H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

For discussion on all Haworthiad type plants - open to all.
Post Reply
User avatar
MatDz
BCSS Member
Posts: 2110
https://www.behance.net/kuchnie-warszawa
Joined: 06 May 2020
Branch: None
Country: PL/GB
Role within the BCSS: Member

H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by MatDz »

A little praise for Aiko and his seed offer (not that free seeds need any...).

I recently took this photo of my 1YO seedlings of H. springbokvlakensis from Aiko's seeds and realised they are a tad cramped:
20211110_015602.jpg

And ready for potting up:
20211110_015300.jpg

Yes, that's a 5 cm pot (not even the 2" one!) with 21 seedlings in, I am cruel! I was surprised to see any substrate in it, to be fair :mrgreen:
Mat
User avatar
Tony R
Moderator
Posts: 4011
Joined: 20 Apr 2009
Branch: BROMLEY
Country: UK
Role within the BCSS: Member
Location: Hartley, LONGFIELD, Kent

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by Tony R »

(tu) Very smart, Mat. (tu)
Tony Roberts
Treasurer, Haworthia Society
Chairman, Tephrocactus Study Group
Moderator, BCSS Forum
Kent
(Gasteria, Mammillaria, small Opuntia, Cleistocactus and Sempervivum are my current special interests)
User avatar
MatDz
BCSS Member
Posts: 2110
Joined: 06 May 2020
Branch: None
Country: PL/GB
Role within the BCSS: Member

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by MatDz »

Tony R wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:53 am (tu) Very smart, Mat. (tu)
Right on time, right? :lol:
Mat
User avatar
ralphrmartin
BCSS Research Committee Chairman
Posts: 6052
Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Branch: None
Country: United Kingdom
Role within the BCSS: Chairman - Research
Location: Pwllheli
Contact:

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by ralphrmartin »

Well done, Mat.

Bill Hildyard gave me a tip - H. springbokvlakensis comes from a limestone area. Previously I found it tricky to grow, but now I top dress it with crushed shells (chicken grit), and mix some in the compost too, it's growing much better for me.
Ralph Martin
https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/cacti.html
Members visiting the Llyn Peninsula are welcome to visit my collection.

Swaps and sales at https://www.rrm.me.uk/Cacti/forsale.php

My Field Number Database is at https://www.fieldnos.bcss.org.uk
User avatar
MatDz
BCSS Member
Posts: 2110
Joined: 06 May 2020
Branch: None
Country: PL/GB
Role within the BCSS: Member

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by MatDz »

ralphrmartin wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:43 pm Well done, Mat.

Bill Hildyard gave me a tip - H. springbokvlakensis comes from a limestone area. Previously I found it tricky to grow, but now I top dress it with crushed shells (chicken grit), and mix some in the compost too, it's growing much better for me.
I think I have enough material for a proper A/B experiment here, and have some limestone grit somewhere, or at least I think so.

This always puzzles me, is limestone really beneficial for some plants, or are they merely surviving better than other species in those conditions. I won't be surprised to read one day that it all starts as the latter (better survival), but then plants evolve to the former (alkaline conditions becoming beneficial).

Will give it a go and report back for their second birthday!
Mat
User avatar
Pattock
BCSS Member
Posts: 1069
Joined: 07 Nov 2020
Branch: None
Country: United Kingdom

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by Pattock »

MatDz wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:12 pm This always puzzles me, is limestone really beneficial for some plants, or are they merely surviving better than other species in those conditions. I won't be surprised to read one day that it all starts as the latter (better survival), but then plants evolve to the former (alkaline conditions becoming beneficial).
I read a report that used aluminium in a hydroponic fertiliser for tea (Camellia sinensis) plants. The plants grew very well. Tea thrives in very acidic conditions, about pH 3 to 4, when aluminium is dissolved out of the clay particles. Usually toxic to plants, whether the aluminium is technically a nutrient in that case is difficult to prove. The tea plant will accumulate it in the leaves to deter herbivores. There can be as much as 3% aluminium in old tea leaves.

