Big day! First pair of true leaves on seed grown lithops

Steph115 · #1

After killing almost my entire first batch of mixed-species seedlings, I decided to plant pots separated by species. There seems to be a good amount of variation in light/water preference among them. Here's a picture of lithops bromfieldii v. Menellii with its first pair of true leaves! I have about 6 pots total, some with over 60 seedlings crammed in there. Hoping to get a good mix of colors. Once these are older I'll be looking to trade for variety.

#2

Very cool!

Steph115 · #3

More lithops seedlings. I planted two species to a container separated by a diagonal divider. These are about 5 months old.

#4

Triffids!

Steph115 · #5

Haha! I'm a little embarrassed to say I had to look that up. What a great word.

#6

Lithops are just so cool and weird!

No worries, only old people know what triffids are!

Steph115 · #7

They are super weird. I was getting a little disenchanted with growing them from seed because there just wasn't much to see, but once they started shedding their skin I got hooked all over again.

Steph115 · #8

A photo update - each seedling with an internet photo of its corresponding mature form. I just think it's so cool how the true leaves come through at this tiny size! I'm most excited about how L. dorotheae looks. It's a pretty bold plant to begin with, and you can see the dots of red and cream on the windows already. I'm also a huge fan of L. julii and I feel like I can see the blue tones coming through on the seedling already.

reality_velo · #9

Awesome to see the great progress

! I want to give some Lithops and a few Conophytum species a go coming up pretty soon. Hopefully it turns out as well as yours have!

Where did you get your seeds from?

Steph115 · #10

I got these from Silverhill seeds! I just placed a large order with Oz Lithops - they have a really amazing selection with some bright colored species I'd been looking for like L. Hallii ochracea "green soapstone".

The key to these is as much sunlight as they can handle. I have mine inside but In a greenhouse window so they get several hours of direct sun and all day indirect. My previous batch languished and died because of poor light when young seedlings and then inability to adapt to full sun conditions.

Spination · #11

What an awesome job you've done! Congrats.

Steph115 · #12

Thanks Spiny? Do you lithop?

Steph115 · #13

Well, 14 new species later. I got great germination with Oz Lithops based out of Australia. Here's what I'm growing:

1. Lithops hallii v ochracea "Green Soapstone"
2. Lithops karasmontana v Lateritia
3. Lithops dinteri multipunctata
4. Lithops karasmontana v bella
5. Lithops julii v fulleri v rouxii
6. Lithops julii v fulleri C062
7. Lithops julii v. fulleri C162a
8. Lithops salicola "Satos violet"
9. Lithops ozteniana "Aquamarine"
10. Lithops dorotheae C300
11. Lithops fulviceps v fulviceps
12. Lithops verruculosa
13. Lithops naureeniae
14. Lithops villetii v deboeri

My dream is to have a big bowl of brightly-colored lithops all grown from seed. Don't worry, it will only take several years

It's amazing how the going price for even a single lithop of some of these varieties is $6+. Very hard to accrue enough to make a big mixed bowel without growing from seed on a budget. Also looking forward to trading with other collectors in the future.

Spination · #14

Kudos. I missed your prior question until now. I only lithop vicariously. Right here.

Steph115 · #15

Some serious growth over the last several months.

Steph115 · #16

One more

Steph115 · #17

The younger batch is starting to put on a show as well!

Pullarius · #18

Very cute plants!

Meangreen94z · #19

Any update. Would be interesting to see growth rate

Steph115 · #20

I'm sorry to say I lost the vast majority of these babies to root mealy bug infestation =( Even the ones who were not obviously infested - I lost a lot of them during their second (or third?) split. I tried to withhold water but they seemed to young and were shriveling too much, but then I gave them water and that didn't seem to help things either. At this point I'm retiring from the lithops-from-seed world, but if any of you guys have success I would love to hear your tips/tricks!