Cheiridopsis on a diet (4 pics)

A months ago I was struggling with the decision whether to keep watering the opportunistic Cheiris or diet them down to one pair of leaves. I decided that the smaller the plant the better, more natural looking and stopped watering. Some structure within the yearly growth cycle must be beneficial as well. I'm glad to report that the plants reacted very well to this treatment. Not only it improved their looks, it also shows that this is how they wanted to be treated to begin with. No, I'm not hearing voices in my head and my plants have not started talking to me. It feels right because the plants have reacted to the absent waterings in the way a plant preparing for rest would react. As soon as they noticed the drought they started using old leaves for resources. The newest leaves stayed firm and wrinkle-free while the old unnecessary leaves are shriveling. I hope to bring them to the state they had last July. If the plants had shriveled completely, old leaves and new, I would have aborted the mission.

Cheiridopsis brownii (MG 1365.4). Very close in looks to last July. I'm glad.

Cheiridopsis bruynsii (MG 1404.81).

Cheiridopsis excavata (MG 1375). Might be called Ihlenfeldtia excavata.

The strange Cheiridopsis meyeri v. minor have also reacted to the withdrawal of water by getting much closer to the looks they had last year. According to the books this is how it should be so I'm not questioning it. They look awful though XD

I've reduced watering to the huge Ch. denticulata as well but nothing can stop them now. They are pushing new leaves and even new branches like crazy no matter what I do.

Cheiridopsis meyeri v. minor or a different genus entirely? (2 pics)

This Cheiridopsis meyeri v. minor (MG 1385.9/SB766) is pretty different from the others. In fact, it is strange to me that someone named it Cheiridopsis at all. Maybe my information is outdated?

Firstly, it clearly has type A and type B leaves like those of Mitrophyllum or Monilaria. One pair is scissor like, the other is conjoined at the top to form a round bead. Secondly, it seems to follow a Mitrophyllum-like yearly growing pattern. It grows scissor leaves in the fall, followed by the conjoined round leaves and then, in spring, it slowly dries all leaves and completely sheaths over in summer.

My plants are a bit longish due to lack of light. And, since I realized its growing schedule is different from my other Cheiridopsis way too late, I only stopped watering recently, while I should have done it a couple of months ago if not earlier. For a long while I thought it needed water because it wrinkled, when in fact it was just preparing to sleep. Stupid me.

It is really important to know exactly how our plants are growing to support them accordingly, independent of the name. In this sense, can someone tell me whether this is a Cheiridopsis or not? I'm going to treat it like a Mitrophyllum, or Antimima maybe. I'm sorry I haven't realized it sooner, little planty.

Btw, I'd put Cheiridopsis peculiaris into the same category which should not be related to the common Cheiridopsis in terms of care.

Cheiridopsis on the windowsill (8 pics)

I have mentioned before that Cheiridopsis grow very well on a windowsill, in my unexperienced experience. They don't make any troubles and, unlike other mesembs, are able to grow to a large size under insufficient light conditions without losing attractiveness or having growth problems later. They grow here in small 5x5cm pots in pure pumice (no plant food) with little but regular watering throughout the year. This last part is what confuses me. They do seem to be opportunistic and will grow without a resting period if watered. They also retain two to three pairs of leaves at a time and there seem to be no need to let old leaves dry off before encouraging new growth. That's all fine and well, but I'd be more comfortable if they were on a fixed watering schedule. Maybe I'm thinking too much and should just accept their growing pattern and simply care for them as I did so far. It surely does not hurt. Except for the fact that they never flower ;) There's a chance that fixed watering schedule in support of a somewhat regulated yearly cycle might help with that. 

You already know the Ch. denticulata I've been growing since 2013. The plants are huge. Can't even fit them on a photo. I constantly feel the need to give them bigger pots but they seem to be fine just with occasional fresh substrate. Note that they are this "fat" without any fertilizer. They get watered a little only when they get wrinkly. I let them have two pairs of leaves at a time but try to water less when third is coming. They have enough resources to support it.

