Lithops, my old friends (10 pics)

After yesterday's lithops post I've been feeling nostalgic, browsing through old photos and blog entries. Since I was talking about plants I've had for years I got curious and wanted to see what I wrote about them back then.

It's hard to decide whether it is depressing or uplifting to see those old photos. The plants I got as adults look just as fresh and shiny now as 8 years ago. There is no difference at all. Meanwhile I am getting older and for sure don't look the same. Yearly rejuvenation was a good choice.

Here is a photo of a L. dorotheae (C300) I took this week and here is the entry where I mention this plant for the first time, in 2010, when I was still in Japan.

These two I bought the same year in Japan as well. It is the "de Boer" variety of L. dorotheae with a stronger coloring. It seems back in 2010 these were the first L. dorotheae I grew.

And their own two-year-olds look promising, too.

This slightly unusual L. dorotheae (C300) has grown 2 heads compared to the 2012 photo. 

L. olivacea v. olivacea (C055). Such a happy plant first mentioned sometime in 2011.

And these guys! They are my absolute favorites! And it has nothing to do with the fact that they are the first Lithops I grew from seed back in 2008. Ok, it's partly the reason :D 

But they have the most perfect color, pattern and shape. Stunning plants. 10 years old now.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. minor (C006)

These L. bromfieldii v. glaudinae (C382) were sown in 2010. I can not believe they made it.

L. lesliei ssp. lesliei v. mariae (C141) from the same year. It took them several years to develop the typical mariae pattern and now here they are.

And of course the L. gracilidelineata from the year 2009. They survived my mother's generous care when I was studying in Japan and they have been flowering, too. 

Lithops make me feel old.

Random seedlings report (13 pics)

It's always fun to grow plants from seed. Even if you know approximately what to expect you never know what their growth pattern will be or how the seedlings will turn out in the end. It is even more fun to grow something from seed that you have not grown before. Sure, most of the time you are just guessing how to care for such seedlings. And you do make mistakes. But this is all part of the fun of discovery and will help you understand the plants later.

I have tried growing Conophytums from seed before but they either didn't germinate or died right after. And so I consider my latest attempt the actual first try. They went through a couple of leaf changes and they are still alive. Being one year old, they went to sleep in the spring just like adults. But they were so very tiny! I really didn't want to let them do that, thinking they need to get bigger first. They didn't listen, of course, and were just doing their thing. I woke them up again recently and luckily all of them seem to be alive underneath the sheaths. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to wake them up a month early but that's also part of the experience.

Conophytum pillansii

I'm happy to report that Oophytum nanum seedlings (1 year old) are also slowly coming out of their slumber. I was really worried they wouldn't.

Below are Meyerophytum meyeri (MG1778.65) seedlings I grew last year. Another of the firsts. The plants have turned out to be easy to grow and very eager to branch out. I understand, as winter growers, they also should be in sheaths but I didn't let them do that out of the usual concern - too young and small for such a long time without water. I worry too much. These guys are tough.

I liked them so much that I sowed more this year. They make very cute seedlings (2 months old).

Meyerophytum meyeri (MG1778.65)

Meyerophytum meyeri v. holgatense (MG1778.7)

My youngest lithops seedlings are too small for photos so I will report on the second youngest bunches. I still have some of the seedlings of which I don't know the names. A couple of them look like L. olivacea. The rest I'm still not sure. They are uniform though and once they are bigger I'll probably be able to match them with my sowing list of around that time (most likely C266). We'll see.

L. dorotheae de Boer from the seeds of my own plants are also growing. You can even already see the characteristic lines and dots and colors.

This year I'm also growing Neohenricia sibbetii (MG1782.12) from seed. Mainly because my own adult plants are all cuttings of the same plant and I'd really like to be able to produce seeds. It might take years until they flower.

Can you guess what these tiny blobs are? That's right, Adromischus mariannae v. herrei. This is the first time for me to attempt them from seed. They look crazy! Just spheres with a root. Really hope I won't kill them. Very curious to see them grow.

MG2129.54

MG2129.56


Last year all my Delosperma harazianum got eaten by bugs and then froze on the balcony where they and the bugs were banned to. So now I'm starting again from seed. They are already beautiful (3 months old). Now to keep mites away from them...

And these are the red flowering Delosperma "garnet" seedlings. Because why not :)

Lithops plant size: Part 1 (17 pics)

One of the most common questions I am asked is about the size of my lithops plants and pots. While the part about pots is easily answered - 5 x 5 cm and 8,5 cm deep - it doesn't exactly clarify how big the plants are. I'm always writing about "the smaller the better" under windowsill conditions but how small is "small" exactly?

