iann wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2020 1:53 pm
Don't try to move the Lithops yet. You might even get more germination still. They will grow quite slowly from this stage on. When there is no longer any soil visible between them, that will slow them down, but that's a couple of years away.
What about the tap roots though Iann? I was planning to prefil a larger pot using an empty 4cm pot to shape a whole in the soil and then drop the potful in carefully, hopefully without any/much disturbance. I was thinking the seedlings needed another month or two before even attempting this but I don't want to stunt the taproots.
Well being paranoid about the tap roots, I managed to find what I think are the perfect pots to give my Lithops seedlings a bit more depth for their tap roots.
These are 2 1/4” wide (~6cm) by 3 1/4" deep (~8cm). They're not as rigid and strong as the BEF type shallow square pots I have but they seem good.
As I planned, I filled these deeper pots and then used an empty 4cm pot to shape a hole.
I then very carefully tipped the whole pot of seedlings out and into the space left in the pot. (No pictures of this as two hands were barely enough for the process!) A bit of chick grit to top them off and a good water and all seems to have gone without any disasters!
Lithops batch 1 19-02-20
I was tempted in to ordering some more Lithops seeds so those 10 will be sown straight into these pots to save any faffing later! Hopefully the seeds in these pots should then be good for a year or more without any disturbance.
edds wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 7:36 pm
Well being paranoid about the tap roots, I managed to find what I think are the perfect pots to give my Lithops seedlings a bit more depth for their tap roots.
Hopefully the seeds in these pots should then be good for a year or more without any disturbance.
That's a lot of pot for a few Lithops!
I find succulents like Nananthus (which have a proper tap root) often seem happy with the root cramming out a tiny pot, quite literally to bursting. Miniature plants don't really need much root room.
esp wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:57 pm
That's a lot of pot for a few Lithops!
I find succulents like Nananthus (which have a proper tap root) often seem happy with the root cramming out a tiny pot, quite literally to bursting. Miniature plants don't really need much root room.
They were the smallest deep pots I could find so I could get nice long tap roots! There are over 20 in some and 7 in the least populated.
Des Cole used to maintain that there should be at least 10cm of compost below a lithops plant to allow for the tap root. However, his observations were based on wild-dug plants and when you grow them yourself, you will rarely find such roots. I am quite happy to sow the seeds in a standard 5cm square pot or shallow 7cm square pot and leave them in it for 13-14 months. Even then they get pricked out into shallow trays and are quite happy.
Thanks Terry - I was reading some ideas that long tap roots help establish multi-headed plants and allow them to keep those heads. Whether it will make any difference or not who knows but it'll be fund to see what happens! The seedlings I potted on seem happy enough today still so we'll see what the next few years bring!
Without quantitative evidence, I suspect that the way to get big plants is to push them along with feeding, repotting, etc in their first few years. They may look a bit bloated but can be made to look harder at a later date. Once they are starting to age, they settle down to a 1:1 reproduction rate and there is not much you can do to encourage increase.
Also, if you want big plants then do some reading about what each taxon is capable of. Some species are unlikely to ever get beyond the one or two head stage whereas others such as L. salicola can grow into large clusters.
