Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rate Thread
#2488 Mar 24th, 2007 at 10:10 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
How do you keep a quick draining soil moist? I'm doing my best to keep these guys moist but it just ain't happening. Should I have started them in regular soil or maybe a smaller pot? :eek:


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #2617 Mar 25th, 2007 at 07:23 AM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
You can spray the top of the soil with a little distilled water daily, you can keep the pots inside another container like those clear plastic things some pastry comes in, a plastic bag, a cut off soda bottle; there are all sorts of ways to reduce water loss for the few weeks before and after germination. Just make sure there's some air exchange to prevent too much humidity.


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #2666 Mar 25th, 2007 at 08:44 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
I'll take the saranwrap off the top of them then. I'll also set them in a tray of water. Is the soil really going to wick up moisture when it's supposed to be quick draining? :confused:


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #2891 Mar 25th, 2007 at 02:28 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
Yes, it will wick up water, so putting the pots in water will make them too wet. If you want to do it that way, as soon as you see the top of the soil darkening, get the pots out of the water and don't do it again for, probably, 2-7 days, depending on size of pot, if it's plastic, glazed or unglazed terra cotta, the sun it gets, and air humidity. This is too much for someone not there to pin down for you. Let yourself be intuitive. The seeds want to grow, all you have to do is give them the right balance of sun, water, and dry. This batch may or may not grow well, but you'll learn a lot.


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #7236 Mar 28th, 2007 at 11:27 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Margaret! Please, please tell me that cactus mix has weeds. Please! I don't dare hope that this is anything but a weed. But, I'm so excited. Take a look, please tell me weed?? Photo I learned how to use the super-macro on my camera just for this pic. Here is another pic. grin grin :crazy:


Last edited by LandOfOz; Mar 28th, 2007 at 12:01 PM.

Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #7374 Mar 28th, 2007 at 01:38 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
Joy, Oz! Those aren't weeds, your fenestraria have germinated!!! Congratulations!


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #7376 Mar 28th, 2007 at 01:40 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
First off, how weird that I just finished getting the pork loin in the oven, checked this and you had just posted. Woohoo!! I'm so excited. They germinated!! I've got 6 of the 10 seeds I planted poking up. Somehow they all wound up on the sides of the container though. Thanks for your help Margaret! I know I was really harassing you about these. Now, if I can just keep them alive...


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #7397 Mar 28th, 2007 at 02:10 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
I definitely don't feel 'harassed'!! I feel happy! I have no doubt that they will continue to grow for you.


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #7424 Mar 28th, 2007 at 02:35 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Well, I am thrilled that you don't feel harassed. Is 6 of these plants in a 6 inch pot too crowded? I wonder when I should transplant them, if I need to at all. We're going out to Lowe's this evening, might have to check out their pot selection (my hubby is always teasing me about buying so much pot these days) and see if they have any succulents. Maybe I should just leave all 6 in there and just let mother nature take care of the crowding issue... Maybe they would be happy if I just spaced them a little further apart?


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #7490 Mar 28th, 2007 at 04:40 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
They barely have their seed-leaves, don't even think about moving them for at least 4 months (or so). Just let them grow. Yes, get a few more plants, you need something to keep you busy while they are growing up a bit!


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #7669 Mar 28th, 2007 at 08:34 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
The only item of interest at our lowe's was some coral cactus. They look pretty neat but not kid-friendly. I'm definately going to need to find something to keep my mind of the baby toes. Hopefully my 3 yr old stays out of them--I caught her licking the side of the pot earlier. Yes, licking. She thinks she's a puppy. grin grin Only a 3 yr old...


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #7959 Mar 29th, 2007 at 07:24 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Since Lowe's was a bust, I called my favorite nursery and they carry them! I'm so excited. I was going to order some lithops seeds from either cactusseed.com or mesagarden.com and I was a little concerned about the variety--I'd wind up ordering one of everything and mesa has 8 pages of lithops. That would not be good. So, I'm going to meander down to the nursery and at least look at them and see which varieties I like. I'm just so excited that my baby toes grew. Now I just need to keep them alive.


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #8380 Mar 29th, 2007 at 01:39 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Would anyone like to adopt a 3 yr old? :whistle: grin Mine played in the dirt with my baby toes. I hope they'll live. I can't find 2 of them. But, I've still got 5 in there. They look unharmed. And then we went to the nursery. I warned her not to touch the cactus. And what does she do?? She touches the cactus, pets it, holds it, then grabs my hand. :mad: Now we've both got cactus-hand. Having kids is so much fun. (please note that was sarcastic.) The only good thing is that the thumb she sucks in now coated in microscopic cacti hairs. She won't be sucking that for a while. (hopefully) ;) How can kids get into so much trouble so quickly? I mean, I was holding her other hand for pete's sake.

And the lithops were really small, like under a half inch. I thought they are around one-two inches. Maybe I was wrong or these were just young. In any event, I think I'd rather grow my own. Why do things the easy way when there is a hard way?? lol

Thanks for letting me whine.


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
#8385 Mar 29th, 2007 at 01:56 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
My daughter lets them "ripen" (aka turn to seed) then brings them too me, only to be disappointed 'cause they've all blown away. But, ladybugs love dandelions, I guess it provides some of the pollen they need. So I suppose she's helping me with my aphid problem, in a round-about way.

