iann wrote:I grow mine in plastic Except for this one which is in a ceramic bonsai dish! Before you get carried away, that is a very shallow dish and it could still be considered to be overpotted.
You just have to make sure that your combination of pot, soil, roots, and watering practices ensures that the roots don't sit in soggy soil for long. Clay pots are a last desperate measure to evaporate water when all other measures have failed. I use them only as a last resort or a decorative statement. They have a tendency to dry out far too fast when there is no risk of rot, and no more quickly than plastic when it is cool and humid. The evaporation process itself leads to all sorts of issues which can easily be avoided by using a non-porous pot with a suitable soil.
Having grown from seed, I would suggest that your plant is over 20 years old, much older if from habitat. The caudex develops slowly but steadily and I don't think there is any way to push it along like grafting a cactus.
Thanks for your tips mate! I am going to plant them in pure pumice in a shallow plastic pot (not sure where to get one since all the ones at B&Q are deep!).
Fingers crossed I wont kill them I have slowly started transitioning all my plants to pure pumice / akadama after seeing how great Bob's plants are (Toobees Exotics).
A deep pot will drain water away from the stem of a plant much more efficiently than a shallow one (Google "perched water table"). Therefore do not use shallow pots if you are worried about excess moisture at the base of a plant - counter-intuitive I know.
Anacampseros (Avonia) quinaria is not dioecious, but unlike most anacampseros, you will need two genetically different plants to cross-pollinate to produce seed. It grows fairly easily from seed and amazingly it will start to flower at less than 2 years old with a caudex that is just a couple of millimetres across. However, as indicated by other forum members, it is painfully slow growing and it is likely that any large plants offered for sale (unless from a grower who has died or stopped growing) will have ben dug up from the wild. I used to sell this species with caudexes of about 8 - 10mm diameter and these were 5 years old.
You don't need two of these to produce seed, but you will almost certainly need to pollinate by hand. For whatever reason, the flowers don't seem to pollinate themselves the way that most other Avonias and Anacampseros do. Take care to tickle fully ripe flowers where the pollen is freely released, probably late on a very hot afternoon. It is easy to see when the pollen has been transferred to the stigma turning it yellow.
Germination of fresh seed is incredibly fast. I've watched it expand and show green the same day it is sown, and put down a root by the next day.
Here's a more typical Avonia pot Avonia for me: a 5cm round or square pot. They can stay in those for a decade or more.
iann wrote:You don't need two of these to produce seed, but you will almost certainly need to pollinate by hand. For whatever reason, the flowers don't seem to pollinate themselves the way that most other Avonias and Anacampseros do. Take care to tickle fully ripe flowers where the pollen is freely released, probably late on a very hot afternoon. It is easy to see when the pollen has been transferred to the stigma turning it yellow.
Germination of fresh seed is incredibly fast. I've watched it expand and show green the same day it is sown, and put down a root by the next day.
Here's a more typical Avonia pot Avonia for me: a 5cm round or square pot. They can stay in those for a decade or more.
alstonii-0722.jpg
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Amazing so based on your post it looks like I will be able to pollinate these by hand and get seed!
How do you figure out when is the right time and the flower is ready to pollinate?
FaeLLe wrote:
Amazing so based on your post it looks like I will be able to pollinate these by hand and get seed!
How do you figure out when is the right time and the flower is ready to pollinate?
Find a hot afternoon when you have nothing to do and keep your eyes open. The stems stand up stright on days they are likely to open, but they might fake you out for a day or two in advance. If you tickle when the flower first opens, probably you won't get any pollen. Don't force it. Try again an hour later. On the right day, the pollen will be released freely at some point. It is yellow and easy to see. Just transfer it onto the sticky white stigma until it is nicely yellow. A few weeks later, the stems will stand up again and the elaborate fruit will peel open until there is just a fragile basket of seeds. You can sow immediately and germination is fast with heat.
Another quick question, do they prefer to have their caudex under the soil partially buried or above? I heard they can be kept under if using something like pumice and would actually do better.
Except for this one which is in a ceramic bonsai dish! Before you get carried away, that is a very shallow dish and it could still be considered to be overpotted.
I have slowly started transitioning all my plants to pure pumice / akadama after seeing how great Bob's plants are (Toobees Exotics).
