Tylecodon opelii

[SteveJones]

I was fortunate to buy some T.opelii seeds from the MSG seed list this year and so far four have slowly germinated. Can anybody give me some advice on this small winter grower. Does it need watering all year round? The pot is still in its plastic bag and I'm relctant to remove it, let it dry out and possibly kill the tiny seedlings.

[Aiko]

I am lucky to have some seeds of this species too. I will be sowing them in September. Mainly because I have enough to sow this spring, of around 180 pots of cacti... So better to spread the load a bit.

As soon as you are happy with the germination rate, I would take them out of the bag. You can keep on growing them through this summer. And then continue through autumn and winter, and allow them to go dormant next spring.

During the heath of summer, I would just treat them like any other (cactus) seedling. In my case, I will put the tray with seedlings in some water about once a week during sunny days. Only when there are dull days and the soil still feels moist, I skip a week.

[ralphrmartin]

I find that Tylecodon cuttings tolerate summer watering quite well (and may even root). Thus, with such small seedlings, I'd be tempted to try to keep them damp through the summer, and also put them somewhere not too hot, to try to keep them going. Perhaps a North facing window in the house?

[MaciejW]

My experience with growing tylecodons from seed is to sow them in the spring and keep them moist throughout their first summer and in a bright light, but not direct sun place. Then treat them as any winter growers - keep watering in autumn and winter and most of the next spring and allow them to go to the dormancy then. They can surprisingly grow a lot in their first year.

[Terry S.]

As a droit du seigneur, I was given some seeds of Tylecodon opelii in early 2017 and although an extreme miniature from the Knersvlakte, it has proven to be easy to grow. I would normally sow Tylecodon seeds on 1st January alongside and under the same conditions as my conophytums, but they did not arrive until later and were sown on 2/02/17. I had a high germination rate and no damping-off, which can be a problem with tylecodons particularly if the seed is sown too thickly. I never use plastic bags and there was a good airflow around the seedlings from the start. They had some shade through their first summer and an occasional watering, just as the first-year conos tend to have. In subsequent years they have had a dry rest from leaf fall (about early May) until the end of August. I thought that the caudeces were too small to prick out in the first autumn (my usual practice with SA Mediterranean climate succulents), so they were left in the seed pot and a couple even flowered in the summer of 2018. They were pricked out in late summer 2018 and are probably now as big as they would be in the wild. So they have been quite easy to raise and have reached maturity in the fraction of the time it would take say Tylecodon paniculatus. Plants below, with two leaves per plant, were photographed in December 2019:

[SteveJones]

Thanks for the replies Macie and Terry. Very interesting and helpful.

[ralphrmartin]

Terry
have yours flowered? And have you managed to produce seed? (Is that where the MSG seed came from?) I'd love to get a small portion of seed next year if you have any.
Thanks.
Ralph

[Terry S.]

The T. opelii seed on the MSG list didn't come from me. However, there is a good chance that it came from its eponymous discoverer because Matt Opel has been a regular contributor to the MSG in the past and there are MRO items on this year's list.

My plants are flowering each summer now, but I haven't produced any seed from them. I really haven't got around to sorting out the mechanics of hand pollination of this genus. Furthermore, when sun birds have visited my conservatory and I have had turgid carpels on my T. grandiflora, sorting out the wheat from the chaff and harvesting the tiny seed is a pain. Perhaps Apicra will tell us how to do it properly.

Incidentally have people noticed that somebody is trying to sell small plants of T. opelii on Ebay for US$500? The spares that I sold at the Haworthia Convention for a fiver were a bargain.

[Christian]

Hi all,

I'd be grateful for advice on these, please. I received seed from the MSG distribution and sowed this straight away. The plants seemingly grow ok, but then went dormant in early September (I think - I don't have notes). I thought I'd let them dry out for a bit and gave intermittent water (every fortnight perhaps - again, I don't have notes) in case they'd like to wake up, but they are firmly asleep. They are kept on a shady windowsill in a cool room.

So - how do I wake them up again, or should I not worry and wait until leaves start growing again? How long would you expect a first dormancy to last? I can still see a few green little blobs in the pot, so I think I haven't lost them yet.

Christian

[Terry S.]

I would continue watering the pot as if they contained growing plants. I do not think that tylecodons have an obligate hot dormancy in the way that many SA bulbs do, they just grow when it is cool enough.