Lithops experiment part 6 (2 pics)

Seeing that my last post about the troubled L. pseudotruncatella was back in December it's time to update you on their progress.

Yes, they are still quite ugly. My hopes of getting them into good shape within one regeneration cycle were too much but hey, no rush. Simple survival goes first. On the survival front I guess they are at 50%. The best looking plant out of three has perished - go figure! Another has lost one head. The balance is two plants, one and two heads.

It's almost May and they've been watered twice so far. They react well to water and, even though they are still way too long, they don't get any longer but bigger and more substantial instead. I intend to be very strict with them so they'll need their strength later. Long way ahead of them.

You can read up on the lithops experiment here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Much anticipated flower

I have something to be excited about these days. This is my own Titanopsis primosii seedling :)

Haworthia limifolia: Stray observations (3 pics)

Plants can have very different appearances depending on the conditions they grow in. While potting the plant from yesterday's post I wondered at how different it is from its own cutting that has been growing at my place all this time when the other was at my parents'. 

They are the SAME plant! Literally. The "piece" to the left was grown with little water (due to absent roots) and looks more like a H. limifolia to me, actually, long, thin, slightly curved leaves. No idea about the light conditions. The one to the right has been watered and repotted regularly while growing in a sunny spot. It has short thick leaves that barely "spin". If I didn't know better I would think they are different kinds of Haworthia. Can't say which appearance is better or healthier or more natural. Crazy plants.

Haworthia limifolia in a little bit of trouble (7 pics)

A couple of days ago I got an inquiry from someone who was worried about their Haworthia limifolia's wellbeing but only today I realized that I actually have a plant matching the description at hand! Every once in a while my mother, who deeply dislikes succulents because they are not flashy-showy enough, brings me back some plants she had in her custody during my last years at the university. She tends to unwittingly mistreat the plants she doesn't like, never listening to my suggestions. Her flower garden looks amazing though. Well, some of the succulents she brought were ready for the plant heaven. Among the others was a Haworthia limifolia I set aside to inspect further later, as it didn't look bad to me. In fact, it is the same plant I wrote about in this post.

I followed my own advice and pulled it out of the pot. Actually I didn't even have to pull because the roots were all dead and it was not clinging to anything. I'd say this is how overwatering looks like. The roots just rot away. 

Just to remind you, this is how Haworthia limifolia's roots can look like when grown in pumice.

This plant is a cutting from the plant above, by the way.

*scroll... scroll... scroll... scroll...*

No roots left, it seems. But wait! What is that? ;)

If you pull away the dry bottom leaves you will see fresh new roots growing. I'll pot the plant and its cutting separately. There will be more roots than plant in no time.

Cheiridopsis meyeri v. minor or a different genus entirely? (2 pics)

This Cheiridopsis meyeri v. minor (MG 1385.9/SB766) is pretty different from the others. In fact, it is strange to me that someone named it Cheiridopsis at all. Maybe my information is outdated?

Firstly, it clearly has type A and type B leaves like those of Mitrophyllum or Monilaria. One pair is scissor like, the other is conjoined at the top to form a round bead. Secondly, it seems to follow a Mitrophyllum-like yearly growing pattern. It grows scissor leaves in the fall, followed by the conjoined round leaves and then, in spring, it slowly dries all leaves and completely sheaths over in summer.

My plants are a bit longish due to lack of light. And, since I realized its growing schedule is different from my other Cheiridopsis way too late, I only stopped watering recently, while I should have done it a couple of months ago if not earlier. For a long while I thought it needed water because it wrinkled, when in fact it was just preparing to sleep. Stupid me.

It is really important to know exactly how our plants are growing to support them accordingly, independent of the name. In this sense, can someone tell me whether this is a Cheiridopsis or not? I'm going to treat it like a Mitrophyllum, or Antimima maybe. I'm sorry I haven't realized it sooner, little planty.

Btw, I'd put Cheiridopsis peculiaris into the same category which should not be related to the common Cheiridopsis in terms of care.

