10 lithops flowering stones seeds living stones flower seeds mix indoor pot plant. Incredibly easy to germinate – along with living flowering stones these are the easiest exotic plant or flower seeds you will ever grow. Lithops is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family, aizoaceae. Members of the genus are native to southern africa. Popularly called “living stones”, lithops are some of the world’s most fascinating plants! A lithops is a plant which consists of two opposite leaves which are fused together along the outer edges, so as to form an obconic, turbiniform (top-shaped) body. This body is divided into two more or less equal halves or lobes, which are fused together along their outer edge to a depth of 1-4 mm. A thin line of adhesion closes the fissure across the top. The majority of the plant’s body remains below the surface of the soil, with only the top of the plant being exposed. The reason for this is so they can hide from any predators, and also so they can keep themselves protected from the sun. Lithops need light to germinate, so fine soil is very important. The seeds are strewn onto the top of the soil and maybe pressed down a little. Since they are so very small, a single sowing is almost impossible. Professional gardeners sowing larger amounts use a saltshaker. It is important to note, that lithops seeds should not be watered from above. Too much water at once (as is inevitable when watering from above) will wash the seeds into the soil where they will get no light and will not germinate. I always put a bit of seramis in the bottom of the pots to manage a good drainage. On top of the soil i put a layer of sand, either before sowing or after the seeds have germinated. This keeps fungus gnats away. The seeds can be sown on the normal soil as well as the sand. The pot is then covered with clear plastic wrap to ensure high moisture in the air. As soon as the seeds have germinated (during spring this should take about 1 to 5 days), the plastic wrap can slowly be removed. And by slowly i mean for an hour or two the first day, a few hours more the next day and so on until it can stay off the whole time. Now it is high time to cover the top of the soil with sand, otherwise fungus gnats will happily move in. Covering the top of the soil with sand while the seedlings have already sprouted is precision work, because no seedling should be covered or buried under the sand. Once most of the seeds have germinated and the seedlings have grown a bit, they should no longer be only sprayed with water. They have already grown very long (in comparison to their plant bodies) roots and will search for water in the lower parts of the pot. The best way to water them now is to dip the whole pot into a bowl of water (maybe with some fertilizer mixed into it) and to wait till the soil is soaked. But: don’t drop the pot in the water! After two to three months the soil may also dry out completely once in a while. The seedlings will then shrink a little, but once they are watered again, they will recover. Best time to sow lithops. The best time for sowing lithops is spring or early summer. The seedlings have enough time to grow before the winter. Plants sown in autumn or winter have to survive the dark time of the year which leads to weak and extremely elongated seedlings and thus large losses. Pots should in any case have holes in the bottom so that extra water can escape. Lithops are very sensitive to too much water and because of their long roots should be watered from below (via the pot saucer). The pots need to be deep enough for the long roots that grow quite early and even small seedlings can have roots three to four times the size of their bodies. Almost anything matching these criteria can be used as a container for lithops seeds and seedlings. But the pots should be dark. In see-through materials algae develop which don’t really hurt the young lithops but may at some point become dominant in the pot. Lithops not only need light to germinate, but also warmth. Temperatures should be between 20 and 25 degrees. My lithops germinated wonderfully at a temperature of about 25 degrees (celsius, by the way) but i know of quite a few people that lithops germinate well neither with too low temps nor with too high temps. So somewhere in the middle should be optimal. By the way, lithops seedlings like to grow close together. As one can’t control the sowing and with that the distances between the seedlings, they automatically grow in clusters. This has a natural advantage: small and weak seedlings will not survive among the other seedlings and in the end only the healthy and strong seedlings stay alive. Once the seedlings grow too big and start to shadow each other or push each other aside, they have to be repottet and isolated. If too many seedlings have grown too close to each other it can happen that they push the ones in the middle slowly up. These seedlings will then be pushed out of the soil and can no longer get any water. In this case they have to be repottet and isolated a bit earlier. The small seedlings already tolerate direct sun, but they should be kept out of the midday sun. If the seedlings are used to artificial light, they have to be given some time to get used to the stronger natural sunlight. If placed into the sun too early they can burn and die. The seeds can be sent to any destination in the world.. We aim to provide our customers with the highest quality product and service. As with all seeds 100% germination success should not be expected although we select varieties known for their relatively higher success rates. Every effort is taken to ensure the quality of our seeds. However, it should be noted that seed germination is dependent on many factors including soil quality and conditions, temperatures and pests etc. Thank you for taking the time to review our listing.The item “10 Lithops Flowering Stones Seeds Living Stones Seeds Mix Indoor Pot Plant” is in sale since Thursday, June 05, 2014. This item is in the category “Home & Garden\Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living\Flowers, Trees & Plants\Bonsai\Seeds”. The seller is “didycy” and is located in Paphos, Paphos. This item can be shipped worldwide.
Tags: flowering, indoor, lithops, living, plant, seeds, stones
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