After having grown lithops for 10 years it is very clear that in order to grow them successfully under my conditions they absolutely need to be small. If watered (or fed) slightly too much they will stretch into unhealthy shapes and choke on their leaves during regeneration. If a plant is grown from seed by me it will increase in size extremely slowly. If I buy a large adult plant it will reduce its size at least by half during the next 1 or 2 leaf changes and stay like this (unless it dies). To get to the exact size of the plants I grow, imagine a 5x5cm pot and then imagine 8 adult plants growing in it. Or let's say rather 4 two-headed plants which would be more accurate. That's the limit that works for me without them squeezing each other out of the pot. It doesn't mean I follow through with it though. Sometimes I don't want to mix different species in one pot. Sometimes a plant looks great when it's presented individually. They do grow better I believe when potted in clusters but that's a story for another time.

According to various sources, L. aucampiae, L. pseudotruncatella, L. gracilidelineata and maybe L. hookeri belong to the larger species. And I'm talking about size of an individual head, not the ability to branch out. Let's see how this holds up on the windowsill.

I will measure the heads across the longest side. It will represent the plant size as of today, during active growth and regular water intake, not directly after regeneration when they are the smallest. I believe this is the average value even though they might increase in size a little bit until Fall (1-2 mm max).

The largest plants I have are Lithops gesinae v. annae (C078). They reach 2.2 cm consistently every year without any trouble regenerating and without any fertilizer or excessive watering. I've grown them for several years and it's always the same. I'd actually recommend them for beginners. My first plant came in 2008 when lithops were fairly new to me.

This below plant is two-headed and each head measures 2.2 cm.

As a contrast to that, L. gesinae v. gesinae (C207) are really small. The larger plant's head size is 1.3 cm while the smaller is 0.9 cm. It also seems to be a fixed value every year. They don't get bigger at all and are slow to regenerate.

L. aucampiae are considered large but on my windowsill they are no bigger than the regular L. lesliei (in fact some of my L. lesliei are larger than L. aucampiae). The largest plant I have is this L. aucampiae sp. at 1.9 cm. I got it from a gardening store rather bloated but it came back to this size after a couple of leaf changes and it works for it.

L. aucampiae 'Storm's Snowcap' (C392) plants I got from a specialized grower a couple of years ago measure 1.4 cm per head, which is the same size as my own 5 year old seedlings of L. aucampiae ssp. aucampiae v. aucampiae 'White Flower' (C002A). 1.4 cm is also the size of my L. aucampiae ssp. euniceae v. fluminalis (C054)

Let's check L. gracilidelineata. My mixed seedlings are from 2009 so you can say they are of adult size. I have 3 larger plants and 3 smaller. The larger plants measure 1.8 cm.

The smaller specimen are 1.4 cm.

Moving on to L. dorotheae, as they seem to be quite large. All the below are 1.7 cm

L. dorotheae de Boer

L. dorotheae (C300)

This L. dorotheae (C300) however is slightly smaller, measuring 1.5 cm across. It compensates with its 3 heads I guess.

I only have one L. olivacea v. olivacea (C055) so it's not exactly representative. The head size per se is not very large but this two-headed plant is massive all in all and occupies one pot by itself. Same as L. gesinae v. annae, it regenerates into the same size every year and maintains it without any help. The head size is 1.7 cm.

To sum things up, it seems that the average head size of larger specimen of lithops on the windowsill is around 1.7 cm. I will continue this topic and review the smaller plants next time. 

Spring is here! (28 pics)

It has been some time since I last updated and I must say it was mostly due to my disappointment with my inability to get rid of mites. No one likes to admit defeat. I am even losing my beautiful Anacampseros seedlings. Although I have so many it is not quite that dramatic. Lithops are unaffected which leads me to the conclusion that I might wanna go back to the roots and grow more lithops again, while reducing the amount of other, mite-friendlier plants. Speaking of "reducing", I am down 7 kilos and have reached my goal. Now I can fill myself up with chocolate again! :D

In other news, Mila has developed some food intolerances and gets super healthy hypoallergenic food these days. Unfortunately that's the food she finds rather yucky. She does not understand meat and meaty smells (where are those predator instincts?) so that I have to trick her into eating it with "fastfood" smells on top. Luckily there are grain-free treats and tasty liver cremes around to help me.

Back to the plants. Now that spring is here and the sun is shining almost all lithops have regenerated. Hopefully we will have a warmer and sunnier year. The plants are a bit too small and I think I need to fertilize. I normally don't do that. The conditions do not allow the plants to get bigger without losing their shape. I need to time it right or I'll have cucumbers instead of lithops in no time. Also, I really need to continue transplanting and putting things in order on the windowsill. Lots to do. But not today.

Let me first focus on positive things. I really need some motivation. Rather then whining about mites all the time here are the pretty pretty lithops plants that are doing great and show their fresh new faces. No claw marks yet this year! Forgive me the dust and cat hair on the plants. Pretend it is the "natural" look ;)

And by the way, if you click on a picture you will not only see it xxl size but also see the name of the plant in the file title.

And here are my own seedlings. Some of the youngest have grown 2 heads this winter.