Mrs.Green windowsills-growing cacti against the odds (links on page 9)

[keith]

I think Lithops grow little roots fast when water is present and then the little roots die back until next time water is available. They are weird plants.

You need to see how they grow them in N Europe which can be done . Windowsill probably or a heated greenhouse.

[K.W.]

Good evening Mrs.Green and dear cacti friends,

again, about the lithops.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to argue at all. . .

The plants root very deep and not wide,
such as Conophytum or Saguaros.

They live in summer rainfall areas, so it gets really wet.

The plants at "Plants of the Southwest" are watered properly not misted.
They are in the same substrate as my plants, pumice, lava and zeolite.

Mrs. Green I would leave the already potted Lithops as they are.
Next time shorten the roots to 30% and set them a little deeper.




A few photos from Gene Joseph and Jane Evans nursery,
Lithops
123641

123652

123656

123658

123671

and two photos from Köln,
153236

153632

283713



Courage dear friends!


Best wishes

K.W.

[greenknight]

If Lithops rot after one watering, it's a sign the potting mix retains too much water.

[Mrs.Green]

I think Lithops grow little roots fast when water is present and then the little roots die back until next time water is available. They are weird plants.

You need to see how they grow them in N Europe which can be done . Windowsill probably or a heated greenhouse.

Thank you Keith That makes sense.

If Lithops rot after one watering, it's a sign the potting mix retains too much water.

Yes, that sounds right but after reading stories like; ‘ I just gave it a few drops of water and it rotted!’ I began to wonder if Lithops was a kind of aliens, who defyed anything I know about plants..

Good evening Mrs.Green and dear cacti friends,

again, about the lithops.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to argue at all. . .

The plants root very deep and not wide,
such as Conophytum or Saguaros.

They live in summer rainfall areas, so it gets really wet.

The plants at "Plants of the Southwest" are watered properly not misted.
They are in the same substrate as my plants, pumice, lava and zeolite.

Mrs. Green I would leave the already potted Lithops as they are.
Next time shorten the roots to 30% and set them a little deeper.




A few photos from Gene Joseph and Jane Evans nursery,
Lithops
123641

123652

123656

123658

123671

and two photos from Köln,
153236

153632

283713



Courage dear friends!


Best wishes

K.W.

Thank you very much K.W for your patience with a dumb ‘gardener’, I really appreciate your advice! Hopefully I will be able to keep at least a few of the ones I bought alive . If these survives the winter and grow new leaves, I may risk trying more of them

I guess the ones I bought is an easy species/hybrid , since they was on offer at an ‘ordinary’ flowershop.

[Mrs.Green]

It’s crazy hot here..above 30 degrees celsius...at least by our standard..the cacti doesn’t seem to mind though..

[greenknight]

Another point about Lithops watering - they grow best with cool night temperatures, as explained here by iann:

http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... ot#p309292

Keith's problems with rot may have come from watering when the nights were too warm - a time when only misting them is, indeed, a better practice. They are able to absorb water directly through their stomata, as you guessed - some species grow where the only water they get most of the time is from fog.

Most of what I know about growing Lithops was learned from iann's posts, but he hasn't posted here since 2017. He's still active on the British Cactus & Succulent Society forum, though. You would learn a lot from reading his old posts here, but it could take a while - there are over 17,000 of them!

[Mrs.Green]

Another point about Lithops watering - they grow best with cool night temperatures, as explained here by iann:

http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... ot#p309292

Keith's problems with rot may have come from watering when the nights were too warm - a time when only misting them is, indeed, a better practice. They are able to absorb water directly through their stomata, as you guessed - some species grow where the only water they get most of the time is from fog.

Most of what I know about growing Lithops was learned from iann's posts, but he hasn't posted here since 2017. He's still active on the British Cactus & Succulent Society forum, though. You would learn a lot from reading his old posts here, but it could take a while - there are over 17,000 of them!

Thank you very much Greenknight Cool night temperatures should normally don’t be a problem here. Depending on what you mean by cool off course. The last few days it have been very hot here, with temperatures arond 30 degrees celsius in daytime and close to 20 in nighttime. This isn’t normal though, daytime temperatures between 13- 22 degrees celsius and nightime around 8-12 degrees celsius are more the norm.

Oh, no more than 17 000 posts ..I better start reading then! I have in fact read some of his posts , searching for Lithops but found there were more than 300 hits..I have also read the Growing Lithops thread by C and D and from various other sources. It looks quite simple ( the advices) at first, then comes all the but if’s.. i suspect the biggest problem here will be lack of enough sunlight, as the sun moves off course. I would love to see them thrive but to be honest, moving them from window to window to follow the sun..that will not happen.

[keith]

Keith's problems with rot may have come from watering when the nights were too warm - a time when only misting them is, indeed, a better practice. They are able to absorb water directly through their stomata, as you guessed - some species grow where the only water they get most of the time is from fog."

