makeshift shelter for conophytums and rare mesembs (pics)

[meizzwang]

We had our first rains a couple of weeks ago here in Northern California, and knowing that they were coming, the plants were kept pretty dry. All of my plants were hit by the rain on the first day because they really needed water. Surprisingly, that single day of rain was too much water for one of the conophytums and it exploded/rotted out a few days later. Lesson learned, these can't EVER be exposed to even light rains here in Northern California.

The day after the first rain, I made a really shabby shelter and piled them in. Had it been a few days later, I probably would have lost most of these plants! It's really strange how you can water them by hand and it's not a problem, but a slow drizzle all day is just too much for them to handle. When it's cold and rainy outside, I crawl into this shelter and it makes an otherwise gloomy day really bright and happy! It's nice to have these plants in full force when everything else is dead or dormant!

One of the main attractions of conophytums (to me at least) is their super creepy feel. When they're not completely turgid and you give them a little squeeze, it feels like someone's ear! Same can be said about many other mesembs, like Cheiridopsis species... No idea why I find that really fascinating....if you grow conophytums or mesembs in general, why do you like them?

Anyhow, here's some photos, taken Oct. 30, 2016. If you see anything mis-labeled, let me know, this is how they came:

The shelter:


Conophytum herrei:


Conophytum lydiae:


Conophytum friedrichiae, yeah it's spelled wrong on my tag:


Conophytum maughanii-still trying to deflate from that first rain! This is the pot where I lost the biggest plant. The second biggest one has split into 2 plants:


Conophytum devium:


Conophytum limpidum-this has to be a very diverse species because they seem to come in so many different shapes, sizes and forms. This is a really tiny form and they've already bloomed:


Gibbaeum dispar:


Cheiridopsis pillansii seedlings et. al:



A fat Cheiridopsis brownii:


and an overview shot of one of the flats:


And while it's not really on topic, it's growing with my mesembs and is a succulent, so it seems an honorable mention is justified: Lewisia rediviva. Normally, these bloom in the spring, but they started growing in the garage during the summer so they had a super head start. There's literally a population 2 blocks away and the wild plants haven't even emerged yet as of 10/30/16. By the spring time, if they do as well this year as they did last year, this pot will be jammed packed with more flowers than leaves:

[cjbaker]

Wow, lovely plants, thanks for sharing! I really like the marbled patterns on the Conophytum devium. The textures and shapes of Gibbaeum dispar are always one of my favorites, the shape sort of reminds me of when an almond has a double kernel. You must have a really long growing season for these, since I suppose you get lots of cold nights but not much freezing. Mine will have to come inside in just a few weeks.

[Aiko]

What is the plant left of the (impressive) Lewisia rediviva?

[iann]

No idea what your weather has been like, but I don't think you should immediately tag winter rainfall as fatal. One possibility is that it is still too warm for them to be sitting in soggy conditions. Another is that the plants were not dry enough in the summer. You've posted multiple examples of stacked Conophytums, ones where the old leaves are still present as well as a new pair. This causes all sorts of problems, up to and including death. So they certainly don't need any water now, and next summer they need to be dried out much more thoroughly. I don't take masses of photos of Conophytums in the summer, but here is the sort of thing you should be aiming for:

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[meizzwang]

Thank you CJbaker!

Aiko:that's actually not what you think it is...you're seeing the corm of Musa pisang raja, an edible banana cultivar that I'm trying to keep alive this winter under the shelter.

Iann:thank you for the insight, that makes complete sense. I wonder how much environment and substrate contributes to the troubles of drying out the old "skin?" There's a veteran mesemb grower near me who for the most part told me he waters every week all year round! I'm sure there are times when it's every other week, but in any case, it appears he knows what he's doing. Here's some pics of his collection:































Last but not least, here's the C. maughanii I lost, RIP! It bloomed at night and had an outstanding light fragrance:

[Pushrestart]

Thats a really lovely mesemb collection, so much variety! If you dont mind sharing who is it?

Well I'd be curious about 2 things, what kind of potting medium is your friend using and how much 'watering' they're doing. Some people define watering as a deep soak and others as misting gently. The latter is far safer than floods from the sky.

I agree with Ian you have some serious stacking going on, and with time that will stress the conos and eventually kill them. You must let the old leaf pairs whither away before caring for the next set. Most conos from around late march-early april will start to sheath over as the sun becomes more intense, for most types you can withhold water until late August/early September and other more sensitive types require a periodic misting. If one continues to water year round with no pause the plant has no reason to shed old leaves.

