CactiGuide.com

Decided to start a new thread, since the old one is 40 posts long - much of it pictures of plants now dead. I fried most of my Lithops, and O. trollii, back in early May. It doesn't usually get that hot so early, but one day it got to 84 f, and I had put those plants out the night before to catch the morning sun. They were dry, which didn't help. I should have set my alarm, I overslept badly and didn't get to them in time. The only surviving Lithops are 4 salicolas that were in the middle of a dense clump. The O. trollii turned bright pink where they had been red on the lower stems, this turned white the next day. The stems subsequently collapsed, but there were 2 that had green tops that looked viable - I tried grafting those. I used cuttings of my unidentified monstrose Opuntiad for rootstock (only thing I had on hand), and one of them took - but it's hardly grown at all.

The 5 volunteer Parodia erubescens are still in the pot with the mother plant, and still thriving.

Anyway, on to this year's plantings. I'm still going for small species, and getting more Mesembs, plus growing replacements for the plants I cooked.

I got some seeds from Aiko, about mid-May:
- Dinteranthus microspermus var. puberulus
- Fenestraria aurantiaca
- Setiechinopsis mirabilis
- Titanopsis calcaria
- Turbinicarpus swobodae

Sent an order to Mesa Garden by email June 20, which shipped July 15:
Ariocarpus
#31.8-kotschoubeyanus v macdowellii

Echinocereus
218.5-knippelianus v kruegeri
246.703-pulchellus v amoenus
283.7-viridiflorus RP65

Mammillaria
687-herrerae

Oreocereus
1123.2669-trollii KK877

Strombocactus
#1246-disciformis

Lithops
1541.991-aucampiae Niekerkshoep,
1570.9-dorotheae F357
1623.7-karasmontana w of Grnau,
1557.8-bromfieldii v glaudinae
Langeberg, Paardehoek

June was unseasonably cool, so decided to try a planting of the Mesembs from Aiko - Dinteranthus microspermus var. puberulus, Fenestraria aurantiaca, Titanopsis calcaria, plus some Setiechinopsis mirabilis because it's easy, he sent lots of it, and it filled out a 4-pack. Used the same mix I used for Lithops - 7 parts pumice, one part Four Corners Organic Potting Soil (worm castings, peat, and pumice). Crushed the pumice first, then sifted out some of the fines for a top layer to plant the tiny seeds on. This was a mixture of silica crystals and flour-like powder. I tried to winnow out the powder by putting the stuff in an aluminum baking pan and tossing it a bit out in the wind so the dust would blow away. This helped but wasn't really good enough, it still formed a crust. I changed my technique for the next batch, tilting the pan and jiggling it so the coarser bits slid to the bottom, scraping it up with a credit card. This worked well, I obtained some nice gritty material. Of course, a fine sieve would probably work, too.

Planted June 10. S. mirabilis came up first, and thickly. The Titanopsis soon followed, with fairly good germination, then Fenestrarias started appearing one or 2 at a time - nothing from the Dinteranthus. An S. mirabilis molded, and I dug it out with the tweezers, then took out 5 more over the next few days - got the outbreak under control, and I still had plenty S. mirabilis. Still no Dinteranthus, Fenestrarias still popping up, while the first of them and the Titanopsis were getting badly stretched out and flopping over. Then some of the eldest Mesemb seedlings began to rot - no mold, just turned to mush. Still no Dinteranthus.

Took them out of the baggie, and let them dry a while before misting them. 6 Dinteranthus appeared over the next few days. Lost most of the Titanopsis and Fenestrarias, and the ones that are left are not looking very good. Oh, well, try again in the Fall (which I have done, this time in individual pots).

Next planting was the rest of the Cacti, July 20 (the survivors of the first planting were moved outside onto the front porch, where they got morning sun). Mix of 3 parts pumice, one part potting soil, same as I used last year. Used fine grit on the surface for the Strombocactus disciformis only. I put the 3 Echinocereus and the O. trollii in a 4-pack, figuring none of them needs much babying and they should do well together; the others got individual pots. Still wasn't hot weather, and for the first week I didn't plug in the heat pad, they were getting daytime temperatures in the mid- to upper-60s f. Then, 70s with the heat pad on, the next week. Finally, the 2nd week in August, Summer arrived, and temperatures climbed into the 80s, when it got into the 90s I unplugged the heat pad (I don't have a thermostat). I figured that by increasing the heat in stages, each species would get a germination temperature it liked at some point.

