Friday, July 5, 2013

New: Nananthus aloides

Got this one from ebay because it looked weird. I like weird. On the pic it seems to be bigger but the pot it 5x5cm which makes it even more attractive to me - the smaller the better. :)

4 comments:

  1. Great! Like it too. And it seems the plant isn't too young despite its size.

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    1. I need to figure out how to care for it properly as soon as possible.

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  2. Hi Rika, Looks like your Nananthus aloides has a bit of age, very nice character with the stems visible. Somewhere beneath there should be a tuberous root. The tuberous root is edible if you ever need an emergency snack. :) I have grown N. transvaalensis but not aloides. Both are suggested as winter hardy in my area. I tried N. transvaalensis in my winter hardy cactus planting, but unfortunately, it was not rabbit hardy. Another nice snack for local wildlife. How long have you had this plant? They really need a lot of sunlight, but your plant still looks compact. If you have had it for more than several months, you've done a very good job with it, considering your weather conditions. Hopefully you are having some sunny days now. Today (July 5) we had sun all day and a high temperature of 34 C., but it was very humid - not what mesembs like. Take care. Bob

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    1. Oh no, Bob, I just got it so all the praise and compliments must go to the previous owner! :)
      I wouldn't dare to eat the tuberous root even in an emergency, haha. I've buried it so that the stems would have more support. I'm also worried about the light conditions for it at my place but hope to compensate with little watering. I'll do my best to keep it compact, pumice should help. As it arrived the stems were all soft and I gave it some water to bring it in shape. This should be enough for a longer while, I think.
      Your rabbits are evil. Growing hardy mesembs outside is an interesting idea, it just needs some thinking about how to prevent such things, hm.. Growing them on the roof or something :)
      The weather here was very unstable recently but they promise sunlight for the whole next week with temperatures 23-26C°. Finally.

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