I'm glad to see that my 3 yr old isn't the only one misbehaving today. But I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into and I do kinda like having my husband outnumbered... Maybe just loan her out? lol


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #8389 Mar 29th, 2007 at 02:02 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
Opuntia are evil!!! They are the only plants I will not have in my house, poisonous ones included! Love your 3yo, she's just being child appropriate. Get her a pothos of her own, and fuss over it so she stays interested. Mom's got this cool hobby; she's getting things and looking at things and growing things, your little one believes you that it's interesting and wants to be a part of it.
Yes, lithops are small, each leaf of the pair usually ~1/2 to 3/4 inch at maturity, but they will clump. They have a strict summer dormancy period where they shrivvel and look dead. You can force them to keep growing through this, but they will never bloom if they don't get their rest. I find them hard to keep going for more than 1 or 2 years, but that may be our excessive summer humidity here.
This site has more info than you might need or want, but I enjoy reading up on what I'm interested in, maybe others do, too.
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ms689/NMAGM.html


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #8417 Mar 29th, 2007 at 03:20 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
I love the title of chapter 2.5 "Self restraint." I'll have to read up on that. I'm a BIG reader and really enjoying learning new stuff. Thanks for the link. Why do you have troubles with lithops? I haven't read real extensively on them and am ignorant of such things (for the moment).

Triss, um 5 boys and a girl? Wow. You are much more woman than I am! I had 2 and that was it. Absolutely, positively NO more. I am in the presence of a goddess. (Someone should have warned me, I would've washed my hair and tucked in my shirt.) grin


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
#11874 Apr 2nd, 2007 at 11:27 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Margaret, I just finished reading that link your provided. What a wealth of info and written in readable terms too! Although, I must admit, I did do a lot of highlight-and-google words. It mentions in there that the frithra will want alkaline (or was it acidic?) soil as adults. Now I'm wondering what the PH is of the cactus mix they are in. ARe your baby toes the frithra or the fenestria? I seem to think they were frithra 'cause they seemed a little short but I'm not sure...


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #12729 Apr 3rd, 2007 at 04:32 AM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
Mine are fenestraria, which are smooth and have yellow flowers. Frithia are rough-skinned and have purple flowers. Most commercial soil mixes are pH neutral, most plants don't mind that. I've never bothered with adjusting soil pH; what I have is what they get, and we all seem happy enough with that. I had a friend who watered her acid-lovers with tea and they did very well. I don't know what one would do for alkaline, a pinch of baking soda perhaps?


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #49130 May 21st, 2007 at 06:43 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Update: daughter dug them all up while I was at work. Apparently she pushed a chair over, climbed onto the table and dug in the pot. boohoo :mad:


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #61473 Jun 8th, 2007 at 01:00 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
500 Posts
Offline
500 Posts
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 731
I looked at this before and didn't have the heart to answer. Sorry for that, and sorry for your plants. How did you handle your daughter (I got so angry with my sons when they were little and destroyed things I cared about that they never came to me when they were older and destroyed things they cared about. Please be careful. Please.) What will you do now?


May God bless the WHOLE world!
margaret e. pell #136039 Oct 3rd, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Well - finally an answer - I did buy a back-up package of frithia pulchra and all I had to do was replant, however, I've been waiting for some maturity in a certain someone and a safe spot. I think I finally found a good spot for the pot - if only the cat will stay out of it now. I planted the seeds yesterday and re-read the posts to make sure I am doing everything right.

I think I read the frithia love water and that fenestraria does not? I sprinkled a little sand on top of the soil (the packet told me too!) and saturated the soil before I put the seeds in it. Only bottom water. Should the seeds get a little sun, does UV light help germination? If this fails - I think a local nursery had some fenestraria earlier in the year, so I'll head down there and get them.


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #139681 Oct 11th, 2007 at 08:05 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
Well, 9 of the 10 seeds have sprouted. Now I need to put a light on it, because they look like they are leggier than the first ones I germinated.


Sarah - Zone 5b/6
LandOfOz #148143 Nov 2nd, 2007 at 09:32 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,236
HandyMa'am
4k Posts
Offline
HandyMa'am
4k Posts
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,236
update, please! I wanna know how these are doing!!!


[Linked Image]
hisgal2 #148236 Nov 3rd, 2007 at 09:11 AM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
5k Posts
OP Offline
5k Posts
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,183
I don't want to tell you!

One day they were looking great, I turned off the light that night, got up the next morning and they were gone. Literally, gone. I have no idea what happened to them. I'm guessing dampening off. boohoo


Sarah - Zone 5b/6

Link Copied to Clipboard
Seasonal Ticker
Gardening Links
Gardening in February
Gardening in March
Gardening in April


Shop at Amazon and Support AGF
Are you shopping online? Click this link first and A Gardeners Forum will receive a commission for your referral at Amazon.com (shopping through this link to Amazon will not have any impact on your prices at Amazon).
Like Us on Facebook
Forum Statistics
Forums65
Topics14,312
Posts240,813
Average Daily Posts3
Members16,004
Most Online10,356
Nov 2nd, 2019
Top Posters(30 Days)
Random Gallery Image
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5