Windowsill seed raising - Small Cacti and Mesembs

[Aiko]

Regarding Dactylopsis, I haven't been able to grow them from seed myself yet, after multiple tries. Do have a bigger plant that is doing well (enough). Wait for advice by Iann and other mesemb enthusiasts, I would recommend.

[IrisA]

That doesn't bode well. I guess I'll adjust my expectations with these. Probably should have done a bit more research before adding to the cart, maybe a good rule is the cooler it looks the harder it will be.

[greenknight]

I found one other site that said Dactylopsis are tricky to raise in cultivation - and that's all it said. Not too helpful, or hopeful. I agree with Aiko, maybe someone here has some (successful) experience with them.

Cheer up - the seed was cheap, you said, right? You won't be out much, at worst - and it's an adventure!

[Pushrestart]

oooooo Dactylopsis digitata thats a cool one, was thinking of trying it myself.
I've seen some people label it as phyllobolus digitata, and generally these arent too difficult, but this might be a different beast.
Aiko any insight you can share on this one? Not sure if this is as much a unicorn as Muiria hortenseae...

[IrisA]

Thanks greenknight- Thats a good way to look at it. The seed was cheap so its worth a shot (just checked these are still available at 25 for $1.50 on cactus store). If nothing else maybe I'll learn something, will share my findings.

Thanks for the tip on the name Pushrestart, really not a lot of info on these under either name. Looks like C and D grow these, pretty sure this thread entry is the first place I heard of these: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11195&start=585 such cool plants. Fingers crossed!

[iann]

Dactylopsis is an obligate winter grower, in the sense that it is a dead looking lump in the summer. Once new leaves emerge (fingers crossed) in autumn, keep them fat and happy until spring, then let them collapse. Tricky without lots of winter sun. They look great when grown well, but not so great etiolated, and totally dead in summer.

Strangely enough, Steven Hammer recommends sowing seed in summer. It will germinate better with warmth and then have an entire cool season to grow in before having to survive dormancy.

[Aiko]

Strangely enough, Steven Hammer recommends sowing seed in summer. It will germinate better with warmth and then have an entire cool season to grow in before having to survive dormancy.

Actually, I have the same experience with Diplosoma [Maughaniella] luckhoffii and D. retroversum. Basically the only winter active species I HAVE to sow in autumn and CANNOT be sown in spring whereas other winter active species can also be sown in spring (at least with my climate).

[Pushrestart]

Hmmmm so end of summer, early autumn for this guy. Thank you Ian and Aiko for the additional info. While its quite a cool looking plant gibbaeum shandii might be one to grow and pretend its D. Digitata lol.

[IrisA]

Thanks for the tips iann, I think I'll take the advice about starting in the summer and hold off on these for now. The winter sun may be tough for me without a proper greenhouse, though I do have lights so I'll try putting them close. I do have a few other winter growers I've managed to keep going for a few years now, some mixed conos and monilaria, I guess I'll just do the same things here. I actually kind of enjoy the winter growers that totally dry up, it's always great when these spring to life when everything else is winding down.

[iann]

Gibbaeum shandii is another one that looks really nice when grown well, but really nasty in poor light. I got them this far but then they went leggy and etiolated, which I don't have photos of! I should really chop them and go back to nice compact plants. Never had flowers on these.

shandii4.jpg (70.83 KiB) Viewed 7186 times

[Pushrestart]

Beautiful plant Ian, it seems most of these trickier winter growing species need cool temps and intense light to do well ! Maybe putting them under grow lights would help, but might not be compatible with GH growing.
How do you safely chop a Gibbaeum down?

[jfabiao]

I did not have any problems when sowing Dactylopsis digitata (MSG seed): sowed them in late April, they came up in 1-3 weeks and grew well until an accident with the cover I had them under on a particularly rainy day flooded their tray while I was away and killed everything inside. A pity, really, because they were looking very nice at ~7 months of age.
To be honest I cannot claim any "success"; I just did what I used to do back then and watched the seedlings grow - some did, some didn't. My warm climate and plentiful sun are more responsible than me for getting the seedlings this far. The real problems, I'm sure, would start when they would go through their normal yearly cycle.

Dactylopsis_digitata_1952009_20101118.jpg (180.26 KiB) Viewed 7175 times

[iann]

Like all mesembs, you can just chop the stems near the base of the leaves and re-root as a cutting. Some of them seem to take a long time to root, others very quick. It might be that they root very quickly, but only at the right time. For example, Conophytum cuttings root very easily in late autumn.

I've tried lights for winter growers, but they weren't a great success. I think they were overall too warm and stressed the plants instead of helping them. It wasn't excessively hot, but it wasn't really cool at night. Perhaps in a colder place they would have worked better.

[greenknight]

That's where LEDs have an advantage, they produce light with very little heat.

[IrisA]

Bright and cold is a challenge indoors, the best I can do is close to the window to get some cold at night but within range of the t5. I'm curious about getting LEDs, but I really don't like the look of plants under the magenta light, I'd be interested in trying a reasonably sized/priced full spectrum LED. When I last checked there weren't a lot of good options here.

Thanks for sharing the pic jfabio, the seedlings look really good. I hate when mishaps cost us plants. I accidentally baked some dinteranthus this summer by accidentally turning on the heating pad on instead of turning the lights off on one of the hottest days this summer

That Gibbeaum shandii looks gorgeous iann, I tried some mixed gibbeaums one year without any luck, hope to try again if I ever manage to get a real greenhouse.