Wednesday, August 3, 2011

seedlings report

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 what they look like after the change.
The most recent lesliei ssp. burchellii C308 were sown in late June (50 out of 50). Pumice really works great. After the germination there are no losses at all even though I don't care for them other than watering and providing a shade when it's too sunny.
I've sown optica 'Rubra' C287 and julii ssp. fulleri 'kousougyoku' on Saturday. Will report as soon as there's something to report :)

7 comments:

  1. Very nice. Excellent germination and growth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am amazed by the rate of germination that you achieve. Keep up the good work !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Luther! Now I only need to keep them alive :)

    Philippe, I think, maybe lesliei germinate best just because they're lesliei. i've always had good rates with them :) the recently sown julii on the contrary seem to have more troubles. i wished i could sow more but there's just no more room at the moment..
    thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Rika, I finally found pumice here in Sweden, in IKEA! now I want to try to grow lithops in it. I also want to sow some lithops seeds. Do you mix the pumice with something else??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sonia :)

      I do not mix anything in the pumice, just use it pure. I buy mine from cono's paradise though. No idea if the substrate from IKEA is the same. Good luck with your sowing!

      Delete
  5. http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/indoor-gardening/indoor-growing-accessories/v%C3%A4xer-growing-media-pumice-stones-art-00317650/

    can´t wait to use it! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice! It looks exactly like mine :D
      Have fun with it~

      Delete