You have some really cute mesembs, hope the shelter prevents any additional casualties!

[meizzwang]

Just in case you wanted to see what that exact same bowl of Lewisia rediviva looked like last Spring:

[iann]

There are some Conophytums that I'm sure will will dry themselves out thoroughly no matter how much water they get, although I haven't forced the issue to test. Others I struggle with here, no doubt not hot enough or sunny enough in summer.

This one - C. ectypum? the photo isn't labelled - dries to a crisp at the first hint of summer and takes some convincing to come out of it again. It is fatal to water these through the summer.

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Bilobes types may dry out, but it is always obvious there are fat leaves underneath and very often they'll break through with or without water. These can be watered pretty much any time and the main danger is bursting or stacking the leaves.

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[meizzwang]

Thanks for all the input Iann! I've greatly benefited from your experience and feedback! Interestingly, I haven't watered the conophytums since reading your post, and the new growth is as turgid as can be, suggesting it's receiving sufficient water from the outer skin. The soil has been bone dry and these are getting blasting full sun every day from sun up till sun set, except of course on rainy days, which we will soon experience many.

[iann]

Thanks for all the input Iann! I've greatly benefited from your experience and feedback! Interestingly, I haven't watered the conophytums since reading your post, and the new growth is as turgid as can be, suggesting it's receiving sufficient water from the outer skin. The soil has been bone dry and these are getting blasting full sun every day from sun up till sun set, except of course on rainy days, which we will soon experience many.

Are you getting much dew on them at night? Heavy dew would give them more than enough water, especially with old leaves still to chew on.

[meizzwang]

sorry for the late response Ian, didn't see this until now. I did see some condensation on the plastic, but the soil is really dry, even in the morning. The plants got really dry and were on the verge of "wilting" because the temps in that enclosure were reaching 21C (70F) during the day despite outside temperatures only reaching a maximum of 13C (55F), so I gave everything a watering. They're all still very happy and actively growing due to the greenhouse effect.

Now that it has been raining and will continue to rain for at least the next 10 days, they won't get any water for a while. Temps in the enclosure are about the same as they are outside and there's no direct sunlight.

[Shmuel]

I also use makeshift plastic rain protecti0on. 2 things to watch out for - the rain water can get very heavy in a low area of the plastic and cave in. Also the plastic can get cloudy from the UV in sunlight and not let enough light in. You do get sunlight in the bay area winter?
Shmuel

[meizzwang]

This is greenhouse plastic designed to be exposed to full sun and it is positioned at an angle so no water collects on it. The shelter is located in the middle of an unobstructed field, so it gets light from sun up until sunset. We do get sunny days during the winter, but right now it's raining, so no sun for the next few days.

[meizzwang]

Some updates of the makeshift shelter! Around mid to late January, we had an atmospheric river run through Northern California, and it has been cloudy and dark for most of the winter (so far) with a few sunny days mixed in. The makeshift shelter didn't withstand the 65mph winds and the greenhouse plastic was torn off despite placing very heavy cement bricks on top to hold it in place. All of the plants got rained on very hard and endured, cold, cloudy days for weeks afterwards, but fortunately I had kept them dry enough that no rot set it.

I ended up adding even more heavy bricks to hold the greenhouse plastic in place, and it survived an even stronger windstorm a few weeks ago. After many weeks of rain, we finally have a break, and the sun is beaming on the plants.

Here's what everything looks like after the storm, photos taken 2/12/17, check out how big those Ihlenfeldtia vanzylii flowers are in the foreground:



close of up I. vanzylii, they have a very light, daisy-like fragrance:






Aloinopsis schooneesii in full bloom:








Gotta double check the name of this one, Raebia something or other?




Here's a really fat plant of Cheiridopsis brownii. It was surprising that only a few flowers emerged:



close up of the flower:





What I'm starting to learn about some mesembs is that one year, they'll produce small flowers, but as soon as the plant reaches vegetative maturity or has some serious momentum, those flowers can get even bigger!

Here's Ihlenfeldtia excavata, the flowers were relatively small and with the first bloom, it was so unimpressive that I didn't even pick the plant up to look at it. For whatever reason, this time I took a whiff of the flower-OMG!!!! It was heavily perfumed with a deep citrus aroma! I have a much stronger affinity for this plant knowing it smells out of this world and can potentially produce bigger flowers in the future;



This is the first time it's bloomed from seed:

[Mark]

Wow all your plants looks nice and happy. The size of those Ihlenfeldtia vanzylii flowers, though! Great job.


Mark