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.

New year, new life for lithops - part 1 (12 pics)

These past several days it was sunny at last and lithops are known to react to that. They're not wasting time. All of a sudden new shiny faces started popping up here and there. What was taking months to prepare progresses very quickly when spring comes. Some still have lots of resources to recycle, others have regenerated completely and are just sitting there, waiting for their first watering to start growing. Most of the plants below are my good friends since years and it's always a relief to see them go through their annual cycle timely and in a proper manner. The shapes and colors are all I can wish for, too. It really is absolutely possible to grow short and flat plants on a sunny windowsill in Europe, don't get discouraged! The trick is in watering timing, substrate and maybe in the small size of the pots, too. But it IS possible to grow them well year after year without artificial light, and if you like these plants you should try it ;)

C363 L. fulviceps 'Aurea' and C384 L. pseudotruncatella v. dendritica sharing a container. I should probably separate them but they're such good neighbors. 

Aureas are very pretty indeed.

So are their milky relatives C222 L. fulviceps v. lactinea.

This one is a bit shy but will spread its wings once watered.

C006 L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. minor are from the bunch of my very first seedlings, sown in 2008. New leaves are glistening in the sun. Love them!

These C382 L. bromfieldii v. glaudinae hatched in 2010 and are always a beautiful, natural sight during leaf change.

C362 L. bromfieldii v. insularis 'Sulphurea' are supposed to get new heads every year. Mine doesn't go beyond four.

C392 L. aucampiae 'Storm's Snowcap' are changing nicely but only when they are kept small. In my experience any fat aucampiae (normally one from a hardware store) will choke on its old leaves. 

L. dorotheae have accumulated a lot over the year, as always, even though I barely water them and never fertilize. Nevertheless they regenerate without a problem every year (good metabolism? :D ) so I don't mind.

C300 L. dorotheae

L. dorotheae de Boer (photobombed by a Braunsia)

I'll post more photos soon!

Lithops experiment part 5 (4 pics)

Continuing the series about three overgrown lithops and an attempt to save them and get them into proper shape, here is the most recent development.

The lithops were shrinking as expected, however I fear I noticed way too late, that the tallest one had grown the new leaves inside to a size that is definitely too long for them! Actually, I wanted to cut it open before this happens, even though I understand that the'd be immature at that time, so it might have been bad either way. Now that I noticed, I've ripped the old leaves open to get some light upon the new ones and prevent them from growing even longer. I'm pretty sure I was too late but we'll see. I was afraid to miss the "point of no return" with the other plants so I've ripped another one as well. The third one doesn't show any signs of new leaves though, which is even more worrisome. Oh well, it is an experiment so we'll just have to wait and see. I guess, if they survive, it will be another year until they look normal.

For your future reference, if you buy cucumber shaped lithops, prepare to spend 2 years correcting them - in a best case scenario! It's really not worth it. In 2 years you can grow your own perfect little lithops kids from seed ;)

Lithops experiment part 4 (2 pics)

I thought I'll update you on the lithops rescue mission.

As you might remember these plants were seriously overfed while not receiving enough light (bottom shelf inside a hardware store) and I would normally leave them there because they would die anyway, no matter your good intentions. However this time I decided to get them as an experiment on how lithops plants at this stage of maltreatment might be rescued or even returned to the normal size and look with time. The idea was to withhold water until the new leaves of a much smaller size emerge. Which means these plants are now being without any water since June 18. I'm still far from being convinced that the mission will be successful. I reckon, once I can detect new leaves growing they might have a chance.

At the moment the plants are very wrinkled and have lost at least half of their size. Which was the goal from the start (just realized this was the exact wording in the first entry in June!). Now if the new leaves are already growing inside it will be much easier for them to consume the old leaves and come out safely the normal way, not through the sides. I have no means of knowing whether the new leaves are growing in the shorter plants but the cucumber (to be fair it really has improved over the months) is quite soft and when I squeeze the sides I actually can feel where the new leaves start already. It was a massive relief! Several more months and we will know the fate of these plants. I'll keep you updated.

Please see the previous related entries under tips and tricks.

Lithops experiment part 3

Well, this is not at all what I expected XD

Lithops experiment part 2 (2 pics)

It has been five weeks since I started the experiment to see if badly etiolated (is this the term for a plant out of shape due to a lack of light and too much watering?) lithops plants can be saved and corrected. Well, this is how far the plants are now. My initial plan was to make them wrinkle and shrivel to a better size to make it easier for the new leaves to come out next year. The pot was exposed to lots and lots of sun and heat and was not watered at all. In fact, I am not going to water them until next year. I was worried since they've never seen this much sunlight they'd get burnt but there was no problem with that.

Their current state is definitely an improvement. The two less longer plants are slowly nearing the "mark of shortness" I've set for them. The mark being as close as possible to the substrate level. The substrate level shortness is what I want for the long monster as well but it is not realistic within this year. It just needs to shrivel enough for the new leaves to come out of the side and all the "top" to be safely removed. At least that's my optimistic plan for it. Anyway, so far so good. Still alive!

Lithops experiment part 1 (7 pics)

Today I went to a hardware store in Luxembourg and did something I would not normally do - I bought three Lithops plants that are in such a bad shape I very much doubt they'll survive. The reason behind this is an idea I got from my previous post and the question if it is possible to not only save but also correct a plant that has been treated very badly for a long time. I will try this and document it here in the blog. I'm pretty sure the next entry will be "they all died" but this will at least tell you to avoid this kind of purchases ;)

So this is how they look like. All three are L. pseudotruncatella. They are bloated and cucumber-shaped.

This one has grown so long that the only solution I can see for it is that, if it survives until fall, the new leaves will break through at the root and the old ones can be cut off. No water until then.

The other two look slightly better and I'd say there is at least a chance of survival. They will not receive any water ever again until the new leaves come out. My plan is to make them shrivel to the half their present size. All three have good root system which means they are ready to fight but actually it doesn't matter much since they won't use them anyway. One of the plants was wrapped in old dried leaves and will be sensitive to the sunlight, I imagine. I will have to let them all get accustomed to it gradually. 

Now they are washed and will dry until tomorrow when I'll put them into dry pumice and the experiment can begin. The goal is to keep them alive and if successful to get them as close as possible to their normal shape (white Lithops in the square pot to the left). Also, when planting cucumber-shaped Lithops the worst thing to do is to bury them. It won't make things better. You only bury them as far as you wish them to be - if the plant should later be 1 cm high it should be planted 1 cm deep into the ground. With the cucumbers it will look ridiculous but better ridiculous now than dead later.

Wish me luck!