This worked pretty well, I got at least some germination from everything except E. knippelianus v kruegeri. Most came up really well, but Turbinicarpus swobodae was slow (only 6 came up, but I still had more seed), and Mammillaria herrerae was also (and only 5 of those sprouted). One M. herrerae molded, and I picked it out. Then another one went, so I took the pot out of the bag and removed that one. One of the remaining 3 had some rusty discoloration at the base like it might be infected, but it wasn't close to the other 2, so I was hopeful - after that one molded and was picked out, for a few days it looked like the trouble was over. Then one of them toppled over - the bottom of it had gone soft. The last 2 were very close together, so it looked bleak for the other one. I managed to remove the rotting one without disturbing the remaining one, then put a light sprinkling of sulfur on and around it, and let it dry out for several days. It turned a little red, but showed no sign of rot - after a while I began cautiously watering it from below, trying to avoid moistening the surface of the media. It's still alive, and it's growing - keeping my fingers crossed.

Some seedlings on the edges were getting a bit too elongated - my LED spot light wasn't covering enough area for this many pots, I had to move it back. I decided I needed a more powerful one, so I bought a 10W lamp to replace my 5W one. The seedlings that came up later, under the new lamp, are quite a bit stockier than the early ones in some of the pots.

I found a study on Turbinicarpus germination online, the only thing I gleaned from that about T. swobodae is that it has a low rate of germination, and it's best when the seed is fresh. I decided to go ahead and plant the rest of the seed I had, which I did Sept 1. Fortunately, warm weather hung on through September. I got 2 to germinate in this batch.

Planted the Lithops in a 4-pack Oct 2. Germination was good to excellent, no drama at all. Planted the rest of the Mesembs from Aiko a few days later. The Titanopsis came up well, I took them out of their baggie as soon as there were a good number sprouted. Yesterday I spotted one Fenestraria seedling. I decided to take the Dinteranthus out of their baggie. since that encouraged sprouting before, and discovered that one was up already. That's where things stand right now - time to add the pictures!

Carefully inspected the Strombos (which got tipped over), tapping on the pot to settle the media - I can now see 11 of them. Strongly tempted to dump them out and reset them all back on the surface, but I doubt they would survive handling at this size (the biggest might be approaching 3mm, most are smaller). Thoughts?

Forgot to mention - when I took the Fall-planted Titanopsis out of their bag, just before taking the picture above, I also took the Dinteranthus out (that seemed to encourage sprouting before). Found that one had already come up, I just hadn't seen it through the baggie. A second one has since appeared. There was one Fenestraria up then, but I left that pot bagged - they're now up to 3, and I've taken them out. Hoping to avoid any more sad, stretched-out Mesembs like that first batch...what a pathetic sight they are!

greenknight wrote: Planted the Lithops in a 4-pack Oct 2. Germination was good to excellent, no drama at all. Planted the rest of the Mesembs from Aiko a few days later. The Titanopsis came up well, I took them out of their baggie as soon as there were a good number sprouted. Yesterday I spotted one Fenestraria seedling. I decided to take the Dinteranthus out of their baggie. since that encouraged sprouting before, and discovered that one was up already. That's where things stand right now - time to add the pictures!

Spence I'm thinking about a new batch of Mesembs next fall/winter here. Do these species you planted are relativelly easy? Specially the Lithops...I'll begun a list of "Lithops for begginers"...

Last year was my first time growing Lithops seed, not much of an authority. I did some research and chose aucampae, karasmontana, and salicola as easy ones, and they did seem to be easy - especially salicola. I found dorothea to be slightly more difficult - too soon to tell about bromfieldii, but I expect it's also pretty easy.

