Tylecodon Singularis flowering

[Stuart]

I know there's been threads on this species before but I thought it was meant to flower before it came into leaf. I've two plants that came back from the last Judges Course in 2019, the first photo shows how large the leaf grows and was taken last winter. The second one was taken today and it looks to be sending a flower stem as well as the single leaf. It's not a plant that is easy to find for sale as it's dormant during the summer when most cactus events take place and just looks like a pot of top-dressing. The Judges Course is in early September and it was just starting to come in to growth. They were repotted last week but there's not much of a caudex worth speaking of, certainly nothing that could be raised above the top-dressing. Both plants look to be going to flower, are they easy to pollinate?

Stuart

[Terry S.]

The flower spike is appearing right on cue Stewart but will probably not have open flowers until about May, by which time the main leaf will probably have died away. Because the flowers are fairly large, it is fairly easy to pollinate. The difficult part is trying to separate the small seeds from the rest of the capsule debris later in the summer. I now have them coming up as weeds in pots adjacent to my flowering plants.

I can see one of my labels in the pot behind your T. singularis!

[Cactus Kid]

Mine has had it's first flower spike for a month or more now and like yours, just the single leaf but I have seen pics on here of them producing more.
My one came from a Havering branch meeting in 2019 when the speaker bought it along with a bunch of other winter growers.

I was wondering when the best time to re pot it was, I am a bit wary of disturbing anything when in bud.

[Apicra]

Hi Stuart,

Mine are at a similar stage. Easy to cross-pollinate using tweezers to pluck individual stamens to dab onto older stigmas - just tedious. This year, one ambitious plant in a 7cm sq. pot is growing 4 spikes! I should "thin" these out.

What I would suggest is to not expose the fusiform roots at all, but protect them. There is a danger of the small stem drying out in summer and the plant going blind. I now pin the dried leaves over the top of the pots to provide some shade until new growth can be found underneath (Aug). Alternately, one could trickle some gravel over the top instead, as Bryan Makin did to prevent sensitive Conos cooking.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble

[Rob]

I managed to get seed of this from the BCSS distribution, when is the recommended time to sow please?

[Aiko]

I managed to get seed of this from the BCSS distribution, when is the recommended time to sow please?

I sow this in March, or in September. In an unheated greenhouse without additional light.
If sown in March, keep watering it through the summer and then the following winter. Only allow a summer rest in the summer one year later in its second summer. If sown in September, water it all winter until the middle of spring and then keep it dry in its first summer.

As with many winter active succulents, I have better results sowing in March. But I am sure others will have different experiences.

[Stuart]

Yes Terry, one of your labels, Tylecodon Bruynsii flowered well last year but sadly dried up last summer. I've followed DT's advice on Tylecodons which was 'It'll let you know when it wants watering", they don't seem to mind the odd unintended watering when dormant but this one shrivelled a bit during the summer and didn't come into leaf this winter. I threw it out last week but did snap it in half beforehand just to make sure it had died. The growing point seemed to change into a 'terminal' flowering stem. Is it the Tylecodon equivalent of Crassula Columnaris and dies after flowering? Your others are still alive!

Stuart

[Phil_SK]

I managed to get seed of this from the BCSS distribution, when is the recommended time to sow please?

See also CactusWorld June 2020, p81-82.

[Cactus Kid]

Has anyone got a photo of this in flower that they could email to me?

I have been asked to take over the 'Plant of the Month' feature on the BCSS website and thought this would be a nice one to start with as they are in full growth at this time of year. I have one of my own to take pics of but would like to add an image of a flowering plant.

Thanks