help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

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xenopus
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Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2020 2:36 am

help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by xenopus »

Hi everyone,

I apologize if I have this posted in the wrong section. I'm currently trying take care of/grow a one year old Welwitschia mirabilis that was gifted to me. I have it place under a grow light along with my other plants; it gets about 12 hours of light/day. I noticed that the leaf edges are (which had died off before receiving the plant) are continuing to die off. In other words, It's hard to tell if the leaves are getting longer or if the leaves are progressively dying off (picture see image below). I'm wondering if the AC is drying out the leaves. I normally water it about once a week.

Has anyone had experience growing this plant indoors? I live in Florida and I'm sure the climate here is great for this plant, however my patio gets almost no direct sunlight and I don't want to risk placing it outside if it isn't going to get enough sun.

Based on the image and the information above, am I doing anything wrong? I'd appreciate any advice! Image
Jangaudi
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Joined: Sun Aug 04, 2019 2:21 pm
Location: Gent, Belgium

Re: help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by Jangaudi »

Hmmm, what's that soil ? Looks like orchid mix. I think a sandy soil would be a better match. Also Welwitschia mirabilis grows a long deep root to harvest underlying moisture in the desert, as well as taking up moisture from dew, and the occasional rainfall. It's a combination of different sources that keeps it alive, as is described here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eco.2039
Also it's not a succulent so it can't store water, therefor it's difficult to grow, as it needs to be slightly moist most of the time, but will rot if too much, even more so than cacti/succulents. So I think daily misting would be really benificial, and rich watering during summer, and light watering during winter, but very scheduled. A calender would be handy for this, which I use as well for the difficult stuff ;)
It also doesn't like transplanting too much, so if it's been in this soil for a while I'd just add some sand and fine
cacti soil to it, it will fall through to the lower parts.
http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCC ... _mirabilis
I don't have one of these, but on my wishlist, so I did my homework ;)
Good luck !
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Aiko
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Re: help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by Aiko »

Your plant looks fine. Just give a splash of water regularly, it is not a succulent so don't keep it too dry for too long. I give my plants a big splash every week. Whenever the soil is still rather moist, I don't, but otherwise I will. In winter probably a big splash every two weeks. Keep it warm in winter. It does not need to be very warm, but I would recommend at least 10C for most days. Occasional close to freezing will probably not kill it. I keep mine indoors from late October untill the middle of April, along with some other warmth loving succulents like some Euphorbias and Pseudolithos.

It does not like to be repotted for its first few years. After a few years it would be better, but I still have mine in the same big pots I sowed mine in. I give them some additional nutricients in their water to keep them a bit happier in the same soil.

The tips of the leaves die off as the leaves grow at the base. My plants do exactly the same. What I do is I use a pencil or watermarker to draw a line at the very base of the leaves. That way you can see the progress of growth of the leaves. If you do the same at the furthest green part of the leave, you can see if more leave is growing that is dying off as the months go by.
PseudolithosLover
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Re: help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by PseudolithosLover »

Sorry to hijack the post but I have a bad relationship with impulse and bought 3 fresh wels seeds from ebay... Any advice?
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Aiko
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Re: help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by Aiko »

Sow in big (deep) pots, so the plants don't need to be disturbed for the coming years. That is your main thing to do, besided don't let them dry out for too long (many weeks is too long, they are not cacti). They are not very hard to grow from seeds, basically, if the seeds are good. There should be a bump in the seeds, the seeds should not be too flat. Remove the papery sides to prevent them from moulding during the times it takes them to germinate.
PseudolithosLover
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Re: help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by PseudolithosLover »

What would you recommend for soil mix and lighting? I saw a thread where they were grown on a windowsill from seed with no additional lighting, is this viable? Also, should the seeds be started in soil or on wet paper towels?
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Aiko
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Re: help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by Aiko »

I sowed them in well sterilised soil directly in the pot. They should germinate rather fast (within two weeks) if the seeds are any good. I have sown in April, in an unheated greenhouse, besides the (size of the) pot everything was the same as with all my other succulents I sow. I have no experience sowing in window sills.
PseudolithosLover
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Re: help growing Welwitschia mirabilis indoors

Post by PseudolithosLover »

Ok, thanks so much :)
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