Lithops and Conos this year

gunhat · Post by **gunhat** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:24 pm

I have sown most of my plants from seed. I started (in a greater scale) in 1992, and must have sown more then 1000 seeds over the years. Now I have about 500 seedgrown cacti and 250 different succulents, mainly Lithops.

Lithops and Conophytums germinate well. I have had greater difficulties with the small seeds of Parodia (microsperma group).

This is seeds sown spring 2007:

parodias · Post by **parodias** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 7:11 pm

Impressive ! I still have a lot to learn in sowing Lithops .. so I have some Q's for you too

Can you describe your sowing drill ? and what is your soil composition ? are you exposing the plants to full sunshine ?
They seem to grow a lot faster than mine ! Are these in 5cm sq pots ?

(OTOH .. I know how to sow microsperm Parodia

I probably raised some 2000 plants over the last 15 years if not more and just about under a 1000 are still in my collection + the Bolivian ones which are non-microsperms. The "missing part" has gone back to the people for whom I did the sowings and who kindly provided me with the seeds)

gunhat · Post by **gunhat** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:58 pm

The pots in the picture are 6 cm wide. I protect my plants from the sun by transparent paper. I now by my Lithops from a Belgian firm - they have everything. There you will also find a sowing guide.

Link: http://users.skynet.be/fhoes/rsasucculents/index.htm

iann · Post by **iann** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:55 pm

They're all looking good!

parodias · Post by **parodias** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:16 pm

gunhat wrote:The pots in the picture are 6 cm wide. I protect my plants from the sun by transparent paper. I now by my Lithops from a Belgian firm - they have everything. There you will also find a sowing guide.

Link: http://users.skynet.be/fhoes/rsasucculents/index.htm

Ha I see .. from Francois Hoes .. thnx I know him .. he's having an open house in September

I intend to be there !

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:40 am

Those are some fantastic seedlings. I've always wanted to try growning lithops from seed (although finding lithops seed around here is a bit tricky!), so that link will be quite helpful.

parodias · Post by **parodias** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:08 am

Lachy wrote:Those are some fantastic seedlings. I've always wanted to try growning lithops from seed (although finding lithops seed around here is a bit tricky!), so that link will be quite helpful.

FYI
Axel Neumann in Germany is also a very good source for seeds & plants .. I ordered my seeds from there.

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:20 am

FYI
Axel Neumann in Germany is also a very good source for seeds & plants .. I ordered my seeds from there.

That would be a good idea, except for the fact that we have some extremely tight quarantine and customs laws here. Importing plant material into the country is really, really difficult. If anything, I'd have to source the seeds from within Australia. It's a real shame, but it's just the way it is.

parodias · Post by **parodias** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:45 am

Lachy wrote:
FYI
Axel Neumann in Germany is also a very good source for seeds & plants .. I ordered my seeds from there.
That would be a good idea, except for the fact that we have some extremely tight quarantine and customs laws here. Importing plant material into the country is really, really difficult. If anything, I'd have to source the seeds from within Australia. It's a real shame, but it's just the way it is.

I suspected something like that .. quite funny as the strict application of CITES rules has been somewhat weakened down for seeds exchange .. but then there is that phytosanitary bit of the exchange isn't it ?

Lachy · Post by **Lachy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:55 am

parodias wrote:I suspected something like that .. quite funny as the strict application of CITES rules has been somewhat weakened down for seeds exchange .. but then there is that phytosanitary bit of the exchange isn't it ?

Yeah, I strongly suspect that CITES has little to do with it, and rather our extremely strong laws to protect our borders from invasive species and plant pathogens are at work here.

parodias · Post by **parodias** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:04 am

Lachy wrote:
parodias wrote:I suspected something like that .. quite funny as the strict application of CITES rules has been somewhat weakened down for seeds exchange .. but then there is that phytosanitary bit of the exchange isn't it ?
Yeah, I strongly suspect that CITES has little to do with it, and rather our extremely strong laws to protect our borders from invasive species and plant pathogens are at work here.

Well If I remember correctly you guys had something like "a bit of a problem" after the introduction of some Opuntia species "a while ago"