48 replies to this topic

[maxxima]

Hey guys! A few photos from my little collection...












I have a couple more I'll be adding later. I think I have about 10 species or so...plus a struggling Edithcolea cutting. I hope it roots but it's such a small chance.

[TheInactiveMoth]

Wow! What are the species?

[Andreas Eils]

Merhaba Maxxima,

oh, you grow Ascleps?! They are so wonderful! I also try to grow them. I have one Orbea variegata and a Huernia schneideriana. Tomorrow I expect a parcel from Kakteen Haage which includes another four Ascleps: Two Huernia and two Ceropegia. I hope I will manage to grow them and bring them to flower.

The first picture shows Stapelia hirsuta I assume, the second one could be one of the various Orbea variegata. The last two I don´t know.

Thanks for sharing!

Allahaismarladik

Andreas

[maxxima]

Hey guys, I have a few more photos of new blooms coming. They should be ready soon, buds are swollen.  

Hey Inactivemoth, the species are:


1. Stapelia Hirsuta

2. Orbea Variegata

3. Huernia Angolensis

4. Caralluma Rogersii


Merhaba Andreas :)
What a warm message, thanks!

Yes I have a small collection of them. Most of them are easy. I grow them like I grow my cephalotus or the other way around :) You just need to be careful with some of them. Edithcolea Grandis is one! I grew that beauty for a year before root rot took her away from me. I still managed to root all the cuttings I took but lost those because of the exactly opposite reason this time: too little water! Cephalotus is like kindergarten when compared to Edithcolea, in my experience anyway.


Here's my list:

Orbeopsis lutea var. vaga
Orbeopsis lutea
Huernia pendula
Huernia Keniensis
Stultitia tapscottii
Huernia angolensis
Huernia lepida
Stapelia hirsuta
Orbea Variegata
Caralluma Rogersii
Echidnopsis Cereiformis

Edithcolea Grandis - cutting, struggling



You can share your shots here if you wish!

sevgiler,
anıl

Edited by maxxima, 09 September 2011 - 22:36 PM.

[Andreas Eils]

Good morning "Maxxima",

maxxima, on 09 September 2011 - 22:20 PM, said:

Merhaba Andreas :)
What a warm message, thanks!

I´m a multilingual genius....

....I know at least two words of 8 different languages!

Anıl - is that your real name? I had a Turkish fellow student as a neighbour in the hall of residence. So I learnt a couple of Turkish words, but unfortunately forgot the most.

Edithcolea grandis : Holy Moses - what an incredible flower!!!! Looks like a stracciatella tart!
My Orbea variegata has flower buds but I first grew it in a wrong soil and the roots started to rot! It turned out loam is not a good ingredient in a cacti and succulent soil. :-/ I have sieved all loam from the soil - now it looks better for the plants. But I don´t expect the flower buds to grow into flowers. *sniff*
Since Thursday I have:
Huernia volkartii
Huernia spec. South Collunette
Ceropegia stapeliiformis
and
Ceropegia carnosa

I wonder how fast I´ll manage to kill them! Would be terribly sad of course but I have no clue about Ceropegia so far.

I don´t own a digital camera yet and my analogue one I have finally laid to rest. So, for an indefinite time I am unable to show any photos of my plants. But I hope I can enjoy more pics of your plants!

Kindest regards

Andreas

[maxxima]

Hello Andreas,

Yes, Anıl is my name :)
Don't worry about your plants, they are really easy. I use a soil mix of cacti mix (this is how it's sold, a yellow package, i can check the brand if you like) and I mix it with %50 perlite. The mix already contains perlite in the package but I haven't experienced any negative effects of using %50 more; in fact, I haven't had a root rot case since then except with Edithcolea that is. I kinda remember she's from Somali, she can not stand cool temperatures so it's another story.

Just hold back the water is the only important thing I can tell you. In winter I hardly water succulents, maybe once a month. I never water my cacti in winter. I leave all my succulents and cacti outside even when it's down to 0C. In summer I water once every week or so depending on how quick the mix dries up. They receive about 8 hours of direct sunlight in summer so they do need more frequent watering.
It is easy to save a plant from a "not enough water" case but it's so difficult to get rid of root rot...So, just don't water, be very harsh about it. That's my way, anyway!

I didn't know there are different Ceropegia species. I have a Ceropegia Woodii; she's a crazy bloomer. Mom has one but hers hasn't bloomed in years. It might be about the direction they're facing. Mine are facing West, getting afternoon sun and they get very very little amount of water.





