Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

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Ilvin
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Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2020 2:11 pm
Location: Perth, Australia

Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

I thought I would share my attempts at growing lithops from seed. Seeds were sown 25/03.

I've only ever grown basil from seed before, so this has been an entirely new experience. I got my seeds from a place called OzLithops in Adelaide - getting anything plant related into Australia is quite difficult so I was very pleased to find these guys. I bought "100 Mixed Lithops" seed and followed advice from their website and another linked grower on how to germinate.

My intention was to grow 20 seeds per pot in 2 pots, using a medium of gravel, fine cactus soil, perlite and sand.

Its at this point I made 2 mistakes. Firstly, I did not count the seeds into the pots because they were just that small. Despite being aware that the seller had glowing reviews for generous quantities, I decided to simply go with a little under half the seeds and divide those between my pots. My second mistake is I didn't look up germination rates. I simply assumed as a beginner I would get a poor germination rate (wrong!).

I used the baggy method and put the bagged pots indoors on a somewhat dim windowsill. I started to see germination after only 3 days.

Here are the bagged pots after 5 days. Excuse the blurry photos.
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After approximately a week, I took the pots out of the bags. I didn't do this slowly, as at the time I was concerned about mould, but it didn't seem to bother the seedlings. I misted them several times a day to keep humidity high.
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At this point I noticed my mistakes. Ozlithops are, in fact, extremely generous with their seeds and there and definitely not 20 seedlings per pot! At 2 weeks I roughly counted them and I think I have 50 in the smaller pot and closing in on 100 in the second. I made a half-hearted attempt at thinning them prior to this photo. I also started using a grow light at this point.
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Predictably, the overcrowding has only got worse as they grow. Its hard to know since I didn't count, but I estimate germination must have been somewhere between 80-100%.
At one month old, I have now started allowing the pots to dry out and misting only once a day, which doesn't seem to have bothered them either. I have slightly increased the light.
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They seem to be doing surprisingly well. At this point my aim is to keep as many of them alive as possible, learn how to look after adult lithops, and buy a whole lot of pots. All advice I've read is that I'll do more harm then good repotting before they're 1 year old, so I'll just have to let some of them get crowded out.
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greenknight
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by greenknight »

You're doing fine. They're reaching the point where you should wait until they start to wrinkle before watering them. Soon after that the seed leaves will dry up and the first true leaves emerge - when you see signs of this happening, delay watering even more. They may replace their leaves several times in their first year, later they'll do it once a year.
Spence :mrgreen:
Ilvin
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Location: Perth, Australia

Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

Thank you! I'm looking forward to seeing their first true leaves.

I do think sowing less than half of my "100" seeds and getting 150 overcrowded seedlings is the funniest possible problem at this stage.
keith
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by keith »

I would wait until they get bigger before attempting a transplant. They all look good. I like greenknights advice less water and drier air and wait for true leaves .
Ilvin
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Location: Perth, Australia

Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

These seedlings are now 2 months old. No true leaves yet, but they're definitely taking on different characteristics - being a mixed lithops batch. I've got some going slightly red, some with wide flat tops and some showing an interesting light spotted pattern.

I'm now watering on a somewhat vague basis when I think they look a little wrinkly, about once a week and still watering with a mist bottle.
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Obviously the overcrowding is getting worse. I removed 2 bits of perlite from between the seedlings in the larger pot and I'm assuming that was a good idea because the seedlings had used up the space within a few days.
Ilvin
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

All right, my seedlings are now coming up on 5 months old and have slowly been splitting.

When I was looking up lithops seedlings I could always find pictures of the tiny little seedlings and then suddenly true leaves, no sign of the transformation. But they're splitting like an adult lithops would, which looks odd from the little seedlings, although they're certainly not bright green anymore.
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So far so good I think. I suspect they could be developing faster in optimal conditions, but they're still healthy enough.
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MrXeric
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by MrXeric »

They look great! healthy too. In my care I would have already lost half the pot at this stage. :lol:
And yes, there is a lack of pictures of seedlings transitioning from their juvenile stage to their more recognizable forms. I try to take pictures of my seedlings whenever I remember to do so.
Ilvin
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Location: Perth, Australia

Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

Apparently lithops are easiest to care for as seedlings, its as they get older they get difficult.

I did know cacti were supposed to be the other way around but I've read through a few of the seedlings posts on the forum here, including some of yours, and man do cacti seem really awkward to germinate. That would be so frustrating! I just stuck these guys on a windowsill and had more seedlings than I thought I'd had seeds within the week. I think I probably have lost some of the seedlings, but there's so many its had to say.

I had wondered whether mixed cacti seedlings are something I could try, since I'm keen on having a variety of species but I'm thinking with the general low survival rate I could probably try a whole lot of different ones and still only end up with one survivor of each.

A thought for the future, anyway. If these seedlings do all survive to adulthood, all my cacti and succulent favourable spots will be taken up by lithops, making it a bit of a moot point. I'll keep updating this post, so there's lots of pictures for anyone whose looking for a lithops seedling timeline.
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greenknight
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by greenknight »

When they're splitting, you need to withhold water until the old leaves dry up.
Spence :mrgreen:
Ilvin
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Location: Perth, Australia

Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

Ha, is it that obvious I kept watering them? Most of them were not splitting, so I continued watering, by the time these pictures were taken I'd stopped, but there's definitely one seedling there that just hasn't used up the old leaves.
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greenknight
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by greenknight »

A number of them look like they would have had the seed leaves dried off by now if they hadn't been watered, so I figured you were still watering. Some of the late sprouters may not survive, but you could stand to lose a few. Might not be many lost, anyway, it's amazing how they can survive without water even when they're tiny.
Spence :mrgreen:
Ilvin
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Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2020 2:11 pm
Location: Perth, Australia

Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

At a little over 6 months old I now have quite a few true leaves. I'm loving watching all the different patterns and colours emerge - interestingly some of the larger seedlings have been quite late in shedding the old leaves.
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Some seem to be persistently hanging on to the old leaves, while others have dried up completely. I think the pot is too small for uneven moisture so I assume this is just the different varieties. And I've got a little confused one in the corner of the square pot with 3 leaves, I believe it'll sort itself out next time it changes leaves.

The rate at which the true leaves were emerging increased dramatically as soon as the weather warmed up a bit.
Ilvin
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Location: Perth, Australia

Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

At ~8months old the seedlings have almost all got their true leaves. There's one or two late comers, and one or two little ones that don't seem to be developing and probably won't survive. That might not be a bad thing - space is becoming more and more of a problem.

The lithops in the smaller and less crowded pot are of a larger average size than the ones in the square highly crowded pot. I've pulled out some of the larger bits of perlite and gravel on the surface to try and give them more room. Next time I try to grow seedlings I'm counting the seeds. I don't care if they are smaller than a grain of sand.
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There's some very nice patterns and colours, and a lot of variation.
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greenknight
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by greenknight »

They look great! Nice assortment.
Spence :mrgreen:
Ilvin
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Re: Ilvin's Lithops Seedlings

Post by Ilvin »

These guys are now roughly 1 year old.
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Unfortunately, I am starting to run into a few problems. I've got some lithops starting to stack, while a couple of others just will not take up water:
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The grey one (lithops lesliei I think?) looks almost rotted in that photo and I sincerely hope it isn't. In person it looks merely very wrinkled. I'd really like to repot them to prevent more stacking or die off but I suspect they're still too small. I'm a little worried that if one or two die then they will rot and take others down with them.

This is the inevitable consequences of the overcrowding I suppose.
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