Update on Crassula rupestris and other news (8 pics)

Before I post more on lithops I just wanted to make a quick update on some other things going on.

You might have seen some of it over on Twitter where I usually post small updates and random photos from the windowsill. Sometimes I'm excited about something but feel like it's not newsworthy enough for the blog. But I like writing here much more.

Remember the Crassula rupestris I was pruning and dividing into cuttings last month? All the pieces have rooted and started to grow new leaves and branches.

This one is overdoing it with the roots.

As you can see the roots are quickly growing. I pulled this one out just to make sure.

I am still waiting for the Frithia pulchra and Frithia pulchra f. rubra seedlings to bloom. Very curious to see if there is a difference between the flower colors.

And two of the Delospermas on my balcony are flowering beautifully. Cold overwintering outside was really beneficial.

Delosperma sp. 'garnet'

Delosperma sutherlandii

Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsis (3 pics)

It's spring for everybody!

I wanted to grow more Crassulas several years ago but was not very successful in it. I'm not that good with bigger plants. The only plant that stayed with me in its initial form is this Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsis. There is a good and a not-so-good side to this plant. The good side is that it is flowering a lot. And by that I mean really a lot. Like going on for half a year, at least. It's wonderful and beautiful and makes me happy. Unfortunately all this flowering leaves the plant very weak when it ends. The poor thing gets yellow and sad. And then the winter comes and it stays yellow and sad. I'm always worried it won't recover.

But then, when it gets sunnier and warmer outside, it starts pushing all those fresh green leaves with cute red tips and snowflake patterns. What a sight! All plumped up and pretty. The more leaves it grows during this short period of time the better. Because once it starts pushing flowers, almost no more new leaves will grow. 

Luckily the growth spurt is usually massive and you can easily get cuttings as backup copies. Mine have been flowering, too. And looking miserable afterwards. But like their mother plant they have recovered in the spring and are now perfect cute little planties, growing more branches out of their sides.

Crassula rupestris pruning (10 pics)

I continue to tidy up the windowsill. Today it's make-over time for the Crassula rupestris. This is actually this same plant only that the big main plant is at my parents home and what I have are cuttings. As you see, this one got completely out of hand. The "last year of darkness" has been tough on it. You can tell its story simply by looking at it. All the stretching when the sun wouldn't come out for weeks. Then I gave up on it. As usual, neglect is the best thing that could happen to succulents. And so, without water, the upper parts grew dense and pretty again this winter like they should. Even with a nice red tan.

Having limited space, I can not be growing this monstrosity. And so it's time to pick up the scissors and prune it into something better. Good thing Crassula rupestris plants (or maybe all Crassulas?) grow roots with no problem and are low-maintenance in general. So let's remove the stretched middle part then. I've done it several times before.

What I like to do is separate all "good" parts with dense growth from the ugly stretched, dry or damaged parts. You have to make sure that there is enough stem with a free node where the new roots can grow from easily. So you cut well into the stretched part, under the first node with leaves. Those leaves you can simply pull off, you don't need them.

If there is a nice cluster of leaves and branches close to the root you can keep it too. Argh, this pic is really out of focus. Sorry about that. Can't re-do it now.

After you remove all parts you don't want you will end up with a bunch of smaller good parts.

Some of them might be really good.

If you want to keep as much of the plant as possible you can also keep the slightly stretched parts if the leaves are meaty. Those will branch out and look much better soon.

And then you'll have some random parts because why not.

Stick all of them into the soil in an arrangement of your liking and that's it. They will soon be rooted and will grow into bushy little leaf balls. Good light and little water will keep them dense and bushy. But if things go wrong again - repeat the procedure.

Quick update on some plants (9 pics)

I've been a little busy but plant-watching on weekends is a MUST. So here are some observations :)

The little Aloinopsis schooneesii have started to grow after a winter pause. This one is still growing sets of three leaves.

I tore of a piece of my Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsis and it rooted even though I haven't expected it to do so. Nature finds a way.

There were two Deilanthe plants, both quite large. One has managed to successfully downsize while the other failed at it and eventually died. I strongly believe that when we buy rather large adult plants somewhere their survival depends on whether they can reduce their size. This goes mostly for lithops but some other mesembs as well.

I bough more Delosperma planties. D. sutherlandii this time :)

Mitrophyllum grande are digesting old leaves. Just a little more and they're done. Soon the new leaves will break through!

I haven't watered my Conophytums for a very long time (since November maybe?) and a couple of them are already through with the leaf change. A bit early, isn't it? The new leaves are already showing and I'm not sure whether I should start watering soon... Should I?

The Frithis humilis seedlings look great and enjoy the sun. Still no flowers though.

Recent flowers (8 pics)

I'm sorry I haven't been around for a while. It's been busy and stressful lately, I barely could look at my plants at all and I hope I can get to answering the emails soon... My life is mostly work and sleep and work. No time for a clear thought. 

I was trying to take pictures of the flowers in the evenings though. This is what has been flowering since my last post.

Lithops dorotheae C300 has skipped a year but developed a beautiful flower again this time.

Delosperma harazianum has opened another flower and is growing two more at the moment. Utterly cute!

Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsisis having a second wave of flowering (smells like cheese)...

... while Neohenricia sibbetii has grown its last flower for this season. It has been at it since May! It loves the company of an Adromischus by the way. I like to think that the pairing is mutually beneficial.

Once of the Stomatium alboroseum seedlings (even though it's not a seedling anymore) has grown a second flower this season which is pretty neat.

