Other developments (12 pics)

There are other things I noticed on the windowsill recently.

For example, I was very surprised to find a seed pod on my Argyroderma crateriforme. The plant flowered out of two heads this year: one flower wilted into nothing, the other however has developed a fruit. Not sure what happened there as I haven't pollinated it. I only have this one Argyroderma plant. If there are some viable seeds inside it would be interesting to see what kind of plants will germinate.

Then, there are the Adromischus marianae v. herrei I'm totally fascinated by. That's no news to you. I post about them frequently. But they are so worth a closer look all around the year.

I was under the impression that they grow very slowly. And so it was surprising to see that, actually, some plants have had a huge leap in development. The leaf cuttings that have started growing own leaves in April (left pic) now look almost like adult plants!

The red-ish specimen has grown a lot of new leaves over the year, too. It was barely growing last year but this year there is a big progress. The photo to the left was taken in June.

By the way, notice how red it was last winter? We had good light and I was keeping it dry. This teaches us not to trust all we see on Ebay. Red cultivars are being in high demand and very expensive. Not all would be proper cultivars though. Sometimes it's just sun tan. Once they transfer from a sunny greenhouse to an environment with less sufficient light they very well might turn green on you. 

The mother plant of the leaf cuttings above and its previous cuttings however haven't grown much. I blame the flowering. They spend all their energy on those huge inflorescences they grow all summer. They look impressive and I was happy to watch them grow and the flowers open. Unfortunately while the inflorescence is there the plant does not grow any new leaves at all. I'd like them to rather grow leaves and so, I think, next year I won't let them grow flowers. There is no chance of seeds anyway as all of my plants are clones of one and the same plant and are genetically identical.

And as for the seedlings, they are still alive. But not more than that. Just tiny green blobs sitting on the pumice. No sign of a second leaf yet. It's been 6 months.

Oh, and this is what I was talking about when I said Anacampseros look dead right now. Not all are this dramatic but you can see how depressing it looks.

No news from lithops and conos. Lithops are growing new leaves on the inside. Conophytums are preparing to sleep already.

At least this Titanopsis calcarea seems to be growing flowers. That's something to look forward to (unless it aborts them).

And here's one bonus picture to end on a high note :)

Argyroderma crateriforme flower (6 pics)

I'm so happy and excited that this plant has decided to flower! :)

It is gorgeous and a bit crazy. Does the name crateriforme come from the inside of the flower?

I have never watched an Argyroderma flower bud develop and I found it very curious how different it is from the usual mesemb flowers I've had so far. Okay, maybe it's not that different but it definitely looks different to me. 

The mesemb flower buds I've seen on my windowsill so far were elongated with tips of the petals showing at some point before the flower opens. The Argyroderma bud started as something round and flat, almost looking more like a seed pod than flower bud. 

It grew larger and when the sepals parted a bit you could see that the petals are actually curved inwards, folded with their tips toward the "crater". 

It stayed like this for a while and then yesterday suddenly it "erupted" and the petals darted out. It stayed like this until today.

It was sunny today and the flower finally opened. I'm so glad I could witness it!

Breaking news! Argyroderma crateriforme growing a flower

I can not believe this is happening!

This senior citizen has caused me some worry in the past. When I first got it I worried about its poor roots. With time I learned it is actually normal and okay for these plants to economize on root development. Then, I worried about rotting. With such a beautiful beard of old leaf layers (how old might it be, I wonder) it might be rotting somewhere inside if drops of water linger too long. Having it grow in pure pumice and in the very top layer of it with all the beard on top to dry in the sun if necessary as well as extremely reduced waterings has reduced my fears as well. I worried it would abandon one of the heads, at some point, but it didn't. And so I thought keeping it alive was an achievement on its own. I never thought it would actually flower one day! I know it might be a bit too early and it might abort the bud but I'm too excited not to share this news :)

Argyroderma crateriforme, put on record (2 pics)

I bought this "senior" plant two years ago and, not having any experience with Argyroderma in general and senior plants in particular, I've been worried about it ever since. Looks like it was not necessary. The plant is just doing its thing with very little support. 

The roots tend to dry off as soon as the substrate is dry. The plant seems to barely cling on to anything. It feels like it sits completely loose in the container. It doesn't ask for water much. And so, every time I actually need to water it, I worry the roots won't "wake up". They always do. Probably because fine roots grow just as quickly as they wither. I was worried the bulk of old leaves would start to rot but being located overground and on top of pumice, there's no sign of it. At one point I thought one of the heads will die off. This was also unfounded.

All in all, this plant seemed like a trouble maker but it really isn't. It's a pretty laid back kind of plant as the below quotes will demonstrate.

"She is watering me again. Doesn't she know I don't need it now? It's okay human, you'll learn."

"Bad weather? No sunlight? Never mind, I'll just nap a little longer."

