Posts

Showing posts from August, 2011

lithops problems

Image
As a lithops owner you know how difficult it is to find the best care in the conditions you can provide. It takes time and attention and works only by trial and error. Too hot, too cold, too wet - the plants life and wellbeing depends on the right balance. And still, even if you think you've figured it out, lithops can surprise you, in a positive as well as in a negative way. Sometimes they wither without any warning and sometimes a plant you've almost given up survives and gets better. Here's an example of the latter: The fulviceps v. lactinea (C222) from this bunch refused to regenerate for almost two years and now you can say it looks "very interesting" at best. I didn't have much hope for it and yet it's still alive and is pushing up two heads of new leaves! Its neighbor had the same problem but is a bit further along. Never give up on these guys :)

Transplanting a lithops (video)

Image
 I'm fighting mealy-bugs again. Is there a way to get rid of them for good? It is an epic battle, really. The only good thing about mealy-bugs is that they kill slowly and you can rescue the plant in time if you notice them (which means you notice that the plant isn't doing so well). The bad thing is they just crawl back from other pots. Re-potting the whole collection and growing them in vacuum after that may help, I guess. Is there something you can add to the soil mix or something that can be dissolved in water to keep them away? Spraying is obviously pointless. On this occasion I've made a video on how to transplant a lithops plant into pumice/bims. Some people seem to have troubles with it. It works best if the stones aren't dry as dust (but also not wet, of course). The pumice you see in the video is just like it comes from cono's paradise .

bromfieldii seedlings

Image
It's been way too hot these couple of days. My youngest seedlings burn without a shade and get cooked with it. If  it doesn't get cooler today they'll have to move under my table lamp or something (I really need a bigger apartment).  These bromfieldii v. glaudinae are just a little younger than lesliei v. mariae , but a couple of them have already changed for the second time.

little gracili

Image
Continuing the posts about seedlings, here come the gracilidelineata which are one year younger than the plants from the previous post (more here ). There are three more of them but weaker and therefore in the "magic pot" (It IS magical! I put all the weak plants in it and they just start to thrive!)

first seedlings

Image
My very first seedlings are already 3 years old. They might be to small for their age but since they're my first attempt I very proud of them. You can see more of these guys here . ;)

flower XXL

Image
Amazing how huge a lithops flower can get after only a couple of days!

Update on the other helmutii

Image
Here is the guy that got me worried in winter. Old leaves have grown too big so I've cut them open to prevent the new ones from doing so as well. It all went well but I see now that this helmutii family tends to get fat and needs a diat from time to time. And here is the one with a weird head I've shown you before . 

yesterday

Image
Otzeniana flower

venteri x3

Image
I've bought these lithops a while ago (back when I still had a little space for them). Have I mentioned I liked lesliei? Well, the reason for this purchase was to obtain some sort of a venteri set :) They do look similar, only differ from each other in the window size, I guess. Can you say, without reading the captions, which ones are C001, C047 or C153? ;) To complete the set there's also a venteri C001A, 'Ventergreen', featured here before .

helmotzeniana

Image
The five-headed helmutii has gotten huge compared to April . L. otzeniana wasn't that lucky this year: it had to deal with mealy bugs, was weakened and lost a couple of heads. It is about to bloom at the moment but I'm not sure if it's a good sign or a swan song.

seedlings report

Image
Just a quick update on this year's seedlings :) I've sown these two species on the 28th of January. They should be around five months old now and are in the middle of changing into their first 'real' leaves. Lesliei 'Fred's Redhead' are really very dark, as you can see from the one kid that has already changed. I'm very excited to see them all renewed, can't be long now. (There are 14 seedlings out of 16 sown seeds) Steineckeana are further along and almost look like grown-ups with their very specific shape. (23 seedlings out of 24 seeds) The next two were sown in April and don't look like much yet. Lesliei 'Greenhorn' (44 seedlings out of 50 seeds harvested in February) Lesliei 'Ventergreen' (11 seedlings out of 12 seeds). These are from a seed capsule I believed to be empty. The parent plant didn't have a partner so I assumed any possible seeds wouldn't be viable. They've germinated just fine, can't wait to see ...

fulviflower

Image
Absolutely forgot to post a picture of the fulviceps . It was taken on the 1st of July. There's a seed capsule now but probably empty.

finally a sunny day

Image
Here we go (click for bigger pic)