This Ch. cigarettifera however is the newest member of my Cheiridopsis gang. I just got two plants in February and am relieved they react to water. They seem to grow on stilts!

The guys below are some of those I got last year. They have all developed well since then. However, looking at last July's photos it seems that they were grown much stricter. Sure, they come from a greenhouse with much better light. But it seems to me they were allowed to have only one pair of leaves in Summer. Mine have two now. Does it mean I have to starve them from now on to achieve the same look this July that they had last July? It might be beneficial for the leaf color but it will break my heart at the same time. Tough decision.

Cheiridopsis brownii (MG 1365.4)

Cheiridopsis bruynsii (MG 1404.81)

Cheiridopsis excavata (MG 1375) This one might be called an Ihlenfeldtia excavata .

Cheiridopsis seem to be easy from seed, too. These are my own seedlings of Ch. pillansii (MG 1401.5), now exactly 2 years old. Out of 8 seeds 7 germinated and I still have all of them. Would recommend them to newbies ;)

Here are Ch. pillansii (MG 1401.5) I sowed from the same bunch of seeds almost two months ago. Cute babies!

Newcomers - other Mesembs (15 pics)

The other Mesembs I got in Essen mostly have familiar names but also some that are new to me. I'm very excited to grow them all on the windowsill.

My experience with Cheiridopsis was positive so far so I got more of them. Actually, thinking of Cheiridopsis, I imagine rather large plants but the ones I got are so small I could confuse them with Conophytums. I'll try to keep them in this size and shape.

This one is a Cheiridopsis, too! Who would have thought!

There are also two quite different Antimimas. The first one looks just like the Antimima fenestrata I already have now, all covered in dried up leaves, which is a relief. The second one I'd never take for an Antimima at all. But it's a cute little tree.

The young Nananthus margaretiferus came with a promise of beautiful flowers.

The Glottiphyllum neilii is the most compactly grown and intensely colored Glottiphyllum I've ever seen.

I also got a couple of tiny Trichodiademas. I'm still figuring them out. They seem to grow very slowly here.

The Ruschia unidens should become bushy in time.

The other plants are completely new to me and I'll have to read up on them first. The Hereroa looks like a pigmy version of an Ebracteola.

Chasmatophyllum musculinum seem to have beautiful see-through dots but the color is more of a Rabiea.

Erepsia lacera is something completely different with those razor blades for leaves.

And the Drosanthemum I can't even properly get into a picture. It looks very delicate and I'm afraid it might dry off those tiny leaves easily. Not sure if it means it should be watered more or not.

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 ;)

Cheiridopsis pillansii seedlings (3 pics)

To continue the Cheiridopsis theme, on April 20th I've sown some of the Cheiridopsis pillansii seeds I got from Mesa Garden this year. Almost all of them germinated on the second day and now they are growing their first true leaves already. The pics are very large but make sure to click on them to see the new tiny hairy leaves in all detail :)

Cute kids, huh? :)

Happy Cheiridopsis

I must be doing something right with these Cheiridopsis denticulata kids even though I have no idea what. They're just happy and grow like crazy (for mesemb standards). They've grown a second pair of those big and beautifully sculptured leaves and almost all of them have developed side shoots. One is even growing two new side branches now, going from one to four within a year. I hope they will keep this up and flower one day. They seem to find the condictions I can offer them not only acceptable but very enjoyable. :)

Cheiridopsis denticulata

I bought these Cheiridopsis denticulata (labeled candidissima) in June 2013 and was really worried how they will like my conditions. After all, they are my first Cheiridopsis and winter-growing mesembs are generally a bit tricky on a windowsill. Now I've had them for almost a year and they seem to have completed their yearly life cycle successfully. What a relief! Over the last months, starting as early as November, they've grown new leaves that are simply magnificent. The old ones are wrinkled but I'm allowing them to stay because accordning to my inside sources (Thank you Bob! ;) ) it is okay for them to have several pairs of leaves at a time. In fact one of the plants is pushing another pair (or dare I hope a flower?). 

All in all I'm very pleased they are happy with what I can give them in terms of sunlight and substrate and watering schedule. I will reduce waterings during the summer and reprise what I've been doing for the past year.