Yes that's what I was thinking but nights usually are not that warm here compared to the Desert. And often foggy until around mid July. But this is my new method for now. I water like cactus in the Spring once and maybe the Fall once then no water during the Winter. in the Summer I now look at the Lithops carefully and if they are full rounded tops and no wrinkles on the side then no water . When they wrinkle I mist them which is a light spraying so maybe a thimble full ?

I only have pictures of Lithops that are full of water no wrinkles this is all by light spraying recently. Probably get wrinkles in a couple weeks if it stays warm I'll try and take a picture then. Growing conditions - they are under 50% shade cloth and outside in mostly sand with pumice and some soil with a high PH. Base soil has a PH of 8 last I tested which was yesterday. I don't know what the extra sand does to the PH. Organic lowers it- I add extra organic to many cactus and all Conophytums, Lowers the PH down to a 7. Phosphorus is high and Nitrogen medium and potassium medium. ( got a soil tester lots of fun )

No Worries KW I just post what I see, My ideas could be wrong in other places and in greenhouses ? Could be wrong here ?

Mrs Green they are worth a try at least don't take up much room .

[keith]

And last here's a couple wrinkled Lithops that can be watered a little . Sides wrinkled and Tops flat So I sprayed this pot a little. After they flower they will wrinkle and don't water then until Spring .

[Mrs.Green]

Thank you very much Keith Only one or two of my Lithops shows a single wrinkled line on the ‘stem’, they are more wrinkly on top..they resembles small brains. Not sure if I should water them yet or misting them?

One of the plants haven’t been able to penetrate the old leaves, as seen in the photo. Is this one dead? Would it be possible to help it in some way , if it’s not dead?

[Mrs.Green]

Lithops today;

Lithops

EB603AE2-6912-4513-81CA-731E0551CBF9.jpeg (163.9 KiB) Viewed 6169 times

Gymnocalycium flowers , anyone having an idea of species?

Gymno

837457AE-6E5F-41FE-9440-1248BAC447F9.jpeg (118.59 KiB) Viewed 6169 times

I have three E.grusonii about the same size, this is my favourite so far, because of its spines

Spines

8DEDF09B-37A2-4477-8F52-CDB8F4854030.jpeg (167.61 KiB) Viewed 6169 times

[Mrs.Green]

Repotting again..

Yesterday I started repotting a lot of the cacti I have bought last year.. Silly enough I didn’t remove the substrate feom the roots, before potting them in bigger pots and with a different substrate. As described in this post; viewtopic.php?f=25&t=46342

Well, lesson learned , a lot of unessecary extra work and the worst part, the cacti due to bone dry roots, haven’t exactly flourished..

But I did find a few mealybugs on one cactus, so that was a ‘bonus’, off the unwanted sort though . Good thing though that I discovered the bugs in an early stage.

Another ‘bonus’ ; I have already a lot more cacti than before the washing/repotting started..or rather I am going to need more pots! The practise of filling the pots with several seedlings may look better from a selling point but I am not that pleased. In one pot there were no less than 10! individual cacti ( see pic)

A few spines in the fingers but luckily most cactus spines get considerably softer when wet

[7george]

It’s crazy hot here..above 30 degrees celsius...at least by our standard..the cacti doesn’t seem to mind though..

Here also will be at least twice above 30 deg. this week. Cacti love it and will do more growth & blooming this season than in usual year at house conditions. Your gymno looks like one G. schickendantzii.

What is the species of the last seedlings? Some Parodia or Rebutia maybe...

[Mrs.Green]

It’s crazy hot here..above 30 degrees celsius...at least by our standard..the cacti doesn’t seem to mind though..

Here also will be at least twice above 30 deg. this week. Cacti love it and will do more growth & blooming this season than in usual year at house conditions. Your gymno looks like one G. schickendantzii.

What is the species of the last seedlings? Some Parodia or Rebutia maybe...

Thank you very much 7george That Gymno still has some flowers and buds but the weather forecast isn’t cacti friendly..overcast and lots of rain.. The seedlings, I don’t know but hopefully they will survive, at least some of them. The smallest ones aren’t more than 1 centimeter in diameter. They were more or less hidden in that lump.

Finally finished with the second repotting! Lesson learned and hopefully the poor cacti will not be to stressed about all this repotting. Must have learned something though, I had made the accurate amount of mix to repot the last ones.

Some cacti are very affectionate, when touching them they are so cuddly they won’t let go.. But with a little sweettqlking all parts are now separated

Three new members of the family..I couldn’t resist, it’s not everyday the local grocery have cacti and succulents for sale. The Mammilaria(?) is very nice, absolutely round as a ball and about 7 cm. in diameter. I belive the other ball is a Fero? Couldn’t resist the slightly variegated Opuntia either. I belive the Opuntia could be O.monacantha ‘variegata’. Both the Mamm and the Fero was potted in something that looks like crushed lava. I have bought a few other cacti in the same mix and the roots looked very healthy, so I don’t repot these.

[teo]

The Mamm look very elegant - so maybe elegans ? (Might also be pseudoperbella)