I can't keep this windowsill clean!

[TheInactiveMoth]

@maxxima: teşekkür ederim!

[Daniel G]

Wow! That first flower looks amazing.
Another one of you plants that wants a hug!

[maxxima]

Noah, you're very welcome!

Daniel, trust me I hug them every day  

[Andreas Eils]

Merhaba Anıl,

whom do you tell to be parsimonious with watering? *LOL* I´m growing Lithops! Hehe. Apart from that I experience one catastrophy after another...because of other reasons: wrong soil mix, spider mite attacks...aaaarrrggghhh!

There seem to be a hundred other things you can do wrong if you have worked out how to water succulents.

Thank you very much for your advice in growing Ceropegia and Huernia. Imagine, Mrs. Hübner told me I should water and fertilise Huernia and Orbea once weekly! I would seriously literally drown them if I´d do so!

Well, I have no garden, nor a balcony. I need to grow them indoors - but I have a nice attic which is cool in winter and has windows facing South-West and South-East. Should be fine for all kinds of succulents. Last winter my Lithops and Co. were all okay. The problems started in summer when almost all plants were attacked by spider mites! *sigh*
I´ve had a couple of Lithops from Kakteen Haage and they performed well in their Lithops substrate, so I asked for this soil mix. I was sent mineral cacti soil mix mainly based on expanded shale. But it has one compound which shouldn´t be in there...at least not for me: LOAM! Loam also saves a lot of moisture, but when totally dried out it becomes a concrete hard mass... I have sieved all loam off the soil and now it has the quality I need.
Worst of all is: Kakteen Haage DEFINITELY doesn´t grow their Lithops in their mineral soil mix! I know there is a little bit of peat in their Lithops mix. And a lot less loam!
Growing Lithops inside is a walk on a very thin line I believe! I´m curious what will finally happen with my Huernias and Ceropegias. I WILL keep them more on the dry side.

Ceropegia woodii indeed seems to tend to flower itself to death.

I´m not sure if you already know this site: http://www.asclepida...ausstellung.htm If not I bet you´ll go goggle-eyed! Such a mass of beautiful and bizarre plants!!! This is the website of the mentioned Dr. Friederike Hübner. They seem to grow all the available Ascleps in the world. But surely there are more.

Slowly it all becomes too much for me: CPs, orchids, Lithops and other Mesembryanthemaceae, now Ascleps....and what´ll be next? *sigh* Should go and collect money to start a botanical garden in my town.

Have a good Sunday!

Andreas

Edited by Andreas Eils, 11 September 2011 - 01:42 AM.

[maxxima]

Andreas, then it looks like I will be needing your advice because I have just ordered my first lithops! (Conophytum meyeri puberulum) I am totally clueless about them. I will make some research of course, I still have a week before it arrives.

Have you found an effective way/insecticide to battle spider mites ? They are the absolute nightmare for me. They have destroyed a few of my most precious plants including a huge elephant ear.
The organic way of using soap+water to spray on plants does work but it's rather time consuming. Lately I've been using medicinal alcohol to wipe the leaves, the results are good so far when combined with regular spraying.

Luckily I am not interested in orchids yet, that would be the final nail in the coffin! I am deliberately staying away from them as I know one may easily get infected   Let's see if I like lithops.

You know, Mrs. Hübner may be right about the weekly watering/fertilising of both huernia and orbea; they rather love water in summer. The expert I got my plants from has a big collection and he told me to water frequently in summer but fertilise once every two weeks so that's what I've been doing. I guess it all depends on your soil mix and growing conditions though...

Caralluma Rogersii just bloomed a fabolous flower! It has a very interesting smell. It doesn't stink like Orbea but it's like...protein...if you know what I mean    It has several ones about to open, I am waiting for the other buds to take a good photo.

[Andreas Eils]

Selam Anıl,

ooohhhh...Conophytum!! I have managed to KILL all my Conophyta! Loam absolutely doesn´t agree with Conophytum! I consider Conophytum to be even more difficult then Lithops. It seems they prefer a little organic material in the soil mix such as peat. Maybe 20 or 30%. They also seem to like coarse quartz sand (2mm grain). I haven´t had success with pumice either. But I am used to the fact everything´s strange with me.