Not everything is this shiny with Cheiridopsis. Ch. peculiaris didn't make it as well as one of the 5 Ch. denticulata I initially had. Never started any new growth and just withered with time. Acclimation is hard.

Cheiridopsis peculiaris

This one sure looks... peculiar!

That's probably something everybody thinks when they first see it, including the person who named it.

Looking though the pictures online I still can't tell how exactly it grows. Is it like - first it grows those floppy leaves, than some fat round-ish ones with flowers inside and than floppy ones again? Does it have two monilaria-like sets of leaves? 

It does get a nice lilac color in the strong sun I'm very much looking forward to.

Overwintering our Mesembs (5 pics)

This is the time of the year all you northern hemisphere lithops growers have already stopped watering your plants. Basically, the best time for it is as soon as the beginning of October. If you have you might already catch a glimpse of the new leaves on some plants, especially if you peek inside. The first species to show new leaves at my place is usually L. fulviceps. They started early and are quite far along already, too.

All in all, with lithops, the overwintering situation is quite clear (speed-read this part): you stop watering in October and start when the new leaves have emerged and the old leaves are completely gone. So, no water until April or even May, depending on the weather i.e. light conditions.

As you know I got more and more interested in mesembs other than lithops and have acquired or grown from seed quite a few over the last couple of years. How to properly care for them during the darker months is still a mystery for me though. There is not much literature on this matter so that careful observation of the own plants hopefully can help to understand what to do. The correct watering schedule correlates directly with the shape of the plants. If you grow them under natural light like I do it will be very dark for them during several months, and if you water them too much they will grow in length until they stick to the windowpane. At the same time they will get weaker, the color will get paler and those pretty features like teeth on a Faucaria will disappear. So much for what we don't want to happen but how do we achieve the opposite?

Many of the mesembs actually "sleep" in the summer heat and start to grow in the fall and flower in winter or early spring. Which means they should get at least some water. The right amount to support the growth but not too much so that they grow unshapely and weak. Theoretically.

The mesembs I'm trying to figure out at the moment are Cheiridopsis denticulata and Stomatium trifarium. I keep watering all the others but very very little.

I was living under the impression that Cheiridopsis are only allowed to have one pair of leaves at a time but Bob pointed out to me that it's not the rule. Over the summer the plants have dried up one pair of leaves and I can see the next one emegring out of the remaining pair. As I understand it is okay for them to be watered a little depending on their looks, right? It's a long-eared species so it's impossible for me to tell if the leaves are too long. They do incline to the windowpane a lot though.

The thing with the Stomatium plants is the fact that I already did something wrong with the watering last winter and would like to avoid it this time. Occasional watering back then has resulted in uncontrolled growth and quick drying off of the older leaves. The whole plant looked really bad in spring but luckely its rapid growth means it can be easily corrected. I've cut off all the heads and rooted them. Even though it was a success at the end I don't really want to devide it into cuttings after every winter (but I will if I must). Also, I have two 5,5 months old seedlings that don't look any different from the cuttings of their mother plant. I would like to give all of them very little water during the winter or even keep them dry but my attempts haven't been successfull yet. They keep "asking" for water while getting wrinkly and soft instead of going into a low growth / low water consumption state. Unfortunately the light situation doesn't balance out the waterings. Do I keep trying to make them lower their appetite? Meaning water them less and less until they are okay with "nothing"? I'd really like to at least keep the seedlings in shape.

Cheiridopsis candidissima

These Cheiridopsis are new tenants on my windowsill. Thanks to Bob Stewart for pointing out that their proper new name is Ch. denticulata. :) I'm always very excited to grow new Mesembs so I'm looking forward to hopefully not killing them. These are winter growers and I'm still not sure about the watering schedule. It says you start watering in the fall when the old leaves have dried up and the new ones emerge. As I understand the old leaves are almost digested on these plants. But am I allowed to water them before fall or not? Many things to figure out... At the moment I just enjoy the view: beautiful velvety leaves with slightly see-through tips, very unusual rib-like shape and the shining cyan blue color.