I've been trying to germinate some old lithops seeds quite unsuccessfully over the last year. I barely have something to show for it. I even thought I lost some key skill until I tried sowing fresh seeds from my own plants that germinated perfectly.
The only real success among the 2015 lithops seedlings are the L. lesliei ssp. lesliei var. rubrobrunnea that hatched last October. They are developing nicely in size and in color. The new leaves are actually quite red and very attractive. In my experience L. lesliei and L. bromfieldii rarely disappoint when grown from seed.
The next seedlings, from around the same time, are nameless at the moment. I do have records of what was sown but these guys were transplanted due to bugs and I didn't care enough for them to label them properly. I was pretty sure they won't survive. Told you before, I was neglecting my seedlings badly. Well, now I can't connect their looks to any of the species I was sowing back then. The good news is they are strong and very uniform (I don't mean that couple in the front of the photo) and when they are bigger a name can hopefully be attached to them.
A big surprise was to find some rarities among last year's survivors. These are L. lesliei "Fred's Redhead, L. salicola "Bacchus" and L. localis "Pinky" (one of them already two-headed).
Last year I could get some seeds from my L. verruculosa plants. Up until now I could never manage to grow them from seed. Maybe because they're touchy or maybe because they are normally sold in small quantities. I really like how these guys are developing though. Plump happy seedlings.
The youngest are these L. dorothea, also grown from my own seeds. They started germinating poorly (see those bigger ones) and then one month later everything sprouted! Looking forward to the natural variation in these plants.
I have seen tests that show Lithops seed remains viable for years. Do you sow in Spring?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe those tests. They might work in ideal environment with germination-starters and artificial lights and controlled temperatures and what not. I don't use any of it out of principal. What doesn't germinate on the windowsill without any help, can stay ungerminated :)
DeleteBtw, I normally sow in October and in February.
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ReplyDeleteA few years ago I sowed a lot of lithops seed that was between five and ten years old. The germination was very poor, less than 5%. I have heard the stories of seed 20 years old germinating, but I have always had the best germination from seed three years old or less. It would be interesting to know how the test seed was stored. Hopefully I can begin sowing seed again next year. For now I am refitting my artificial light stands. I'll be trying the relatively new T5 fluorescent fixtures, and I have even bought one of the new LED plant light units. I miss growing lithops seedlings and Rika is making me very jealous. ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree with that. All the seeds I was sowing are around 6 years old and germination felt like 0% to 5%. And what germinated was very weak, too. I have not stored them in a fridge or anything. Just dry dark place. I read that for best results the seeds have to lie around for a year or so. But my best results are always right out of a ripe seed capsule. It's near 100% then.
DeleteSo go buy fresh seeds and start sowing ;) In a couple of months it's sowing time. Please let us know how your experiments with artificial lights go. I want to sow more lithops, too. Have to first use up the not viable old ones, just to make sure...
The little seedlings in the third picture look a lot like L. fulviceps to me (actually exactly like my L. fulviceps v laevigata seedlings).
ReplyDeleteThey really do look like fulviceps. But I didn't sow any....
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