Potted up my mesembs, need advice on watering

[Rod Smith]

Thanks! I'm happy to report that the argies are finally responding to watering well. I water it every other week when it starts to look wrinkly, and it smooths and plumps up the next day or two. The explode marks stay there of course, hopefully it will regenerate just fine during the winter.
Do I stop watering it around the same time as Lithops? (around mid November?) Or do I water them regularly until I see signs of regeneration?

As they are winter growers, they will need watering from around September/October till about March, then they will become dormant, then shed and regenerate their leaves ready for their next growing season.

[Aiko]

I would water the Argyrodermas when you see them wrinkly. Just a light splash is enough. If you splash them with a lot of water they will crack. Very regularly a very light splash I would advice.

[david90531]

Sounds good, thanks guys! For some reason, I thought they have same dormancy period as Lithops. I will be watching and watering them lightly when wrinkled then

[1bigfruit]

Hi, Argies live on the west coast of SA which gets winter rainfall. It is in the opposite hemisphere but they are still active in winter in the west. Activity is triggered by shorter day length. They don't really grow in summer and become inactive. You might want to water once a month or so in high heat but nearer August they will begin reabsorbing the moisture from the old leaves into this years new head. Possibly buds will form if you are lucky.
The water doesn't dry our from the pots as much in the cooler winter weather so if they are plump just ignore them.
Because they come from a very dry place they have no water stop valve. So if they are in a wet pot they just keep adding more until they burst. This problem is worst in a re-potted specimen as the roots are not meshed throughout the pot properly.
Personally I find all mesembs respond badly to regular watering They seem to prefer to be ignored and then doused now and again between five to ten day intervals.
With argies I would water every ten days or so on a sunny day and never soak the pot through like a house plant.
You have to remember that they encounter very little humus in the wild and live on coarse quartz gravel flats. It is also fairly cold especially at night. Although it does rain there their main source of water is fog. (They live in the Atlantic fog belt on the west coast).
So misting is a good solution especially if you get cold winters.
But water them carefully through the winter until April or so. Once established they can be ignored for the summer only watering now and again.
The flowers are fantastic some of the best in the genus.

[iann]

Sounds good, thanks guys! For some reason, I thought they have same dormancy period as Lithops. I will be watching and watering them lightly when wrinkled then

Lithops aren't dormant in winter, they just don't need (hardly) any water Many Lithops (by species count, if not by the ones common in cultivation) are from winter rainfall areas, or at least dry summer climates. At least one Lithops is found growing together with Argyrodermas, and several with Conophytums.

Most mesembs do very well with regular light watering. Lithops are very much the exception in this as in many other ways, and they really don't like being watered too regularly. I water Argyrodermas more frequently and lightly than most Lithops, but at roughly the same times of year as Lithops, perhaps along with L. optica 'Rubra' rather than L. pseudotruncatella. Argyrodermas will very easily crack their skins if watered deeply, except perhaps when they are very thirsty and strongly wrinkled. Impossible to offer more detailed advice without knowing your climate.

[david90531]

Thank you all I live in Ontario, so right now it's already getting quite cold. Last week was all 8-12 degree Celsius, this week a bit higher but I'm sure soon it will go down again. I grow all my plants at the windowsill though so there's no worry of moving them inside or whatnot, I do need to make sure the temperature doesn't get too cold at the window.
I've been watering both the Lithops and the Argy only when I see them a bit wrinkled and/or a bit soft to touch, and the most recent waterings they're responding well to it, especially the Argy, I finally was able to get rid of the wrinkles on it. Not sure if it would flower this year, so far it hasn't shown any signs. If the online nursery labeled it right, I have an A. crateriforme, is this a yellow flower subspecies?

[KittieKAT]

I usually water my argy lightly in the summer, only when plant starts to shrivel up, be careful when watering its rot sensitive.
Keep cool and shaded during sunny hot summer days
Flowers appear usually in late autumn.

It's a winter grower So usually it should start regenerating some time around then or after the flower dies off, I'm not too sure as Mine hasn't done either.
I wouldn't worry to much about the scarring its pretty rare to see one without Sun scotch or water burst marks on them, even in there naturalhabitats.

[iann]

Argyroderma buds in November here, flowers in late November or December. No sign of anything yet this year, but autumn has been very warm and dull.

[david90531]

Thanks Kitty and Ian, right now the only mesemb that is flowering is the Faucaria, and buds seem to be forming (very slowly) on the Fenestrarias. Argy and Lithops are both not doing much still.... Now that November is here, maybe I'll see some changes soon for the Lithops, I think I will give them one last watering before I put them in true dormant mode.

[KittieKAT]

My baby toes is slowly budding to its taking forever to open!!
Finally saw my argy splitting i can see a little greenish/blue head peeking!!
My Lithops are confused and some are flowering And wicked Wrinkled
Hopefully they won't die I'd be miserable, i moved them inside cause i gave them water..and its cold out so i moved them in side under the grow light so hopefully i can get the flowers open and try a little cross pollination between the two that are flowering at the same time we'll see if i can even do it right lol!!