Anacampseros seedlings winter update (20 pics)

Now to a more positive topic. Brace yourselves, this is a huge picture dump :)

Even though I've been posting photo updates on this year's Anacampseros seedlings over on Twitter I have realized that there has not been a proper update on them here in the blog since July! It's time to show you how they've grown.

They started as little blobs that all looked the same but now they look like little versions of adult plants and are pretty diverse. It has been such fun watching them grow. Looking after Anacampseros seedlings is straightforward. It's the adult plants I'm still figuring out (what exactly is their yearly growth cycle again?). There's not much you can do wrong with seedlings. They germinate right away almost at 100% rate and if they made it to first real leaves they'll make it all the way. I was told that I've been too kind to mine, watering them a bit too much, and I agree, some got out of hand. But most of them are perfect little fuzzballs. Thanks for this sense of achievement, cuties, I needed it. They are not immune to mites and darkness and overwatering can be an issue in general but they seem to be more forgiving than mesembs under my growing conditions.

As with many other succulent plants there is always a discussion among the growers on how "hard" they should be grown. The common understanding is that the ideal look is as close to the look in natural habitat as possible. While I share this view it's hard to achieve this in culture. We can try giving the plants the sunniest spot and starve them but in my experience it's harder on the grower than the plants. We tend to take pity and water a bit more than we should. Now that the seedlings are grown into small rosettes it's time to make sure they grow into good natural shapes. I'm not a person to starve plants but short plump leaves with a tan are my goal. And as usual, as I can not give them more light than what comes through the window, water is my only shaping instrument.

Even though they are still young and small I have stopped watering a while ago to give them some winter rest. What it means is - if it's dark outside it's always best to discourage any growth. We don't need them to grow into pale green weeds, do we?

So, here come the fluffiest seedlings. I'm very happy with those. You can barely see the leaves.

Some are less fluffy but it allows you to see what is going on underneath: tiny leaves in a nice round shape.

So cute, hiding in the stones!

These might be a bit too green and the leaves might be a bit long but there's plenty of time for correction.

These are a bit green as well but it might be how they are supposed to look? We'll see.

These however should not look like this! You miss the point when you should stop supporting growth and you end up with weeds that are not pretty. They are on a strict diet now.

These guys are slow growing and I had to push them a bit. The shape is fine for their age but the color needs more tan. We'll get there. (Love the heart-shaped leaves!)

Looking at the older seedlings, the color of this Anacampseros sp. is great! But the leaves could be shorter. I'll try to work on that.

Here is another example. Some of the older An. vanthielii seedlings got away from me.
Those in a better shape are nice round hairballs. But even they could do with a diet.

Others were unfortunately watered a bit too much at a wrong time. If the leaves are long and of a pale green color and you can actually see the stem - that's no good. Some tough love should bring them back on track.

My very first seedlings on the other hand look like I want them to look.

If you ask me what my ideal Anacampseros shape is, it's a compact round plant with short fat rusty-red leaves covered in fluff that at the same time shows some green at the top, just to reassure me it's alive. The cuttings below look perfect to me :)