Cheiridopsis on the windowsill (8 pics)

I have mentioned before that Cheiridopsis grow very well on a windowsill, in my unexperienced experience. They don't make any troubles and, unlike other mesembs, are able to grow to a large size under insufficient light conditions without losing attractiveness or having growth problems later. They grow here in small 5x5cm pots in pure pumice (no plant food) with little but regular watering throughout the year. This last part is what confuses me. They do seem to be opportunistic and will grow without a resting period if watered. They also retain two to three pairs of leaves at a time and there seem to be no need to let old leaves dry off before encouraging new growth. That's all fine and well, but I'd be more comfortable if they were on a fixed watering schedule. Maybe I'm thinking too much and should just accept their growing pattern and simply care for them as I did so far. It surely does not hurt. Except for the fact that they never flower ;) There's a chance that fixed watering schedule in support of a somewhat regulated yearly cycle might help with that. 

You already know the Ch. denticulata I've been growing since 2013. The plants are huge. Can't even fit them on a photo. I constantly feel the need to give them bigger pots but they seem to be fine just with occasional fresh substrate. Note that they are this "fat" without any fertilizer. They get watered a little only when they get wrinkly. I let them have two pairs of leaves at a time but try to water less when third is coming. They have enough resources to support it.

This Ch. cigarettifera however is the newest member of my Cheiridopsis gang. I just got two plants in February and am relieved they react to water. They seem to grow on stilts!

The guys below are some of those I got last year. They have all developed well since then. However, looking at last July's photos it seems that they were grown much stricter. Sure, they come from a greenhouse with much better light. But it seems to me they were allowed to have only one pair of leaves in Summer. Mine have two now. Does it mean I have to starve them from now on to achieve the same look this July that they had last July? It might be beneficial for the leaf color but it will break my heart at the same time. Tough decision.

Cheiridopsis brownii (MG 1365.4)

Cheiridopsis bruynsii (MG 1404.81)

Cheiridopsis excavata (MG 1375) This one might be called an Ihlenfeldtia excavata .

Cheiridopsis seem to be easy from seed, too. These are my own seedlings of Ch. pillansii (MG 1401.5), now exactly 2 years old. Out of 8 seeds 7 germinated and I still have all of them. Would recommend them to newbies ;)

Here are Ch. pillansii (MG 1401.5) I sowed from the same bunch of seeds almost two months ago. Cute babies!

Plant similarities (5 pics)

I wanted to write something clever about how Neohenricia sibbetii and Delosperma sphalmantoides are similar in looks and growing pattern when in fact I just wanted to post a couple of pictures I recently took of these two plants. They have finally started growing after their winter rest and show off their beautiful leaf tips in the mild spring sunlight. 

Even though they don't grow new leaves in the fall and winter months I've been watering them a little once in a while when I felt they looked too sad. They reacted by getting firmer but never by proper new growth. It's nice to see them happier now that spring has come. Both species dry off patches of leaves in the fall making them look scruffy but it all gets better once they start growing and cover the bald spots. In fact they will grow out of their containers before you know it! Neohenricia goes "overboard" every year and within 3 years since I've had it it went from half a pot to two pots and several cuttings I gave away. D. sphalmantoides is slower. I've had two plants, one of which was spreading like crazy just to dry off leaves rapidly at some point without compensation. It died soon after. The one that is left is more compact and I try not to stimulate rapid growth. It is important that there is a balance between growing new leaves and drying off old ones. I reckon, when it grows too many new leaves it leads to problems later as it will have to keep it up. Better to have it grow few new leaves and dry off few. I'm still figuring out how to achieve that. Probably diet.

The flowering pattern is completely different for these two species. While Neohenricia flowers eagerly all summer long (at night!), D. sphalmantoides only sometimes graces me with flowers in spring. Does not look like it's gonna happen this year though. But, as with so many other plants, I am content with looking at their leaves and see flowers as a rare treat, not a rule.