keep it indoors over the summer so I can control the water. Thanks for the tip about misting. Do you have any ideas about how I can help it grow more compact? It's legging all over the place.

Buy a fixture that has a type of base that houses a normal incandescent bulb. Then go to Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00198 ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and order some of these 40W 4500K CFL bulbs. Place the light 14-16" above your plant. I do this with my cactus, with a great deal of success. I've been growing my cacti in a windowsill for about five years. I know ... newbie, newbie, newbie. That's true, but this bulb is BRIGHT. And it WORKS!

Optionally, you could buy 60W 5500K CFL bulbs for an even brighter bulb on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005P2 ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I know these are not great pictures, but I'm doing the best with what I've got to work with. The software here limits the size of the pictures I can upload. I've had to resize them from 4288x3216 to 1024x768 and save them as JPEGs at 70%.

I live in central Tennessee in Pikeville, which is in the Sequatchee Valley, a rift in the earth 1000 feet (or so) deep, 3 miles wide and 60 miles or so long. I put this info out so that you'll know what kind of area I live in that I've got to adapt to keep my stuff alive. It is SO rural here that I cannot see my nearest neighbors house in the summer. It's just spring now, so you can kind of see it as a slight white mark in the far trees. It disappears behind the trees in the full summer.

A break in the clouds at sunset after a thunderstorm

DSCF2697.jpg (29.62 KiB) Viewed 1587 times

I've got two shelves in my dining room window which faces the N.E., giving me about 3 to 4 hours of direct light per day (through two panes of glass). AND, I've got one of the 4500K CFL bulbs at each end of each shelf as well as a 4500k CFL bulb in the Dining Table Light (Lowered close to the plants). My plants stay inside all year long.

These three shots are of the dining room corner, and then closer shots of the lower and upper shelves. Uhhh ... that's my dining room table on the right. There is, still, a small place for me to eat. Money tree on the left, Ficus tree on the table. Everything else is a succulent of one form or another: cacti, haworthias, euphorbias ,,,

Dining room corner

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... a bamboo in the cactus bowl on the left (I needed SOMEPLACE to set it) ...

Lower shelf

DSCF3136.jpg (79.21 KiB) Viewed 1587 times

... even an aeonium in the center at the bottom.

Upper (with a bit of the lower) shelf

DSCF3137.jpg (75.6 KiB) Viewed 1587 times

I've done a "bonsai" job on the ficus tree on the table. Just beautiful roots. I'll upload it if anyone wants to see it. Even though it is not a cactus or succulent.

[WayneByerly]

[quote=In hot weather just mist it, no major watering. Always water those very sparingly, they're adapted to a really dry climate.[/quote]

Careful about how exactly you do the misting . Many succulents are subject to fungal growths. So, when this guy mentions misting, I don't think he means spraying the outside of the plant with mist ... like the dew had got to it ... I think he means more like spraying a light "mist of water" around the plant rather than hosing it down with a waterhose or pouring water on the top so quickly that it spills over.

I use this hand pump powered sprayer to do a lot of my watering ... for about $17 (I don't know how much shipping would be as this is a Prime eligible item & I am a Prime member & shipping costs are now shown to prime members.) you can get it from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/418-1-Liter-One-H ... tering+can" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bluetexasbonnie]

Wayne, you live in a beautiful place. Don't you just love the golden light after an afternoon storm.

Your plants are nice too.

[greenknight]

Actually, what I meant was exactly "like the dew had got to it" - in the summer they get no other water than the dew, the soil should remain completely dry. Just a light misting in the morning, like the dew - probably best to skip it when the humidity is very high.

See http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/FENEST ... phylla.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;