Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

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mmcavall
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Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

Post by mmcavall »

I found this very good website (https://www.conos-paradise.com/en/cultivation.html) with good tips from a successful grower, and where I read something that made me kind of confused:
“Watering: In nature precipitation ranges from > 2,000 mm/a in the south to nearly zero in Namibia. Especially in the dry regions plants depend on water from fog occurring there most any day in the morning. Plants can uptake the water through very fine roots close to the surface. Daily misting as many people do will only be useful if done early as the plants need hours to take up the water. Spraying at 8:00 in the morning in summer is nonsense as the water will be gone within minutes. So if you don't like to get up at 3:00 forget your mister, take your can or hose and give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry. If you keep Mesembs dry during their resting time there will be high loss but very little if you water them”. (my emphasis)
(He also stated that “It is important to know that it works for me under conditions here in the very west of Germany and it may not work best elsewhere.” And “I tend to water more than most growers do but to be on the safe side I suggest not to water [the Lithops] during hot summer conditions and I keep them dry from February till March.”)

I transplanted many of my Mesembs to clay pots filled with rocks of various size, so they dry out very, very quickly. So, according to the suggestion above, I should give plenty of water about once or twice a week! Isn’t it too much for Mesembs such as Pleiospilos and Schwantesia?

My plants are adapting to full sun or almost that, and they don’t look sun stressed. However, I usually note that they are thirsty; Pleoispilos leaves are always very soft… (nevertheless, they are putting new leaves, which are very turgid). This means that they are doing fine? Or maybe I should try watering then more frequently, about once or twice a week and see what happens?

Mesembs are by far the most difficult plants I have ever tried. Although I manage to keep them alive, I never know whether I should give more or less sun, more or less water, and how they should look like in this phase of the year/of their lives.
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mmcavall
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Re: Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

Post by mmcavall »

Really need some advice.
Pleiospilos nellii: half of them died out. Among the survivors, some are putting new leaves (spliting) while the older pair is very soft. Some lost the older leaves and only the new pair, with very small leaves, remained.

P. compactus: the older leaves are very very soft or totally disappeared, and the new pair is upright, very turgid but not spliting yet. So the plants consists of a single leaf pair, upright and not splited yet.

P. bolusii: showed a strong growth recently and in some cases there are 3 pairs of leaves (however, they are in plastic pots, while the plants mentioned above are in clay pots).

Schwantesia loeschiana: most of the plants are putting new leaves, but the older pairs are very wrinkled, they look very stressed.

Maybe some pictures would help. I'll try.

I'm more concerned about P. nelli, and I need some guidelines about watering, as the pots dries out very fast, in about one day (I noticed that the plants in plastic pots are doing better than those in clay pots...would this mean that the clay pot is drying out so quickly that the plants are not having time to take water?).

Also: Is it normal that the older leaves become so soft (realy soft! - but not rotten) ?

Thanks for any advice.
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MagiCarpus
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Re: Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

Post by MagiCarpus »

I don't know if you've seen this link before. Instead of water them thoroughly each time they get dry, he waters them frequently but lightly.
http://www.vivante-passerelle.net/index ... troduction
I suck at identification :dontknow:
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mmcavall
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Re: Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

Post by mmcavall »

Thanks, MagiCarpus, I'll read this carefully. Thanks a lot!
cwhatson1414
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Re: Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

Post by cwhatson1414 »

In my experience p. nelii is surprisingly thirsty. Mine is in a 3" clay pot outdoors and I soak it like twice a week. Too much water when in winter can be bad though.
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mmcavall
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Re: Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

Post by mmcavall »

cwhatson1414 wrote:In my experience p. nelii is surprisingly thirsty. Mine is in a 3" clay pot outdoors and I soak it like twice a week. Too much water when in winter can be bad though.
hi whatson thanks for sharing that. I have the same impression: they are very thirsty, the outer/older leaves are always very soft. Only after sequential soaks they get turgid.

however, the inner leaves are always turgid, even when the plants are without water for too long...

So, since when do you have the Pleiospilos under this watering regime?

thanks again
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mmcavall
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Re: Mesembs cultivation: give plenty of water whenever your pots get dry (?)

Post by mmcavall »

MagiCarpus wrote:I don't know if you've seen this link before. Instead of water them thoroughly each time they get dry, he waters them frequently but lightly.
http://www.vivante-passerelle.net/index ... troduction
I read this, it has lots of useful information. Following the recomendations in this link, I'm spraying the plants early in the morning every day. Possibly I'll give them a good soak each 15 days or so. I'll try to follow this regime for time enough to see the results. Thanks for the help, Magicarpus and Whatson.
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