Conophytums

[Terry S.]

Buying cono seed on Ebay is certainly a case of caveat emptor. I get particularly annoyed by the material being sold by "exotic cactus collection" in the States. They illustrate C. obcordellum with a photo that is such an extreme form of 'Ursprungianum' that one is tempted to think that it had been Photoshopped, I have certainly never seen a plant like it. C. pellucidum is illustrated by the cultivar 'Makin's Plum' which is almost certainly not in the mix and the ultimate insult is that they have used the photo of C. brunneum from my web site and turned it through 180 degrees!

[ChrisR]

They once nicked one of my photos too Terry......I emailed a complaint but unsurprisingly never received a reply. Personally I wouldn't trust them or any other ebay commercial seed seller to provide what they advertise.

[Bob Sobelman]

I just looked on the ebay most seeds 15 where $6 but shipping $14 from the u.s. not cheap but I had very good
success last year. the Chinese are buying up all the seeds they can get there hands on. this was last year

[Aiko]

I just looked on the ebay most seeds 15 where $6 but shipping $14 from the u.s. not cheap but I had very good
success last year. the Chinese are buying up all the seeds they can get there hands on. this was last year

Then one should become a member of the MSG (http://mesemb.org), where you can order 10 seeds for 0.30GBP of almost all of the mesembs species on the annual seed list every Februari. Seeds of the MSG are not being send to China (or even outside the EU?), so you avoid those bulk orders anyway.

[iann]

MSG seeds can be mailed to most places, just not China. To the US requires a sticker that you have to apply for (think it is still free) to import small seed batches. In the UK and EU, it is a no-brainer for anyone who wants reliably named Conophytum seeds. I rarely buy anything starting with a letter before "L", but there are more Conophytums on the list than anything else, including stuff you just won't get anywhere else.

[ChrisR]

I just looked on the ebay most seeds 15 where $6 but shipping $14 from the u.s. not cheap but I had very good success last year.r

Can we see your "success" Bob....a photo of your seedlings? What did you sow and who from?

[ChrisR]

Flowering tonight and being pollinated in my kitchen.....for the MSG 2019 seedlist. Conophytum ficiforme 6km NW Robertson. If only the scent could be shared like this photo!

[Dot]

That's very interesting Chris, what are you using to pollinate?

This afternoon I was in the greenhouse pollinating with a small thin brush -hope to have some seeds in due course!,

Dorothy.

[ChrisR]

It's a nylon bristle from a small hand brush Dorothy. But some are too straight......I found one where the bristles are slightly twisted so hold the pollen better. They slide down the tubes perfectly.

BTW.....a tip SH gave me years ago. When pollinating don't assume you can do it just once and get a decent set. It really has to be done daily (or nightly in this case) for the life of the flower to have the best chance of a large and full capsule.

[Eric Williams]

I would like to try my luck with conos too, but I have space problem lol. Can any one recommend some species that, 1' look colourful,2' stay small, 3' and seeds are usually available. To tell the truth I can find room for about 4 off 2inch square pots, sad really. Cheers