Preparing Mesembs for tropical summer (advices needed)

[mmcavall]

Summer is coming in the Southern Hemisphere. That will be the first summer of my Mesembs, most of them grown from seed during winter.
My concern now is about the strictly summer dormant species (i.e. winter growers). I imagine that I must keep them dry, giving the minimal water I can. Also, I imagine it is not a good idea to push them through adding fertilizers in the tap water.

The opportunistic/summer grower species could receive relatively more water/more frequent watering and that water could have some diluted fertilizer.

First question: Am I right in my thoughts?

Second: could you guys take a look at the list of Mesembs I have and indicate which are the strictly summer dormant species?

seedlings:

Cerochlamys pachyphylla
Delosperma crassum
Delosperma esterhuyseniae
Glottiphyllum peersii
Glottiphyllum pygmaeum
Marlothistella uniondalensis
Monilaria moniliformis
Nananthus wilmaniae
Pleiospilos bolusii
Pleiospilos compactus
Pleiospilos nelii
Schwantesia herrei
Schwantesia loeschiana
Tanquana prismatica

adults:
Faucaria tigrina/feline
Delosperma echinatum
Trichodiadema densum

Obs.: last week we had 36C/97F and the Monilaria moniliformis, which is summer dormant, seemed to like it. It has now new strong leaves…it is curious, isn’t it?

Thanks in advance!

[Aiko]

Regarding summer growers and winter growers, I would make the following distinction:

Summer:
Cerochlamys pachyphylla
Delosperma crassum
Delosperma esterhuyseniae
Delosperma echinatum
Faucaria tigrina/feline
Glottiphyllum peersii
Glottiphyllum pygmaeum
Marlothistella uniondalensis
Nananthus wilmaniae
Pleiospilos bolusii
Pleiospilos compactus
Pleiospilos nelii
Tanquana prismatica
Trichodiadema densum

Winter:
Monilaria moniliformis
Schwantesia herrei
Schwantesia loeschiana

But this is for my climate and my treatment (which works for me and my plants). And I am very sure many others will have a different distrinction, even those with the same climate as I have.

[iann]

Monilaria is the only obligate summer-dormant species that I can see, but pretty much all of them will go dormant when it is very hot. Then you'll need to avoid deep watering and if necessary spray regularly to stop them from drying up completely. They could get pretty ugly.

Things like the Delospermas and Glottiphyllums are pretty thirsty anyway and likely to want quite a bit of water even in the middle of summer. The more compact and succulent species should be left drier.

Someone with more experience in these conditions might have better tips on how to get them through summer. All I can recommend is grow Lithops, they can go for ages without water

[mmcavall]

Thank you both for your replies. That gave me some directions. I'll continue giving little water to all of them but Delosperma and Glottiphyllums (including Monilaria, until it stops leaves growth: then I'll stop watering).

I would like to ask you both whether is a good or a bad idea to give these seedlings very dilute fertilizer through tap water during the summer...or do I should avoid this and start fertilizing when summer ends and days start to get short? What would you guys do?

Iann: this week I started to seriously think about growing Lithops. Sure I'll order some seeds in near future. Sure I'll ask many questions here!

Thanks again