Mesembs sowing timing

[Christian]

Forgot to say, those seedlings I mentioned were sown last spring.

[Aiko]

Makes me wonder how the poor things survive in habitat, presumably germination in wet season is shortly followed by very hot and dry when the seedlings are still very small. I’d guess in the wild there are major losses, possibly those which do survive are in very sheltered positions?

From what I read from all the travelogues in the MSG bulletin they mainly grow in crevaces or on south sloped mountains and ridges (being on the southern hemisphere, this is the dark side of the mountains). And Lithops and Conophytums can also be very crypticly hidden among pebbles or even completely hidden under some soil or pebbles for most of their life. And possibly like many cacti also under / among bushes?

[Geri88]

Oh oh, I'm getting conflicting advice ! I guess I'll have to try a 50/50 approach... if I manage to count the seed, that is. I don't have the best eyesight.

[Geri88]

Another question: would you place the pots in an unheated greenhouse at this time of year? I am in London, but we still get relatively low temperatures at night. The other option is my kitchen windowsill.

[Christian]

I am curious as to what others here will say, but with a greenhouse I‘d be worried about frost (though in London you might no longer expect any perhaps?) and too much warmth for those winter growers during the day, unless you decided to leave these for now?

[Geri88]

This is exactly what I worry about, although my records show no temperature under 2C in the greenhouse after March in previous years, it can get to the low 20C during the day. But then at home, even in an unheated room, night temperatures don't dip very much (at the moment, 16C minimum).

[mary44]

I would take Terry's advice re the time to sow conophytums.

I experimented last winter and sowed all my conophytum seeds during January and February and left the pots in a barely heated room on an east facing windowsill with no additional heating. The temperatures dipped below 50 degrees F most nights and rose to about 60 degrees or so on the hottest days. I have had superb germination with conos as well as the lithops that happened to be there as well for experimentation. And no signs of damping off. The seeds were sown in 1/4 seeds trays with lids which I removed once the seeds had germinated. I am now about to move the pots out to a shady spot in my unheated greenhouse.

[rthr]

If I had the choice I'd probably sow them indoors but move them outside as soon as I was happy with the germination, so they'd typically move into the greenhouse about 2-3 weeks after sowing. The young mesembs won't mind low night-time temps in the greenhouse and indeed will be happier with the wider range in temperature that they'll get there, but they'll likely germinate slightly better with the warmer and more constant indoor temps. Be sure to protect the pots from direct sunlight, both on the windowsill and once transferred to the greenhouse, or the tiny seedlings will frazzle.
Catherine

[Geri88]

Thank you Tony, Aiko, Mary and Catherine.
It is great to get input from such experienced growers.
I will sow seeds today and move the pots to the greenhouse once germinated.

[Terry S.]

If you like the plants in the "Cono for all seasons" thread, then that seed was sown in early January. That is the same sort of time as the other 20,000 conos that I have successfully raised from seed over the years.