Adromischus marianiae cultivation tips (23 pics)

I have been growing several Adromischus plants since 2014 but this is the first year I can watch many different types grow and develop. It's exciting and full of discoveries. Having watched them grow for a year or so does not make me an expert but the more I see the better I understand their yearly growing pattern and their needs.

The good news is they are doing very well on a windowsill and in pure pumice substrate! They are definitely not the genus that is "best in a greenhouse", in fact they don't even need that much sunlight. Half a day of it (the sun moves on after 2 pm here) and careful watering will produce compact and healthy plants.

While the red types develop a nice tan with intense sunlight, green types tend to get "bleached", turn lighter green or yellow. Here is my oldest plant. This year it started developing a second branch from below and is overall a nice and healthy one. The next two pictures are of this same plant, taken from two opposite sides. Can you tell which side is the sun-facing side? :D

When the sunlight get less intense the darker green color returns for those types that were supposed to be dark green like the below specimen.

The babies I grew from leaves in the recent years get greener during winter months, too.

But it also means that the "Lime Drops" variety that is actually supposed to be lighter green with pink tips is now also completely green.

And the "herrei" red types turn brownish green, too. The red color will return in the spring.

The new leaves are more intensely colored anyway. The below younger "alveolatus" variety plants have been growing some new red leaves this Fall. So pretty!

Adromischus marianiae "Little Spheroid" are really prone to stretching. I have a plant that stretches  in winter every year without fail. And then gets back to looking great by the end of summer.

What I wanted to say is that shape improves with time. No need to fret about it. See the below plant? All the new leaves are narrow and pointy. As the year progresses they will get thick and round thus hiding the stems even better and contributing to the tight shape the plant is supposed to have.

Or, another example. I got these "Droedap" locality plants earlier this year with only two big leaves of an undefinable shape on each. But once they started growing all those perfectly shaped and beautifully colored leaves came out.

The coloring and pattern like the number of dots and spots varies as well. The below Adromischus trigynus barely has any dots on the new leaves. The typical pattern only develops with time as the leaves grow bigger.

There have been lots and lots of flowers, on the new plants as well as plants I've had for years (my pollination attempts have failed though). Most of the leaf cuttings have developed into proper little plants within a year and growing them from seed has turned out to be absolutely possible (although very slow). The only thing that is still standing between you and a windowsill full of Adros is their retail prices. Unfortunately the hype is not yet over. But at least if you have one plant, as it grows, you can create "backup copies" and won't need to spend money again if one of them withers. That's what I've been doing. Because boy I won't be able to re-purchase any of them.

Here are some plants I grew from leaf cuttings this year.

And here are the babies grown from seed that are now 1,5 years old. While it was fun to watch the seedlings grow if you're not as patient, growing Adros from leaf cuttings is the way for you.

I have already written about Adromischus propagation and other observations earlier this year. What I would like to address now is the yearly life cycle of these plants and how to water them.

Watering is actually quite easy. All you need to do is touch and squeeze the leaves a little. If they are soft, you may water. I have actually measured my watering can - one watering is ca. 15 ml tops, 10 ml to be on the safe side. You will notice that the leaves will be really firm the next day. From there you just leave it and water only when the leaves are getting soft again.

There are no periods of time with strict drought as with lithops. A little water all throughout the year is fine if you follow the above rule. The plants mostly rest in winter, not wasting the resources, so automatically you will water less frequently. And even if they continue growing during the winter months it's better to slow them down as much as possible since the lack of sunlight will otherwise cause etiolation. We don't want that. The growing of new leaves happens in spring and in the fall. And they will spend all summer growing inflorescences and flowering. I thought at first that if I don't allow them to flower they would grow more leaves but I now believe they would just sleep instead. So, summer is either for flowering or for resting. Note that the younger leaves increase in size over the course of several months, so if I say they would be resting it means they just won't be pushing new leaves. Existing leaves however will (ideally) continue growing in size to create the typical tight cluster.

Tight growth with hidden stems is also the shape to be maintained and supported. For example, as recent as last month my Adros were actively growing and some still seem to want to continue. However, the days got shorter and I already notice that some try to outgrow the tight shape. Time to reduce or stop watering to avoid stretching. Those succulent leaves have lots of resources to support themselves. And while the new leaves get thicker and rounder the overall "dense foliage" will be maintained.

What I wrote so far sounds quite easy but there are also some issues Adros might have. Like any succulent plants they do rot. The roots are very thick, caudex-like even, and the substrate should be appropriate. I use pure pumice. If you use something else at least in the upper half of the pot it should be just as airy. There is another thing I have seen a couple of times - some sort of white mold at the base of the leaves. No idea what the exact cause is (too damp would be my guess) but if you catch it early and remove the mold and the affected leaves the plant will be fine if kept dry for some time after.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

There are so many different types and varieties of Adromischus marianiae out there that I am completely lost. I have no idea what exterior belongs to which name or locality. At this point I'm just trying to have plants of different shapes on my windowsill and I start to think assigning them numbers would make more sense. If you know how to keep them apart or where I can get reliable data on looks vs. name, I'd really appreciate your help.

Here are some plants whose proper names I can only guess about.

Adromischus propagation (13 pics)

It's not easy to find information on Adromischus propagation in general. Actually, there is basically no information at all. These days I have been trying to figure it out on my own.

