Three more plants went into primagra. I have to say the plastic containers do leave something to be desired and I am going to work on finding more attractive containers. A couple of questions.
I watered them with a very weak fertilizer and should I do this when they are dry again?
The plants are E. obesa, 3 lithops and Adenium somalense v. Nova. All of these should be going dormant and really should have little to no water.
A pic of the adenium and obesa
C
They look great. I can tell you my adeniums and E. obesa have done great in s/h.
I see adenium, E. obesa (I have one-you have THREEEEE), and 3 bananas (funny lithops) hahahahaha!
C, they all look great. I would have been proud of them as I am sure you are. One note: I do not know how easy it is to get obesa there, but I would think twice about thowing all my eggs in one basket - if you know what I mean! It is not an easy plant to find here, and they come from here!
They are pretty common on nursery lists here. I just don't have 3 small pots for them right now. I might move them in the spring when they are more active.
C
You are so lucky! I really had to search to find one...and I am like a hen with eggs!LOL
Funny how finding a particular plant can become almost an obsession, especially when you realize how many different plants there are available to you. I wonder why they are hard to find since they originate from your area?
C
The are so common here, they sell them at Home Depot and Lowe's.
I personally would hold on the fertilizer to allow dormancy to continue.
That's sort of what I was thinking but because there are no nutrients in this medium some fertilizer might be needed. Perhaps a very weak dose.
C
No nutrients are available in peat moss with perlite either. So I would keep them the same.
In the s/h I give 1/2 strength fertilizer each time I water. Even in the winter but again, I am not a scientist but it has worked for me for many years and my E. obesum has done
great with it.
Interesting. That should keep them spiked for growth, yet they stay dormant? From what I have read, that's a big no-no unless you keep them growing year around maybe E obesa. tolerates that.
Actually, I do that with all of my plants. That is what is so amazing about s/h. My plants are watered all winter. Many do go dormant and when they do, the water on the bottom is just not used but it is there. I will water much less as the plants are not using the water but they don't rot. I have also heard the other school of thought that plants should get a little water thru the winter as that can cause them to lose their roots and rot? That is what I mean about s/h, I don't have to think about it which is good for me. My E. obesa has been in s/h for years and just loves it and as you can see, it has done very well.
I do water on soil monthly to everybody, unless specifically told not to. (Pelargoniums, Massonia, etc.) But its interesting that with SH you can pull it off without concern. Personally I think SH flips Succulent growing on its head!
You do have a very different climate than I as to most things all I get is etiolation if winter growth occurs since we have such low gray skies for several months: November, December, January, maybe February. Then we get more sun breaks and warmer weather, but I joke the rain starts on Oct 31 and ends on July 4, as July, August, September and part of October are beautiful.
All of my plants are inside and under lights from Sept. to May so that may make a difference.
Without a doubt, that would make a difference. With florescent tubes inches over my old Adro collection, I learned how many were winter growers, scads to say the least. However, my personal favorite got badly sunburned outside, and was not in condition to be sold when I reduced my collection, so it may be one of the first to go SH, but I still don't have a bright spot for it.
You are right about the winter growers. I have a number of them who are just waking up now.
Not a caudiciform but I wanted to show the roots on this little orchid. It was an orphin that was given to me in pretty bad shape. Leaves yellowing, and most of the roots rotted. It has been prime agro since November and has produced a few small leaves but the roots have really started to develop. There are many more growing in the media than the ones growing out of it.
C
That is awesome. Those roots look great. I think s/h was started with orchids.
From what I have read it was started with orchids. It was done for years with pumice and such until they got onto Hydroton and such.
I am definately going to move the few orchids I have over, after they have bloomed. I do have one loss to report. I bought a very small adenium and put it into SH, I found it very rotten today when I looked at it. I have one other larger one (pic on this thread) and it seems to be doing fine and has put out a bunch of leaves like it thinks spring has arrived.
C
In the last week I have also moved a number of plants to s-h. I was inspired by Cheryl to take a couple of photos; the first picture is Pachypodium lamerei in front, Adenium somalense v. somalense back left and on right another Adenium obesum
This message was edited Jan 22, 2011 10:52 AM
The second picture is front left Uncarina peltata, front right Tumamoca macdougalii, back Cephalopentandra ecirrhosa.
In addition to these 6 I also have Trichodiadema bulbosum that I showed in an earlier thread (it is doing great so far) and also Pterodiscus aff. aurantiacus. The Pterodiscus was in soil and the caudex had rotted quite a bit. I cut off the rotted part, dried out the rest and decided I had nothing to lose by putting the small piece left in s-h. I'll let you know whether it makes it or not.
I find it so interesting that because it is so dry here I worry that the primeagra is getting too dry. It seems dry on top. I couldn't resist pulling out a piece of the Tumamoca and the roots were lightly moist and happy. I think it is amazing!
I see hydroton is similar, but I need to get more pots that will allow for side drainage, the bottom drainage with a saucer full of water is not good enough, I found a Rhipsalis dying due to a lack of water in a bottom draining setup which is du jour out here.
