now to the grown-ups

Lesliei v. venteri 'Ventergreen' C1A have digested their old leaves and are reacting to water very well. They are all two-headed now making me hope for flowers this year. Last season they were weakened by the bugs and have dried up the coming flower buds. I'm still fascinated by the color - so much lighter than other lesliei greenies! I'd love to have more of these.

I have some seeds and seedlings from them, and there are several really nice specimen growing up, but since it was some case of selfing or crossing (there was only one flower) I'm not sure about the heritage. It would be nice to have some "pure" seeds this year.

gracili are growing (probably too much)

It's spring for everyone. My gracilidelineata kids (2009 seedlings) are getting more and more massive (the largest plant is 2 cm) but also a bit too long. I'd have to correct that after this season, probably with a strict diet. Still, they have the most gracelful and smooth faces!

here come bromfieldii again

I'm pretty amazed at the moment about the rate the seedlings of bromfieldii v. glaudinae C382 are growing. They are only a little over a year old but show an appearance of an almost grown-up plant, long fissure and all. The largest plant is 1,6 cm with the others not far behind. Compared to only two or three weeks ago they've grown a lot. I was expecting to see such a development in lesliei v. mariae, but those just keep changing leaves without growing much. The reason could be the pure pumice (almost hydroponic) the seedlings are growing in, they probably need more food but I'd rather be careful with that.

Rabiea albipuncta

This winter I got a most wonderful Birthday present - two new succulent plants. What else could you wish for? :) One of them is a big Crassula rupestris of which I still have to take a nice picture. The other is a Rabiea albipuncta. It had flowers when I first got it and is now growing very fast. I'm not sure about the proper care yet but will probably find out with time. 

The leaves have a very nice dotty texture. And the dots are see-through!

pricking out seedlings

I've been watching my nine months old lesliei ssp. burchellii C308 pushing and squeezing each other in their far too small container long enough. Yesterday they needed to be transplanted, and even though they still don't have much room in the new pots it took three of them with 15 to 17 plants in each to shelter them all. I'm very glad to see how quickly they've grown and how nice and fat they've turned out. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with so many plants of one kind since I didn't expect them all to survive but it's nice to see them grow and develop deverse and pretty patterns.

Before

After (arranged in order of size)

You can trace the development of these seedlings clicking on the seedlings 2011 tag below. ;)

Harvest Special (video)

... or How To Harvest Lithops Seeds.

I normally scrape lithops seeds out of a seed capsule with a needle and it works fine if the seeds are big (like lesliei's) or there are not that many. Harvesting tiny karasmontana seeds lately I had to realise it takes too long and hurts my back and eyes. I don't know any other method other than throwing the seed capsule in water, but without any help not all of the seeds detach. Combining the water bath and a needle I was able to get the seeds out very quickly.

First you need a small shallow bowl and a piece of wet paper towel fitting the size of the bowl. The piece of towel goes into the bowl, then you can pour water into it.

Now you need a pair of (scissor) tweezers and a needle on a stick (a pensil will work). Make sure to clean out every section of the capsule properly.

Once all the seeds are out you just take out the paper and put it somewhere it can dry (it helps to lay another paper towel folded in several layers under it).

To put the dry seeds into a paper envelope I use a white brush. I find the seeds don't jump around much and you can count them as you go if needed.

Sometimes there's a whole lot of seeds in one tiny seed capsule.

not wasting time

Hatched in October 2010 these seedlings didn't want to go to sleep this winter. Instead they've changed their leaves two times in a row. I'm just glad they haven't turned into cucumbers. ;)
Bromfieldii's color is more even now compared to January.

Lesliei v. mariae are getting bigger with the greenie not far behind.

two months

My youngest seedlings, julii v. fulleri 'kōsōgyoku', hatched in August and have been sitting there without any visible progress for six months until they finally started to push their first real leaves. The plants looked pretty weak back then.

Now, just two months later, they've gained weight, show a nice color and even a hint of some patterns. I'm not a very good julii grower but these little guys fill me with hope. Especially since they are about to regenerate again.

meaty helmutii leaves

My helmutii are the the only ones left with still a lot of meat to work through. This could take a month or two.

Btw, this is my 200th post :)