Dinteranthus - wrinkles at the base

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grinel
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Dinteranthus - wrinkles at the base

Post by grinel »

I'm having a bit of a potential problem with basically all my Dinteranthus, which seem to be slowly deflating at the base. The picture isn't great, but it illustrates the problem.
Dinte.JPG
The first to display this was a Pole-evansii, but I didn't pay much attention, thinking it's normal wrinkling of the outer leaves in the process of splitting. The base got progressively thinner and thinner, even though there was still some water in the outer leaves. Then the old leaves dried out and I finally unpotted it to have a look at the roots, and they just came clean off, along with the central root stem, leaving only the new leaves, which were firm but underdeveloped and thin at the base. No rot, no broken tissue, just came off along with the old dry leaves.

The inexpectatus in the picture are both starting to do the same, even though it's still early stages. And I have a couple of vanzylii which are showing the same symptoms.

As far as I understand Dinteranthus are supposed to be treated like Lithops, and I wasn't planning on watering them until the old leaves turned dry, but I know if I don't do something different they're probably going to suffer the same fate as the pole-evansii.

The room they are in is facing south-west and it's warm these days, 21-22C during the day and 15-16C at night, and it's been more or less like this for a couple of months now, maybe 1 or 2 degrees cooler. Is it too warm for what they were expecting at this time of year? Should I move them in a cooler environment? Should I give them a few drops of water, maybe mist them? I would appreciate any advice from Mesemb growers and particularly from those with experience with Dinteranthus.

Thanks!
Varied collection, mix of regular and hardy cacti, stapeliads and mesembs, along with other South African succulents. Particular interest in stapeliads these days
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ChrisR
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Re: Dinteranthus - wrinkles at the base

Post by ChrisR »

Nothing wrong, looks perfectly normal. Important to hold off on the water now. Only leaf tip wrinkles require water as a response - these leaves basically want to dry out now. Not sure what happened with your pole-evansii but the roots may have died or rotted beforehand.
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See www.conophytum.com for ca.4000 photos and growing info on Conophytum, Crassula & Adromischus.
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iann
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Re: Dinteranthus - wrinkles at the base

Post by iann »

Looks fine. D. pole-evansii is temperamental.
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grinel
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Re: Dinteranthus - wrinkles at the base

Post by grinel »

OK, I guess I'll wait and see how they develop, then
Thanks.
Varied collection, mix of regular and hardy cacti, stapeliads and mesembs, along with other South African succulents. Particular interest in stapeliads these days
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