In Germany many people swear on growing Lithops and Conophytum in pure pumice. Some add lava rock pieces. But these people grow these plants all in a greenhouse or outside. Pumice doesn´t work for me as it saves too much moisture deeper in the pot. Which often causes root rot on my Lithops.

Conophytum is a winter growing genus in opposite to Lithops. So, Conophytum likes water in winter and prefer dry summers. However according to Rafael Matysiuk (assistant of Cono´s Paradise) Conophytum don´t stand longer terms of total dryness. *shrug* I don´t know. For some time I won´t try Conophytum again. Though there are some species I really love such as C. pellucidum "terricolor", C. burgeri, C. stephanii and C. minimum "wittebergense". Maybe in two years I´ll try them again.

Will9 is the man here at CPUK who originates of growing cacti and succulents and to give you good advice on growing Conophytum and other Mesembs. You can drop him a pm if you want to.

I have got the tip to spray grain alcohol (Spiritus in German) on spider mites and it worked in winter. This summer I have KILLED hundreds of Lithops, Faucaria und Conophytum through spraying grain alcohol on them to eradicate the f****** mites! To make the story short: My Lithops, Conos and Faucaria have literally died through extreme drunkness!!!! So, my most urgent advice is: Keep your fingers off alcohol to treat pests!

I have three different agents I can use against spider mites: Kiron (which is only a contact agent and has to be used repeatedly within 8 days), Kanemite (which is systemic, but only after two weeks the mites were there again! ) and finally Provado which is not a special acaricide like the other two but helps well against spider mites. This year spider mites seem to be omnipresent on my Mesembs! Which forces you to permanently apply pesticides. Vertimec is another very good control against mites but extremely expensive as it´s only manufactured for professionals.
Maybe - I don´t know - oil containing agents also work against mites such as Raptol? I have no clue which agents are available in Turkey.
Not long ago (after my disaster) I was recommended to use BIO KILL against spider mites. It is also based on pyrethrines like Raptol but without oil. So, I will soon purchase Bio Kill as the fourth agent against mites...*sigh*
Also I was recommended to mist my plants twice daily - just very slightly of course! But that may chase away spider mites as they usually dislike moisture and humidity.

I have completely renewed my Lithops collection and so far no new spider mites have appeared again.

Lithops do have made me addicted to them!!! But I have repeatedly problems in growing them. It goes well for half a year or so and I think I master Lithops. But then suddenly problems occur.

I guess Dr. Hübner grows her Ascleps inside a greenhouse and there waterings are more often required. The soils don´t dry out so fast under my conditions.

Anıl said:

It doesn't stink like Orbea but it's like...protein...if you know what I mean

I was told the flowers of Huernia and Orbea don´t smell much noticeably for humans but Stapelias shall be terrible. I hope they are right...I....errr...sleep where these plants grow!

Looking forward to see your Caralluma rogersii flowers. :-)

Sevgiler,

Andreas

[maxxima]

Selam Andreas!


You scared me a little about Conophyta now. Looks like I picked a difficult one for my first time...Well, that's me as usual! I was browsing the lithops on the online catalogue (which you can see here) and that's the one I liked the most. No turning back now, I'll start making some research.
Thank you very much for your advice. I don't have any loam or pumice, my options are limited here. All I have are vermiculate, perlite, peat and the other usual stuff. I'll probably do a mix of those and put some special cacti mix in as well.
I am familiar with root rot, but I have a nice balcony facing East + South-east (I keep all my CPs, cacti, succulents and aroids there) and I am a water nazi so I am hoping we'll get along fine with conophyta. Pray for me!  

I have heard of Kiron before about its application on Nepenthes leaves to kill some very tiny mites. I don't know if we have it here but I'll definitely look into it. I have used DDVP before. It is effective but not for a long time, can't say I am happy with it.
OK I am holding back the alcohol (for the plants that is!)



I LOVE their smell! It's very interesting, very unique in my experience. I would describe it but that would be almost...kinky   Very sensual and different, though.

In my experience, Huernia have very faint smell. I need to press my nose right into the flower to get anything, and it's usually still subtle then. Stapelia is stronger but Hirsuta is the only one I've smelled. Maybe Nobilis or Gigantea would be stronger, don't know.
Orbea is the strongest on my balcony. You can smell it from far away even, it fools me everytime, I keep thinking "wow what died here ??".


I just saw this...

Quote

I was told the flowers of Huernia and Orbea don´t smell much noticeably for humans but Stapelias shall be terrible. I hope they are right...I....errr...sleep where these plants grow!

