Fenestraria Aurantiaca

[colser]

Amazing plants Ian. Appreciate you sharing

[JonNo]

You can get large mats in pots if you wait long enough, but they're never quite the same as habitat.

F. 'Fireworth' is vigorous for a Fenestraria, but it sill takes about 20 years to get to this size. It tends to either look very thirsty or push up overcrowded bunches of leaves.
fireworth-0824.jpg

This F. rhopalophylla is even older. It is easier to keep compact but the old leaves show its age.
rhopalophylla-0824.jpg

They are indeed beautiful Iann. The person who sold me the Aurantiaca lead me to believe it would multiply rapidly... I guess it is a matter of how one interprets the term "rapid"?!

[JonNo]

Iann, I hope you won't mind if I pick your brains a little please?

I've been looking again at the pictures of your plants. They seem more deeply planted than mine. I read up before potting and what I read suggested that, while these plants will "retract" in the wild, when they are grown in cultivation (in my case as a house plant) they prefer to be planted shallow, so I have mine with the point from which all the stems grow sitting just about level with the surface of the compost. Would you say that is OK or do I need to plant a little deeper?

Any expert advice greatly appreciated!

[iann]

I plant them with my soil mix up to the base of the leaves and then grit above that. Having the leaves buried in anything more moisture-retentive than grit would be risky. It would be nice to have the grit up to the top of the leaves, but they always seem to stretch upwards out of the grit a little. Too much water and not enough sun, I suppose. If you examine a pot that isn't too root-bound, you'll see that the roots go straight down quite a way and then spread out, and they would spread a long way given the chance.

rhopalophylla1.jpg (93.14 KiB) Viewed 138 times

[JonNo]

I plant them with my soil mix up to the base of the leaves and then grit above that. Having the leaves buried in anything more moisture-retentive than grit would be risky. It would be nice to have the grit up to the top of the leaves, but they always seem to stretch upwards out of the grit a little. Too much water and not enough sun, I suppose. If you examine a pot that isn't too root-bound, you'll see that the roots go straight down quite a way and then spread out, and they would spread a long way given the chance.
rhopalophylla1.jpg

Noted and thanks Iann, much appreciated. It looks like I have mine planted roughly about right then, maybe I could have left space for a bit more depth of grit but near enough I think... That is some root ball you have there! Thanks again.