hi i have just purchased some seeds: titanopsis, aloinopsis mitrophyllum... winter growers.
i saw at bakersfieldcactus.org that you grow them easily from seed. what season do you plant in and are there any hints you can give a mesemb newbie

Pete,

Of the three you mentioned, Mitrophyllum is the only true winter grower. It definitely goes dormant in the summer (often looking dead). Aloinopsis and Titanopsis tend to grow in the Fall and Spring, taking breaks during winter and summer. This should not affect when and how you would grow them from seed. These seeds can be started at any time during the year, but the true winter growers will do best if started in the late Fall to late Winter because they will want to go completely dormant in the late spring to early Summer.

The best way to avoid problems when starting seed is to use clean pots and sterile soil. I use plastic pots for starting seed because they clean up easily. After cleaning I sterilize the pot by spraying or dunking it in a 10% bleach solution (1 part bleach, 9 parts water). After applying the bleach solution, I put the pots in a plastic bag and seal it up for a day. This may seem like a lot of work, and I do many pots at once so I don’t have to do it very often. If you’re only going to need a few pots, cleaning them with hot, soapy water should be good enough if you get them good and clean (clay pots are much harder to make sure that they are clean).

Soil is always hard to give advice about, mostly because so many different growers use different soils. I have had my best luck with a ‘non-organic’ soil mix that I make myself. Basic store-bought potting soil already comes sterilized, but may need some added material (perlite, coarse sterile sand ) to make it faster draining – I add about an equal amount of this extra material to store-bought soil. My own soil is a mix of coarse sand and good garden soil – about 70% sand 30% soil. I then sterilize it by getting it wet and placing it in a cooking bag and placing it in a warm oven for several hours. It is important that all the soil reach 160F-180F (71C-82C.), an oven set to about 200F (93C) works well. I have never tried to use a hot oven. When the soil has cooled to room temperature it is ready to use. It is more important to use sterile soil than it is to have sterile pots.

Now that you have all that done, the rest goes quickly. Always work with moist potting soil and fill your pot with soil, very close to the top (it will settle a bit later). Sprinkle your seeds on the top of the soil – if you have a lot of seeds, don’t over-crowd them, assume most will come up and give them a little bit of room to get started. DO NOT cover the seeds, most all mesemb seeds need light to germinate. Mist the seeds so that they come in good contact with the soil, then place the pot in a tray of water and allow the soil to soak up through the holes in the bottom of the pot (always use clean water, or else all your work sterilizing will have been in vain). After the soil is wet, remove it from the tray and let it drain a bit.

After the pot has drained, place it in a sealable plastic bag and seal the bag (you can put as many pots as you want in the bag, as long as they all stand upright). This bag must be put in bright, but not direct light. The sun will quickly turn this bag into an oven. A windowsill works well, I use fluorescent lights which are on at least 14 hours a day. You should see some germination in a week (don’t be too quick to give up on ones that take longer). After germination has started, you may leave them in the bags a few days to a week while more plants come up. After this point you will need to provide some support for the seedlings by sprinkling some coarse sand or potting mix on and around the seedlings. Then, mist them well to get the new soil around the base of the plants. The pot is left out of the bag now, but it should stay in the same exposure it had while germinating. Keep the soil moist until your plants have at least a couple of true leaves.

That’s about it for starting seeds. I know I said that I grow them from seed easily, but that is not to say that they don’t require some work and attention. I have been doing it this way for years and I guess I’m used to it (it certainly isn’t easy compared to garden beans). On the other hand, I have at times just scratched some mesembs seeds into the soil outside and had a fair amount of luck (some even come up as weeds in the ground and in other pots). But, I do live in an area that is very similar in climate to South Africa, where most of the mesembs grow. If you have enough seeds, experiment!

As I read what I just wrote, some thoughts come to mind:

As the plants get larger, you will have to get them accustomed to their permanent exposure by gradually working them into it – in other words, don’t expect a windowsill grown seedling to be able to withstand the hot sun.

Though they are drought tolerant plants, they appreciate the moisture during germination (that’s what the sealable plastic bags are for)

I have assumed that the plants will be transplanted into other pots or put into the ground. I always start mine in small pots (mostly because you don’t get a lot of seed when you order it).

If,. After several weeks, the seed has not germinated, remove the pot from the bag and let it dry out completely. Forget about it for awhile then get the soil wet and put it in a bag and start it over again. This sometimes works, but not always.

If you have more questions, feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to reply.