Got some more pictures:

About time for an update. First, the Mesembs: the June-planted ones are still puny, but (mostly) growing. 2 Fenestrarias still live, and have put out true leaves, but very tiny. 3 of 4 surviving Titanopsis have true leaves, one continues to hang on with just seed leaves. The lone Dinteranthus has greened up a lot, still growing extremely slowly.

The October-planted ones were drying out too much with once-daily misting, in the unseasonably warm weather we had, I went to twice-daily after losing the first 2 Dinteranthus . No problem, I thought, should be lots more... ... eventually 2 more came up, and that's where it stands now. More Fenestrarias came me up, now up to 8. More Titanopsis, too, not that I needed more.

The new Lithops have grown a lot, look like they could use more light - especially the karasmontanas. Decided to take them out of the bag, I've opened it up to acclimate them to lower humidity.

As for the Cacti, they're also doing well. One more Turbinicarpus came up in the late planting, so there's 3 there - brings the total up to 9. I can now see 13 Strombos. The other Cacti are growing nicely. the Ariocarpus are popping out tubercles. Not many losses. There's one O. trollii that started upside-down and grew in a semicircle with roots in the air, tried digging a little hole and burying its roots but no good - it shrivelled up. One Ariocarpus shrivelled up for no apparent reason, no rot. An S. mirabilis also dried up, but they all looked stressed - I increased their watering quite a lot and they seem much happier.

More pictures soon.

waiting for the pictures! keep posting!

New pictures!

The Mesembs in the Fall planting just keep coming, today there are 13 Fenestrarias and 10 Dinteranthus. Temperatures are cooler now, not getting above about 68 f in the propagation tray - guess that's what they like for germination, when it was reaching the mid-70s f only the Titanopsis were coming up well.

Forgot to mention, that little curled O. trollii I thought was dying snapped out of it. It's on the far left in the picture - puny thing, may never amount to much, but it's growing! Tough species, in the earlier picture it really looks like it's done for. Not the only striking recovery - one of the smaller E. pulchellus, the one at the bottom in the photo, shrivelled quite severely. Gave some extra water, in a few days it had plumped back up, went right back to growing.

I read that Fenestrarias are slow and erratic germinators, that's definitely proved to be true - just had another one come up from the June sowing! Meanwhile, the Fall-planted Dinteranthus keep popping up, now 12 or 13 - one green speck I can't identify even with my loupe, may be a liverwort.

Strangely, Fenestrarias have germinated well for me at the height of summer inside a greenhouse.

Fenstrarias have been fairly quick and consistent germinators for me too, in "normal" seedling conditions. E.g. 75% germination in 10-40 days this spring.

I've had some come up quickly, but then more come up later. This is somewhat problematic, since they can't take drying out when newly-sprouted, but they rot easily from too much moisture when they get a little older. I think I'm getting the hang of it, though.

Dinteranthus keep on coming, there were 18 at last count. Haven't counted them today, could be more by now.

Maybe I'm not getting the hang of Fenestrarias after all. I thought they were wet enough to go one day without being misted, while I dealt with a minor crisis with snow melt and a leaking roof. I was wrong, all but one Fenestraria in the Fall planting died. Maybe more will still come up. The late sprouter from the Spring planting is fine. Lost a few of the weakest Lithops, mainly karasmontana, but still have plenty so no problem. The Dinteranthus are now thick, I no longer even attempt to count them.

My last Mamm. herrerae succumbed to mold. Dang.

Sorry about the fenestria, hopefully your remaining plant takes off, you could also very well have some late starters come up, this happened to me when I sowed these. I still have a hard time with lithops after 3 years, I find it hard to get the watering right. I feel like with mesembs its a lot of learning through trial and error, the errors are no fun though :/

Thanks, though it's plants plural, actually, I have 3 Fenestrarias in the pot I planted in June - one of which came up just a couple weeks ago. I'm more sad about the Mammillaria herrerae.

I'm not finding Lithops watering to be too much of a challenge - I just follow Ian's advice, during the growing season water when they start to shrivel, during the winter don't. Giving them enough sun without cooking them is another story, I'm going to be more careful with this batch.