I have to say, propagation by leaf cuttings is rather straightforward. Even a complete newbie like me can successfully get backup copy plants by sticking leaves into pumice. It is recommended to leave the substrate with leaf cuttings dry, however, I do water it a little. It's risky and so far I have lost one healthy leaf to rot but I think roots come out quicker this way. So if you follow my example, do it at your own risk. Roots normally come after a couple of weeks already. For leaves you might have to wait much longer. Once the new leaves come you're on the safe side.

If you want to propagate your plant it is better to take a bigger healthier leaf. I know, you don't want to ruin the looks of the mother plant (those leaves grow very slowly) and would probably take an older uglier leaf from the bottom. That's no problem. Just don't wait too long, not until it gets shriveled and spotty. It still has to be firm, big and fresh and full of water (water the plant several days before snipping off the leaf if necessary) to give the new plant a better start. The new plant will feed of this leaf for up to one year. The bigger that first leaf the quicker the new plant will grow.

So here are some of this year's cuttings.

These are the leaves of an Adromischus marianiae "Little Spheroid" plant that arrived in spare parts in April. After approximately 4 months there are now new leaves showing. But make no mistake, these are only 5 out of the 14 leaves planted. All the rest of them don't show any new growth at all, although they have grown massive root systems.

As you can see, the roots are very well developed and the plant makes sure to grow all this bulk before it starts growing leaves.

Here is a leaf cutting from another "Little Spheroid" plant. The initial leaf was bigger and, even though it was planted later than those kids above, the resulting plant is much stronger and much further along.

Here are the 4 Adromischus marianiae v. herrei "Lime Drops" leaves I planted back in April.

This one seems not to recognize gravity as a growing guide. It's all over the place. Roots grow upwards, leaves grow downwards. I didn't even know how to plant it best. Maybe I should have cut off one of the roots and planted it sideways. 

This Adromischus marianae v. herrei Alveolatus, Kinderle was planted end of May and has just started growing new leaves.

They are all so small at the moment. It's hard to imagine they will look like their mother plants at some point. But the growth spurt will come eventually. Below is a plant I grew from a leaf only last year. After 1,5 years it looks like a perfect adult plant.

I plan to write about Adromischus propagation by seed soon, too. Or rather the pollination part of it. Growing them from seed is not particularly difficult but you need to be very patient. Below are 15 months old seedlings. They still look like nothing. Cute though.

Adromischus marianiae: Part 1 (12 pics)

These days I have been feeding my three (relatively) new succulent passions. The first one is Anacampseros that was reported on in the last post. The second is Avonia, of which I've recently bought many new plants and will report soon. 

The third passion is Adromischus. Although I have several larger species like A. maculatus, cooperi, or cristatus, they neither grow well under my conditions nor are very pretty in general. It's not a surprise that I belong to the majority of people who are into those cute small Adromischus with round heavily textured leaves known as A. marianiae, most of them of the "herrei" variety. Unfortunately those are still very expensive, even the more widespread varieties. It is rarely possible to buy one for less than 20 Euros while some cultivars go for thousands on Ebay. Nevertheless, I'm trying to build some sort of a collection with as many different shapes represented as possible. From what research I've done so far it seems you should not be relying on names much. There are so many hybrids out there! And so many of them look really similar. You just go by their looks and try to get whatever you do not have already represented among your plants. Although I also wouldn't mind getting the same type of plant from different sources in a hope to have genetically different plants and not just clones of the same one. Maybe it would be possible to have them produce seeds this way. Of course you can always try getting hybrid seeds by crossing different types but I'd like to have a possibility to produce seeds with predictable outcome in terms of looks of future seedlings.

FYI, it feels more comfortable to talk about "types". There are too many hybrids, varieties and cultivars these days with all those fancy names it's more confusing than helpful. Also, these plants change their appearance (leaf color and shape) a lot depending on the growing conditions, so that what you see on a picture is not necessarily what it will turn into in your home.

This is the first Adromischus I got back in 2013. It is actually bright green but the older leaves that were turned to the sun are now a bit yellow. Green types are less demanding and seem to grow well under my conditions.

Since then I could grow 3 clones from its leaves that already look like adults. They grow on a sunny spot on my windowsill and the leaves are tight to the stem and nicely round. However, I have noticed that the strong sun seems to bleach them out a bit. The green types get pale after a while.

This most recent leaf cutting was standing in half-shade and is much greener.

If you compare it with another clone, it looks like a different variety. One is bright green with pointy leaves (half-shade), another is pale with round leaves (full sun). They are genetically the same. Maybe I should move all of the green types to a less sunny spot. It might give them a greener color. But do I also want to relinquish the round shape of leaves?

There are two more clones grown from a single leaf but the leaf was not very healthy and dried up too soon. They are very small and look like seedlings.

About the fancy named cultivars, I have troubles telling the green ones apart. For example, the below plant is called "Green Monster" but to me it looks exactly like those above. It's nice to have a genetically different greenie though. In fact, I was not going to allow my old greenies to flower this year but if there is a chance of successful pollination I might reconsider.

Another one is called "Lime Drops" which I can accept as different. Lemony color and pink folded leaf tips. By the way, I got this beautifully grown plant along with several others from Kakteen Plapp nursery which I can really recommend. The plants have not lost any leaves during transport! Newspapers are the best packaging material.

However, "Lime Drops" cuttings I got from another seller look just like my old greenies. No complaints here. My collection is so small that I'm glad to get any kind of A. marianiae plants (or leaf cuttings).

This plant was offered on ebay under the name of "Little Spheroid" which was doubtful. I got it anyway because I didn't have this type of texture and color among mine yet. Where is the plant, you ask? Well, due to bad packaging it arrived completely disassembled.

To be continued...

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 :)