Peatmoss
Carnivore
Hi All,
I've been on a bit of a succulent bender lately, and have started a couple of species from the Aizoaceae from seed. These are interesting plants to start because they germinate very quickly (I had one lithops germinate in less than 48 hours), and they put on an impressive initial growth spurt, before (I assume) slowing down. I've had much better luck starting them than cacti, which I mostly managed to germinate and then quickly turn to mush.
Lithops dorotheae, sown on Feb 25th, 2020.
Lithops bromfieldii, sown on Feb 25th, 2020.
Titanopsis hugo-schlechteri, Sown Feb 25th, 2020.
This is a very fresh (2 days from germination) seedling of Monilaria moniliformis, sown on March 16th, 2020.
All the seedlings were sown on an entirely inorganic media (aquarium sand, perlite, vermiculite, and a thin layer of silica sand on the surface) that were held in high humidity while sitting in trays of water until the last of the seeds had germinated, and then moved into ambient humidity and allowed to dry. I'm still new at growing these so I'm not sure this is the best way to do things, but I didn't have any issues with mould, compared to the cacti seeds I placed on a media with organic components which got mouldy and dead very quickly. The Lithops and Titanopsis seeds are from Valley Succulents and the Monilaria seeds are from UnusualSeeds.
Can't resist adding a photo of a relatively recently acquired Lithops fulleri (I think this is actually considered a subspecies of Lithops julii) that's in the splitting stage. These plants are really neat, but they trouble the part of me that likes to keep my plants wet.
Cheers,
Gabe
I've been on a bit of a succulent bender lately, and have started a couple of species from the Aizoaceae from seed. These are interesting plants to start because they germinate very quickly (I had one lithops germinate in less than 48 hours), and they put on an impressive initial growth spurt, before (I assume) slowing down. I've had much better luck starting them than cacti, which I mostly managed to germinate and then quickly turn to mush.
Lithops dorotheae, sown on Feb 25th, 2020.
Lithops bromfieldii, sown on Feb 25th, 2020.
Titanopsis hugo-schlechteri, Sown Feb 25th, 2020.
This is a very fresh (2 days from germination) seedling of Monilaria moniliformis, sown on March 16th, 2020.
All the seedlings were sown on an entirely inorganic media (aquarium sand, perlite, vermiculite, and a thin layer of silica sand on the surface) that were held in high humidity while sitting in trays of water until the last of the seeds had germinated, and then moved into ambient humidity and allowed to dry. I'm still new at growing these so I'm not sure this is the best way to do things, but I didn't have any issues with mould, compared to the cacti seeds I placed on a media with organic components which got mouldy and dead very quickly. The Lithops and Titanopsis seeds are from Valley Succulents and the Monilaria seeds are from UnusualSeeds.
Can't resist adding a photo of a relatively recently acquired Lithops fulleri (I think this is actually considered a subspecies of Lithops julii) that's in the splitting stage. These plants are really neat, but they trouble the part of me that likes to keep my plants wet.
Cheers,
Gabe