I think the time periods are so long that it is not a question of whether the chicken or the eggshell came first. All plants have to adapt to the soils that are available to them and some adapt to some types of soil better than in others. Or some adapt to both and diverge into new species. Some of them just make do until they finally get their roots into some nice pumice.

Of course, eggs predated chickens by hundreds of millions of years. I am always surprised that that is thought to be a difficult question.
Asclepiomaniac. Armchair ethnobotanist.
Occasional, eclectic blogger:
http://pattheplants.blogspot.com/
User avatar
el48tel
BCSS Member
Posts: 5280
Joined: 04 Aug 2018
Branch: LEEDS
Country: UK
Role within the BCSS: Member
Location: Leeds

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by el48tel »

Isn't aluminium suspected as being contributory to Alzheimers disease?
Hydroponic grown tea .... I think not on my choice list.
Endeavouring to grow Aylostera, Echinocereus, Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium, Matucana, Rebutia, and Sulcorebutia. Fallen out of love with Lithops and aggravated by Aeoniums.
Currently being wooed by Haworthia, attempting hybridisation, and enticed by Mesembs.
User avatar
Aiko
BCSS Member
Posts: 3861
Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Branch: None
Country: Netherlands
Role within the BCSS: Member

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by Aiko »

Cute plants. They are already forming the characteristic leaf appearance for H. springbokvlakensis.
User avatar
Pattock
BCSS Member
Posts: 1069
Joined: 07 Nov 2020
Branch: None
Country: United Kingdom

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by Pattock »

el48tel wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:23 pm Isn't aluminium suspected as being contributory to Alzheimers disease?
Hydroponic grown tea .... I think not on my choice list.
There is little to no evidence for the causal link between aluminium and dementia. Though very popular as a concept since the idea was first published in 1965 after injecting rabbits with massive quantities of aluminium salts, subsequent research showed that avoiding aluminium at real world levels will probably do little or nothing to prevent dementia.

If you still want to avoid exposure, the young leaves used in quality tea contain vastly less aluminium than the fully mature leaf. The youngest are orange pekoe (not broken) or white tea, perhaps.

The plant will take up plenty of aluminium if it is grown properly, whether hydroponic or soil-grown.
Asclepiomaniac. Armchair ethnobotanist.
Occasional, eclectic blogger:
http://pattheplants.blogspot.com/
User avatar
el48tel
BCSS Member
Posts: 5280
Joined: 04 Aug 2018
Branch: LEEDS
Country: UK
Role within the BCSS: Member
Location: Leeds

Re: H. springbokvlakensis seedlings and a praise for Aiko's seed offering!

Post by el48tel »

Pattock wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:51 pm
el48tel wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:23 pm Isn't aluminium suspected as being contributory to Alzheimers disease?
Hydroponic grown tea .... I think not on my choice list.
There is little to no evidence for the causal link between aluminium and dementia. Though very popular as a concept since the idea was first published in 1965 after injecting rabbits with massive quantities of aluminium salts, subsequent research showed that avoiding aluminium at real world levels will probably do little or nothing to prevent dementia.

If you still want to avoid exposure, the young leaves used in quality tea contain vastly less aluminium than the fully mature leaf. The youngest are orange pekoe (not broken) or white tea, perhaps.

The plant will take up plenty of aluminium if it is grown properly, whether hydroponic or soil-grown.
However, the supporters of cat litter will be happy. Proper cat litter, i.e. fired clay products rather than the other varieties, contains kaolin and similar materials, which contains aluminium. Under acidic conditions this will leach out into the compost, certainly more easily in the presence of ammonium salts. (Under alkaline conditions it will not.)
Endeavouring to grow Aylostera, Echinocereus, Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium, Matucana, Rebutia, and Sulcorebutia. Fallen out of love with Lithops and aggravated by Aeoniums.
Currently being wooed by Haworthia, attempting hybridisation, and enticed by Mesembs.
Post Reply