Umm...You are in trouble.

Edited by maxxima, 12 September 2011 - 15:04 PM.

[Andreas Eils]

Selam Anıl,

excuse me for my belated reply. I´ve been very occupied the last two days.

maxxima, on 12 September 2011 - 15:00 PM, said:

You scared me a little about Conophyta now. Looks like I picked a difficult one for my first time...Well, that's me as usual!

...

I don't have any loam or pumice, my options are limited here. All I have are vermiculate, perlite, peat and the other usual stuff. I'll probably do a mix of those and put some special cacti mix in as well.

I think a mix of perlite, vermiculite and peat may be much better for Conos if you grow them indoors. Pumice works fine in a well ventilated greenhouse and outdoors (surely on balconies, too. ;-) ), but it´s terrible indoors! However a more experienced lady in Germany told me often problems are due to the sort of water you use. For example soft water (poor of lime) obviously doesn´t work well with pumice. :-S They have almost lime free tap water in their town. I mainly use distilled water and I wonder if there could be chemical reactions between distilled water and pumice which could be harmful for the plants.
Most people I know growing Mesembs use rain water which seems to work excellent with pumice.   

We can shake hands as for picking out difficult specimens. Maybe I do it (unconsciously) because I think they suit better to me as I am a difficult guy as well.

maxxima, on 12 September 2011 - 15:00 PM, said:

I am familiar with root rot, but I have a nice balcony facing East + South-east (I keep all my CPs, cacti, succulents and aroids there) and I am a water nazi so I am hoping we'll get along fine with conophyta. Pray for me!  

A what? Water nazi? Never heard that before...LOL. But I think I know what you mean...hehe. Of course I pray for you. Would you pray for me as well?

maxxima, on 12 September 2011 - 15:00 PM, said:

I have heard of Kiron before about its application on Nepenthes leaves to kill some very tiny mites. I don't know if we have it here but I'll definitely look into it. I have used DDVP before. It is effective but not for a long time, can't say I am happy with it.
OK I am holding back the alcohol (for the plants that is!)

Kiron is a very good control against cyclamen mites (Weichhautmilben in German) which can attack Nepenthes. Other than spider mites cyclamen mites seem to love a higher humidity. I´ve once had an attack at a couple of highland Nepenthes and Kiron worked excellently with just a single apply. :-)

Using Kiron on spider mites means you have to apply it three times every eight days and still you can´t be certain you´ve managed to get completely rid of them! However for my experience it´s pretty much the same with Kanemite or Vertimec! Against spider mites you have to apply it three times in a row. Bad thing is: To avoid resistance against the agents of these acaricides you mustn´t apply them more than three times in a 365 days span. :-(

maxxima, on 12 September 2011 - 15:00 PM, said:

Ooooohhhhh.....

maxxima, on 12 September 2011 - 15:00 PM, said:

Orbea is the strongest on my balcony. You can smell it from far away even, it fools me everytime, I keep thinking "wow what died here ??".


I just saw this...

Andreas Eils said:

I was told the flowers of Huernia and Orbea don´t smell much noticeably for humans but Stapelias shall be terrible. I hope they are right...I....errr...sleep where these plants grow!

Umm...You are in trouble.

  I am?

So, you want to tell me I need to put my bed into an oxygen tent...


Or wearing a gas mask while sleeping?


Orbea variegata has now been banned downstairs...

Greetings

Andreas

[maxxima]

It's great fun to read your posts Andreas  
My Conophytum has arrived along with a Stapelia Grandiflora, Hoodia Macrantha and Hoya Carnosa. Conophytum looks fine for now, I am making research on the genus little by little every day. I need to learn fast so I can get some of those awesome species in your lithops thread!

[maxxima]

Newsflash! Hirsuta takes the award!
Obviously she was offended and decided to prove she's much better at stinking,




Flies seem to agree!

[TheInactiveMoth]

Those flowers are amazing! They're kinda disgusting though, in a wierd way

[maxxima]

Agreed, Noah!

I'd like to use this opportunity to say, as you can see, sometimes flies are wrong

[Andreas Eils]

Ah, Anıl,

didn´t you say you would be very pleased to send me a cutting of Caralluma rogersii....


Nice try, wasn´t it? ;-)


Andreas

[maxxima]

I don't remember, I have a really short term memory.


It's creepy to read this as today I noticed it grew a new shoot for the first time since flowering. Was that your magic ?
If it makes it through the customs - why not.