So I had the privilege of visiting the Abbey Brooke Cactus Nursery last weekend.
The nursery is so great with very mature plants and the national collection's of Mammillaria and Haworthia was splendid; not to mention Brian and Gill were the most friendly people ever
Conophytums, especially the big beefy bilobe ones like yours, can be completely dry now until maybe July. They should dry out to a white sheath, but quite likely will break out before you even give them water, or even before they dry out. The little tiny ones dry out easier and can take some persuading to start growing again at the end of summer. Water in autumn, maybe in winter if you have great winter sun (not here!), and then dry out in spring. You already have fruit and you'll have ripe seed by the end of summer.
iann wrote:Copiapoas are nice, but where's all the Lithops?
Conophytums, especially the big beefy bilobe ones like yours, can be completely dry now until maybe July. They should dry out to a white sheath, but quite likely will break out before you even give them water, or even before they dry out. The little tiny ones dry out easier and can take some persuading to start growing again at the end of summer. Water in autumn, maybe in winter if you have great winter sun (not here!), and then dry out in spring. You already have fruit and you'll have ripe seed by the end of summer.
Hey thanks for the cultivation advice iann most appreciated.
These are under 1000W grow lights so guess I will keep them growing throughout winter.
So if I understand correctly in my situation,
- Water once in july (dry till then)
- Water once in autumn
- Water once in winter?
Then repeat as above? The situation is that my greenhouse is indoors (hence the grow lights!) and it never gets below 24 C; in this case do I keep watering all througout winter? Maybe if they shrivel a lot?
Back when there used to be an annual show at Dartford, there was a regular visitor who grew perfect plants in his loft using 100% artificial light. It's something I don't know much about but I reckon it's possible if light and temperature can be controlled. The difficult think might be to control the winter temperature but I like the thought of being able to control the light levels. There looks to be something familiar about the E.Laui label!!
Stuart
FaeLLe is trying to grow unsuitable plants for their conditions. Doomed to fail
Do some research!
Chris unfortunately there is only so much I can do to regulate temperatures in the extra bedroom I have made into my office / grow room. This includes leaving the windows open and heating turned off in winter
I have quite a few winter growers in there (Most of my aeonium's and howarthia's grow on clock this way) and I simulate winter conditions by dropping down light levels from 1000W to 250W gradually as the year progresses and cutting down water (not ideal I know but 2 out of 3 are managed - light, water, temperature).
Take home haul last weekend - Abbey Brooke Cactus Nursery
