Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Five months in a lithops life

Being away from the action I'm slowly running out of (relatively new) pictures to show so here are 5 from the year 2008 I've shot out of curiosity.
People who see lithops for the first time often seem to think these plants take a long time to grow. I suppose, lithops fans know it to be wrong. :)
I've been taking pictures of a hookeri mix pot throughout 5 months to see how they change, and it's quite amazing how they've managed to outgrow this large pot by far in such a short period of time! (I guess this would look more impressive if I made a .gif pic out of it. I'll do that as soon as I've more time.)
Also, it's funny that these pictures were taken in summer and early fall - the period that is considered the resting period for lithops. Initially I intended to keep taking pictures of this pot for a whole year but I obviously miscalculated (or underrated the plants) so that they were squeezing each other out of the pot quite badly and had to be repotted soon after taking the October pic. The plants have turned out well, I'll keep featuring them separately in the future. This one and this one are from this mix.

PS: I'm going to Tokyo soon. Since I'm not visiting the nurseries, I'll at least try to check out the succulent shops. I'll let you know if I find anything :)

2 comments:

  1. Very nice. I'm quite surprised at the growth rate. I've only just started with them and the seedlings have grown much more quickly than I would have expected. I'm glad this growth continues past the seedling stage.

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  2. Thank you Aerelonian! lithops grow a lot throughout the year, it's fun to watch. :) although they get two times smaller again after every annual change (unless they get two-headed), they regain all this quickly.
    i also find it interesting how much their colors change as they grow. at the end of the year you almost see a different plant haha

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