Flowers on the balcony

[kak tus]

Hello, I've recently joined the forum and have received much help (and seeds! shout out to hendryterok, aiko and armen) with regards to the cultivation of my fledgling c&s collection. Three of my succulents have recently bloomed so I figured I will post photos of the flowers here. Besides, I have not decided on a method of record-keeping whether using pen and paper the old school way or in an excel file so this will do for the moment.

Kleinia saginata

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Frailea sp. (phaeodisca?)

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Unfortunately the flowers did not open but it set seed which I sowed immediately. 100% germination within three to four days from 14 seeds but damping off killed them all. The next month the same thing happened - no flowers again - and the current seedlings are sunburnt but alive - so there's progress.

Haworthia nigra

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I wasn't expecting much of the tiny flowers but lo and behold - fruits! At least that's what those two look like to me. That explains the bees that have been coming into the house lately. I did not know previously that H. nigra can self-pollinate but it looks that way for the moment since there was no other Haworthias that flowered.

[mmcavall]

Cool. So cool your Haworthia set fruits. Your balcony looks big, you have room for lots of plants. Keep growing!

[7george]

My H. nigra never set any fruit, but everything is possible. Frailea plants self-pollinate, but seeds should be used or maybe just tossed on some soil until are fresh. I would leave some space for myself on that balcony.

[kak tus]

Cool. So cool your Haworthia set fruits. Your balcony looks big, you have room for lots of plants. Keep growing!

My balcony unfortunately is merely 0.6 m x 3 m. That may be a good thing considering the rate of plant purchases.

My H. nigra never set any fruit, but everything is possible. Frailea plants self-pollinate, but seeds should be used or maybe just tossed on some soil until are fresh. I would leave some space for myself on that balcony.

Yes, I'm quite excited by the prospect of harvesting the seeds. This is only the second plant after the Frailea that have produced seeds since I started so hopefully the seedlings if they germinate will survive into adulthood.

[kak tus]

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Tiny flowers from E. tubiglans.

[kak tus]

Harvested the seeds today. I can send some seeds to anyone with some experience in growing from seed and can sow them immediately since freshness will probably affect the germination rate; my sowing space can no longer accommodate any more plants until next year.

[kak tus]

I thought I'd share my experience rooting a rot-prone species here for the benefit of others looking to do the same. So I bought a rooted cutting of E. grandis and true to its reputation when it arrived there was what I suspected to be rot - soft and mushy - at the root area (the dark patch visible in the first picture). Not wanting to leave things to chance, I cut off the rotten area and all the roots with it with a sterilized knife. I left the cut to dry for a week and placed it on lava rock to root. A month later I spotted new growth at the meristem and, after unpotting, roots.

Before surgery

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Post surgery

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Results

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All in all it was quite straightforward and I live in a tropical climate, for what it's worth.