The least appealing most appealing Conophytum?

iann · Post by **iann** » Mon May 16, 2011 4:47 pm

Conophytum burgeri always seems to attract a lot of attention. Here are some looking thoroughly horrible right now. Not quite the fat lumps of red jelly they are at other times of the year.

GermanStar · Post by **GermanStar** » Mon May 16, 2011 5:50 pm

Moldy peas.

iann · Post by **iann** » Mon May 16, 2011 9:04 pm

They'll get worse! Or maybe not, since they'll just look dried up and dead in a few weeks

john b · Post by **john b** » Thu May 19, 2011 1:12 pm

Many of my plants are sheathing over right now, too. My C hammeri, however, looks questionable....

How large are your 'moldy peas'?

John

iann · Post by **iann** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:55 pm

The biggest of the ones in this pot are about half an inch. That still qualifies as a seedling for this species. I have C. hammeri and it is smaller, but also still a seedling. C. burgeri might have the biggest heads in the genus, certainly the biggest I have in my collection.

tvaughan · Post by **tvaughan** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:15 am

My three year old seedlings aren't near a half inch. There's supposed to be a brown one offered by Mesa. Don't know if any of my seedlings of that one made the cat deal...

jenni · Post by **jenni** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:24 am

so cool. i just love squeezing them. a fellow grower i know always keeps telling me to take a soft toothbrush and remove some of the white crust that the plant builds up. any thoughts on this?

C And D · Post by **C And D** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:02 pm

They look lovely to Me!!

I wouldn't try to remove the skins on C. burgeri, its pretty much fused with the lower alive skin.

fanaticactus · Post by **fanaticactus** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:58 pm

OK, Ian...

I give up

What is the attraction to these things? Do they have absolutely spectacular flowers? And do you have pictures of them?

iann · Post by **iann** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:24 pm

I don't mess with them too much. I know some people peel them completely, but I just take away anything that is loose. Apparently if you get them wet then the skin comes away more easily.

iann · Post by **iann** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:31 pm

fanaticactus wrote:OK, Ian... I give up What is the attraction to these things? Do they have absolutely spectacular flowers? And do you have pictures of them?

No they don't have spectacular flowers, just standard little Conophytum pink flowers. They are more weird than beautiful, but they are nice when they get fat in winter. Inside they are completely translucent like a blob of green jelly, or red jelly if the light is strong enough.

Don't tell anyone but I don't really like Conophytums much as a genus. They look dead in summer, they are mostly green dotty things in winter, and when they do have some interesting colours and patterns you need a magnifying glass to see them. So I only have about 50, plus a few hundred seedlings! There is enough variety that anyone can find something they like. I like the hairy ones, the translucent ones, and the ones with strongly scented nocturnal flowers.

C And D · Post by **C And D** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:52 am

Here are my little pets.

Today

My 4 year old seedlings. I had over 100 at the start, then lost about 50% of them up potting at year 1, and then another 30% when up potting in year 2.

And the same plant flowering a couple years ago.
A couple of these guys should be on everybody's wish list!