The lull before the storm

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iann
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The lull before the storm

Post by iann »

My Lithops pseudotruncatella flowers are all but finished now. Some L. gracilidelineata have flowered and some are still to flower. Ssp. brandbergensis is open today, slightly larger flowers than most in this species.
brandbergensis-0820.jpg
Var. gracilidelineata not quite there:
gracilidelineata-0821.jpg
L. ruschiorum var. lineata has even smaller flowers.
lineata-0820.jpg
Some other Lithops are producing buds but not necessarily the ones I'd expect. L. amicorum usually gives the earliest white flowers but August is still pretty early.
amicorum-0821.jpg
amicorum-0821.jpg (50.72 KiB) Viewed 3489 times
This one is a bit scorched but still flowering.
amicorum-0821.jpg
Even more surprising is L. julii.
julii-0821.jpg
And L. karasmontana var. aiaisensis.
aiaisensis-0821.jpg
L. dinteri 'Dintergreen' another I wouldn't have expected now.
dintergreen-0821.jpg
And L. viridis:
viridis-0821.jpg
And Tanquana won't be far behind
tanquana-0821.jpg
Cheshire, UK
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KarlR
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by KarlR »

Lovely plants, Iann! Thanks for sharing.
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rodsmith
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by rodsmith »

Plenty of blooms to come, Ian. The drawback with my setup is that my conservatory loses the sun after about 1.15 pm. Lithops bloom as a rule in late afternoon so any of mine that are seriously in bud I have to bring indoors to an upstairs window to get them to fully open. My conos seem to be much more amenable.
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Astro
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by Astro »

Mine are in shade after about 2:30, but it hasn't stopped any Lithops from opening their flowers. I guess it must still be bright enough (after 6 there's a bit of sun again). Maybe not being in the blazing sun even extends the flowers' lifetime.

Only pseudotruncatella here for the past two months (in fits and starts). I just spotted the first gracilidelineata, so maybe others will take the cue?

gracilidelineata v brandbergensis
L_grac_brandbergensis_C383_082218.jpg
L pseudotruncatella v groendrayensis, aka mentos
L_pseudotruncatella_groendrayensis.jpg
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rodsmith
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by rodsmith »

I'm coming to the conclusion that it's temperature rather than sunlight that is the key to lithops flowers opening. Yesterday afternoon was grey here but the temperature on our landing windowsill was about 24 deg C. My Lithops gesinae annae was fully open by late afternoon and remained open until dusk.
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Growing a mixed collection of cacti & other succulents; mainly smaller species with a current emphasis on lithops & conophytum.
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BryanW
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by BryanW »

Hi Rod, could it be that they are photoperiodic ?
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Terry S.

Re: The lull before the storm

Post by Terry S. »

One can see somewhat similar temperature-controlled behaviour in that nocturnal-flowering Conophytum species do not open their flowers if the previous day has been too cold.
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BryanW
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by BryanW »

I haven't experienced any Lithops flowering yet, so this is an interesting subject for me.
I'm very tempted to put some of the indoor plants in my 4 tier grow tent (outdoors) to see how they react to the temperature fluctuations that they don't experience indoors.
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rodsmith
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by rodsmith »

BryanW wrote: Thu Aug 23, 2018 8:32 am Hi Rod, could it be that they are photoperiodic ?
I am in no way a scientist but my understanding of photoperiodism is that it is the mechanism that triggers a plant into flowering and this is determined by more than one factor; for example, length of daylight or night time hours, density of darkness and whether the darkness is broken. Once the flowering process has been triggered there appear to be other factors that cause a flower to open. For example gazanias will produce buds during the summer but they will only open when it is sunny. In my example of lithops gesinae, the plant opened on the first day with sun and warmth (24 deg C) but on the second with very dull conditions but plenty of warmth. In my situation, lithops species that flower later in the year will often not open fully even in bright sunlight if the temperature is not well above 21 deg C. I would be interested to get other views on this.
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Aiko
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Re: The lull before the storm

Post by Aiko »

A long lull, but the storm is nearly there. I hope my greenhouse and all its glass panes will survive next Sunday.
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