"You think my roots are not good? My roots are just fine and completely enough for what I need, thank you. Worry about your own roots."

"Human stop fussing. You made my beard wet. I know you didn't mean to. It'll dry."

"So, you've accidentally pulled me out of my bed for the tenth time. Can't you just let me sleep?.... No, my roots are fine. Go away."

Wintergrowers (4 pics)

I'm still figuring out the so-called winter-growing mesembs and so far I couldn't really see any particular growing in winter for some reason. All the detectable growing started about a month ago, which is in March. Before that they were seemingly sound asleep.

New and perfect leaves are showing up on the old Argyroderma crateriforme. The smaller 3rd head also has something inside but I think it will die off eventually like it's counterpart. Argyrodermas seem to have very shallow roots. This plant is hopping out of the pot a lot when the roots are inactive and I need to weigh it down with something. 

I'm keeping all Conophytums dry. I read that's what you do. We'll see how this'll play out. Basically they should become dry shells and after a while apparently new leaves will come out. In theory. I sure hope so. Otherwise they will just dry and die I guess. Nevertheless, I can see new leaves shining through on this Conophytum pellucidum (with a long name) at least, so that's a relief. No idea about the others. They are very wrinkly though.

Looks like my Cheiridopsis are enjoing whatever comes their way. The care is quite easy and more or less intuitive (good word for when you don't know what you're doing haha). I really want to grow more of this species. The one year old Cherry kids (C. pillansii) are doing fine and growing new leaves.

The grown ups are showing new leaves, too. And even new branches! Bigger pots required once I get that pane for the windowsill. On the left side of the picture there are two Mitrophyllum grande plants. They're not very "grande", as you see, compared to the Cheridopsis (they are all in 5x5cm pots). These plants are a great success! Well, if by success we understand "yay, they're still alive". You can see the A-leaves and the B-leaves. And I think the next A-leaves are about to break though. Probably the older A-leaves should have dried off by now, but okay, whatever floats your pot. I'm trying to be more tolerant of the private dealings of my plants ;)

Argyroderma crateriforme (update)

A little update on the Argyroderma with the "brutally washed" roots. I've planted it into pumice as soon as I could see the first hint of new white water absorbing roots. Fortunately it has been doing well and nicely reacting to water ever since. Now it stays wrinkle-less even in full sun. But we have to remember that like with most of the mesembs bought as adults it must stay alive and well for at least a year to be able to say it's out of the woods. 

This just in: Argyroderma crateriforme (3 pics)

I've received this Argyroderma crateriforme from ebay today. It looks like a really old one, with all those layers of dry old leaves. In my view it is just beautiful. :)

It has arrived bare root but just unpotted not cleaned. And it is pretty understandable because the roots and the substrate have merged into a solid mass. Maybe I made a mistake and I should have just left it like it is but I wanted to free the roots and let them breathe. Of course to do so I had to brutally wash it, while pulling out imbedded stones and soil and tear out roots themselves (at least they were dry and inactive which should have reduced the harm). At the end I could bare the roots but felt really bad I had to disturb the plant like this. Acclimation is hard even without such drastic procedures. 

Well, after all the washing I first let the plant dry - and it took a while because of all those layers of dry leaves. Then I was thinking of putting it in dry pumice and just hope for the best but I felt so uncomfortable doing that that I decided to construct a paper towel skirt instead. I thought this way I can stimulate and reactivate the roots in a controlled environment (it worked before) and make the towel/root wet without letting the moisture touch the countless layers of dry leaves that could start rotting very quickly and easily. The plan is to wait until new tiny white roots appear and then pot it into pumice substrate. At the moment I'm still afraid I made a big mistake but we'll see how it goes...  

New arrivals: Gibbaeum, Argyroderma and Ebracteola (4 pics)

I was able to free some room with magic (otherwise known as transplantation and clever tray placement) and could get myself more mesembs. I have several pots with seedlings that will need more room sometime soon but I'm going to ignore this fact for now ;)

The new guys are:

Ebracteola wilmaniae
It arrived with the rests of a flower. Nice light rose color and lovely see-through leaves.

Argyroderma fissum

I find it curious because if you think of an Argyroderma you think of a spheroid. This one has long leaves. A bit wrinkly but a week after this picture was taken it has shown a good growth. 

By the way, you can see a little clay jug (with a cat drown on it) to the right. This is what I use to water my plants from, i.e. to measure how much water they get per pot. The regular watering means half the jug for a pot just like on the picture below (ca 5x5x8,5 cm). I take a full jug if the plant is seriously thirsty.

Gibbaeum geminum

An old and beautifully bonsai-like plant. I actually got it under a name G. dispar but it is clearly not. It looks just like my younger G. geminum so I'm calling it that now.

My other Gibbaeum geminum are feeling fine sharing their pots with Conophytum, Adromischus and Neohenricia. :)