Mesemb identification help

[Pushrestart]

Hi
Recently stumbled upon these images of various conophytums but cannot confirm identities, please help.
Thanks !

[iann]

The ones with orange flowers are often C. marnierum, but there are various hybrids and cultivars too. Yours looks like a C. bilobum hybrid. Or there is C. frutescens, but that usually flowers in the middle of summer and has quite plain pale orange flowers rather than deep orange with a yellow centre.

The big fat ones with little pink flowers look like C. ernstii.

The ones with yellow flowers look like C. flavum. Very similar to C. ernstii apart from the flower colour.

The last one I'm not sure about. Are they fuzzy?

[Pushrestart]

Thanks for the suggestions Ian !
The second ones aren't fuzzy they seem to have a more glossy look to them, most of the ernstii I stumbled across had some fuzz ?

The last ones are slightly fuzzy I'm thinking elisae....

[iann]

Take a look at C. wettsteinii.

I'm really not sure what C. elisae is. It seems to be all over the interweb but there isn't such a species so far as I know. There is a C. bilobum ssp elishae, but not really fuzzy. You could look at C. velutinum, an obvious name for a fuzzy Conophytum.

[Pushrestart]

Ian thank you so much for sharing your mesemb wisdom. I will go take a look at those and go from there ! Btw my growing climate is fairly similar to that of the UK, maybe a bit cooler but was curious to know when you sow various mesemb seeds. Debating if I should start this month or wait till fall. thanks

[iann]

I usually sow under lights in January or February. I tried sowing Conophytums in autumn to try and get an extra set of leaves in but it wasn't really successful. They were bigger for summer, but summer here isn't hard for even small species to get through.

[Aiko]

I ususally sow all mesembs in the second half of March after the night frosts has basically passed, without heat and light in an unheated greenhouse. Works like a charm.

Winter active mesembs like Conophytums, can grow through their first summer, only to go dormant one summer later.

[Pushrestart]

Ian, ah under lights in the winter that's the only way- otherwise you have to wait much later for natural light. What kind of lights are you using and what kind of output do they have ? How warm can conos and winter seedlings get in the summer before imploding or boiling ? It gets somewhat humid here in early summer so want to plan ahead.

Aiko, you better get ready March is right around the corner! It sounds like a pleasant environment for the cooler growing mesembs. Good to know conos can take the temps growing the first year as it can get a bit warm and humid in the summers here. How hot do summers get in the Netherlands ?

Thank you both . I'll probably have to start under lights myself since the sun is very rarely out for a few days at a time and we won't get out of freezing nights till April/May - the struggles of raising plants far outside of their natural environment