Two of the Conophytums are blooming, too.

As well as one of the Tanquana hilmarii plants.

All in all my plants are getting on with their lives perfectly without me...

Avonia & Crassula flowers and random seed capsules (3 pics)

I know I'm astonished myself at the amount of flower pics I'm posting this year. I guess it's the fact that we've been having a proper hot and sunny summer this year. The plants love it!

Now the pink flowering Avonia quinaria ssp. quinaria has opened its flower as well and I haven't missed it :) I'm getting heavily into Anacampseros/Avonia species lately, even ordered a book on them. My brain is preparing for the move into a new appartment with a balcony I haven't found yet XD

Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsis has been already blooming for a while now with the flowers opening gradually (and the smell getting more noticeable unfortunatelly haha). The bouquets are lovely though and I'm really glad the plant is feeling well and happy. Last time it was blooming in March so it looks like it's doing it twice a year.

Today I also was productive harvesting the seeds from a couple of seed pods. I've cross-pollinated Aloinopsis rosulata and Aloinopsis rubrolineata (just because they were flowering at the same time, not because I was attempting some hybrid or anything XD) and Aloinopsis rosulata actually grew a big fat seed capsule with ar least 500 seeds inside. Email me if you're interesed in some seeds of this kind of a cross.

Also, my intentional attempt to get a hybrid between Stomatium alboroseum and Neohenricia sibbetii bore fruit of 33 seeds. I've already sown some of them today and hope to see them germinate soon. Exciting!

Here's a size difference between the two.

Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsis (2 pics)

I'm really happy with how the Crassula ausensis ssp. titanopsis is turning out. After a rough start due to painful acclimation it has finally gotten used to the new situation and had a lot of flowers. Now it has a second wave of flowering, a smaller one, but still such a treat! 

If I focus the camera on the plant itself you can see new fresh leaves coming out from everywhere. ♡

Trichodiadema and Crassula flowers

Recently purchased Trichodiadema densum has opened a flower. Not white or yellow for a change :)

All the Crassula I have went through a long acclimation process, with growth stop, rotting and such, but at the end they got used to their new situation and two of them even flowered. Here is the cute little Crassula mesembryanthemopsis. It's strange to see so typically crassula-like flowers on such a mesemb-looking plant :)

Who am I? (2 pics)

Can you believe it's not a Mesemb?

This is the last of my recent Crassula purchases - Crassula mesembryanthemopsis. What a beauty!! The photo doesn't do it justice (click for xxl).

This plant came from a German grower. Big thank you to him~

Acclimation

I just realized that I haven't yet addressed the acclimation issue here directly but it is something all of us have good or not so good experiences with.

Obviously not every Lithops or other succulent we grow is the one we grew from seed. A lot of them were acquired as seedlings, cuttings or adults. You probably also have noticed that the plants you grew from seed are stronger and healthier and don't die that easily. They hatched in your particular conditions and are used to the care you give them. They accept what they get without complaining while the plants we receive as adults first need to learn and get accustomed to the new situation they find themselves in.

If you receive your new plant in the mail it's normally "bare-root" and you have no choice but to pot it. But also if you buy one in the local shop or at a nurcery, in its own pot and substrate, the first step should be re-potting. Even though it appears to not be helpful in terms of "easy transition" it's still important to 1) check the roots and 2) make sure there are no bugs. In case of a purchase from a local flower store I would highly recommend to "brutally" wash the plants under the tap until all the bits of soil are gone. It's okay if they lose most of the thin roots while you do so - they grow out very quickly.

Now that you've potted your new (dried after washing) plant into the dry soil mix of your choice (pure pumice for me) you're all excited and looking forward to seeing it flourish. After all you've done everything right and the conditions at your place are also right for the plant as you proved on your other similar tenants. 

But that's when acclimation comes into play.

First couple of months are critical. In case of Lithops you might first say the plant made it after a timely and successful regeneration which can be a year after purchase. Also, in case of Lithops usually the only way to detect that something went wrong is to find the plant dead one day. But if you see that the plant doesn't drink after the first watering (at least a week after transplanting) it isn't necessarily a bad sign. With the first watering the roots are just being reactivated and after the second and third watering they should start to react to water properly. Wrinkly state and no reaction to water is from my experience a typical acclimation behavior. The other and more dangerous one is rotting. Even in a dry substrate and minimum disturbance a plant might just "freak out". There's nothing you can do for Lithops if it happens. It's bad luck. With other plants that have more than 2 leaves at a time it's time to act. Dig it out, cut off all the rotting leaves and let it dry without substrate. Pot again only after you made sure that the rotting stopped and it doesn't lose any more leaves.

I currently have this scenario with my recently purchased Crassula 'Coralita'. Quite some of the older leaves have rotten off in a day so at the moment it lives upside down. No further damage since two days but I'll wait for several more days before I pot it again just to make sure. Patience is the key :)

Please share your experiences in the comments! I'd love to read your thoughts on this matter.

Crassula 'Coralita' (2 pics)

Here comes No. 2 of my recent purchases of compact-type Crassulas - C. 'Coralita'. I didn't know it before but Bob informed me that this is a hybrid cultivar from a crossing between C. perfoliata v. falcata (red flowers) and C. susannae (small size). Also, as the name probably suggests, its flowers should be pinkish-reddish. If you ask me what I like the most about this plant - the answer is on the second pic. The leaf surface looks like it was dipped into powdered sugar :)

PS: C. ausensis ssp. titanopsis is currently growing even more flower stalks *joy*