Friday, July 19, 2013

One grateful mesemb, Stomatium (2 pics)

My Stomatium trifarium looks great nowadays, especially from below the leaves where the warts shine through. One day when I have more room I want to grow all different kinds of them from seed. For now I'd like to repeat myself - dividing this plant into cuttings was the best idea ever! You can practically see the plant brim with new life force now without all the dead weight of dried up leaves and stems and roots. All new and fresh. I'm trying to restrain myself from watering it as much as before, even though it wrinkles fast. But I really want the leaves to stay compact and with less water not only the color is more vivid but also the teeth and warts are much more prominent.


Same goes for the seedlings. These two grow really fast. They now have three branches each! I'd like to start watering them less but they look thristy very quickly in this heat and I'm still afraid it might be too early to treat them like adults.

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful looking plants. I have no Stomatium plants at the moment. I did grow S. pyrodorum in the past. The genus name is from the Greek "stomation" meaning gaping mouth, referring to the leaves of course. I really like the spotted (postulate), and toothed leaves. I actually would like to try and grow S. suaveolens. Mesa Garden has seed and I may order some. I've always had so much space I've never worried about potting up into larger pots as my plants grew. It's very interesting to read about your space solution via splitting and pruning. Something I've never considered. New ideas and techniques are exciting. I have a few overgrown faucarias to try the technique on. Any new flowers open on the Avonia?

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    1. Thank you Bob :)
      I feel like I could look at those spots and teeth for hours. They're mesmerizing.
      S. suaveolens is a smaller species, right? And S. pyrodorum is the one with flat leaves, as I see. It is on my mesemb wish list (it's getting really long XD) under the name of S. mustellinum. Stomatium suaveolens is going on the list as well.
      I'm afraid I've overwatered my Stomatium as well as a Faucaria last winter. As you know my plants spend the winter warm and it's difficult to balance the waterings if they refuse to stop growing. (http://lithops-stories.blogspot.de/2013/06/stomatium-surgery-4-pics.html)
      To bring both to shape I've made cuttings out of them (most of the Stomatium went to a fellow mesemb enthusiast in Portugal, I hope they're dioing well). The Faucaria took root very well too, but it grows much much slower and the cuttings look like seedlings. Healthy though, as far as I can tell. Wish you good luck with yours! :)

      Funny that you ask. Two more Avonia flowers opened today. I'll post photos shortly!

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    2. PS: Growing Stomatiums from seed is the kind of fun that is rare with mesembs. They grow really fast! :D I can only recommend it!

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  2. Mal 'ne kleine Frage am Rande: Wo bekommst du die ganzen verschiedenen Samen her?

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    1. Von diesen hatte ich eigene Samen, ansonsten Kakteen-Haage, Mesa Garden, cono's paradise, ebay... ;)

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    2. Ok, dann muss ich da nochmal suchen. Oder warten, bis ich im Frühjahr wieder bei Haage bin. Danke :)

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