Maybe it's a midwest thing. We have schools of music all around here, like The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, but then there's The Royal Conservatory of Music, New England, San Franciso, etc.

I found this venosa runner in a pot with a few plants. Ir was right under a Mutica trying to disguise itself. The root rotted or was dead up to this point.

I wonder if there are others in there

Oh I'm familiar with both uses, but yes this is the Clue version. If you watch the movie "Clue" there is a scene in the Conservatory. It's filled with a bunch of dormant dead looking ferns with Dobermans on the other side of the glass. It's an English Victorian thing.

This is one of my hybrids from a few years ago. It’s one of the few I didn’t sell and thankful I didn’t!!! That’s the thing with seedlings; you have no clue what they might become once they begin to mature. The green windows are beautiful, IMHO.

Haworthia groenewaldii MBB 7801with s bit too much summer sun. Back in the greenhouse so we will have more green soon.

Looking at your photos makes me want to buy more, now I have only these three. Hopefully I will be able to acquire some more interesting haworthias next spring.

Please anyone considering using poison for rats or mice, don't use something like d-Con as the rodent can wander for several days after ingesting the poison, during which time wildlife might catch it and ingest it. Owls will die if they eat a rodent poisoned with d-Con.

Does anyone know the difference between Adadama and Turface, as far as how it works as a substrate in a pot? I couldn't find anything on that here.

Jeff, you can contact Howard and ask him. As I recall, he says Turface is a better way to go.

Thanks, Paul. The better person to respond would be Kevin. Both are a clay material. The simple answer, IMHO, is Turface® is probably better. First, it is cheaper and more readily available in the USA. Next, even the best Akadama® fired at 250ºC will break down to a paste-like material.

Thank you. I thought it was the other way around from the little bit I found, but it was very opinionated bonsai people. I have some Monto clay from Bonsai Jack. I just mentioned Turface so people would know what I'm talking about. I may use that with the plants I have in clay pots to make watering 'schedule' more similar.

Turface is certainly easier (though annoying to sift and most of it is dust). There are different grades and quality of akadama and none of them is worth the price. I've tried both over a period of years.

I've concluded that akadama is very good for orchids and hoyas in semi-hydro culture. And that's pretty much it for that medium in Zone 7.

To champion Pagan’s remarks, it is my personal belief that Akadama is used so extensively in the Far East for Haworthia is that it is dirt cheap over there.

Lol bonsai people. Bonsai is probably the worst horticultural field for unsubstantiated "received knowledge", and boy can they appeal to authority.

In my opinion, Turface is better because of durability. High temperature fired akadama is very hard to find and the cheaper stuff will run brown sludge out of your pots and end up crumbling fairly quickly.

Most people using akadama are looking to increase water retention, to which Turface performs better and more consistently. Sifting is a little annoying and I think it depends on the bag you get in how much comes out. I don't find Turface more dusty than pumice or unwashed grit.

I agree that the cost and effort required to source good akadama here outweighs the growing benefits that it provides.

Sounds like a consensus. Thanks for the comments. What I have from Bonsai Jack doesn't look to have any more dust than anything else, which I also sift for. It's also a consistent size, not that I think that's overly important for adult Haworthia.

Nil, I found that if I want a lot of polar opposite opinions, I can look to the bonsai people on soil. I can only imagine the discussion of various other issues. Not that they're all like that.

There are a few good bonsai soil articles. Here are two for inorganic and organic soil components:

http://www.colinlewisbonsai.com/Reading/soils1.html

http://www.colinlewisbonsai.com/Reading/soils2.html

There is also this...

https://crataegus.com/2013/11/24/life-without-turface/

https://crataegus.com/2016/01/11/further-thoughts-on-turface/

Talk about polar opinions :) hehhh

I broke down and got akadama for my soil mix (from amazon) a few months ago, which is now just a sifted mix of pumice and akadama. I admit, akadama is kinda boujee... but so are these plants lol.

Very nice groenewaldiis! It's on my list. I wondered, not all have the spot markings, are all the spot marking groenewaldiis that are sold TC origins?

Turface and akadama are not even an option here so I won't comment except to ask a really dumb question. Do they, and if so, how do these things compare to perlite? Just curious.

Gabby, to answer your question about the groenewaldii: the MBB 7801 refers to a specific plant in Bruce Bayer's collection so it is likely to have been TCed. I have the same plant, got it from Kambroo at the JSS show 2 weeks ago and it looks just like Howards. When Haws have that string of letters and numbers, it refers to a specific plant or set of plants from a single location so you can be sure that they look a certain way and it is one way to get around the extreme variability of the

As many of us know, Haworthia flowers are pretty much lack-luster, plain Jane no big deal flowers. Once in a while they take on a more interesting attraction.

Which are those, Howard?

Haworthia truncata ‘Meditation’ Ex STC

Spectacular!

Sorry off subject, are H. Splendens Hyb seeds worth $2.00 each? I am looking on ebay.

Thanks

No easy response. First, there is no way to know what will be produced from the cross even knowing both parents. Next, if you feel adventuresome, then take

the leap and purchase some seed. Finally, how old are the seed as it may relate to germination.

Gabby - I spent a ton of time finding akadama and then tested it out a bit. It was okay. Have two new plants from someone else with akadama in the mix and just leaving them be for now.

Anybody who uses Turface 100% as the complete mix will face disaster, that is really terrible. Same as using the fines - that is not productive at all either. It really needs to be part of a mix and not the primary component.

Nik - I would say akadama is closer to vermiculite. Maybe akadama is a little more durable than vermiculite but not by much if you don't have the best higher temperature baked types. The only similarity I see between akadama and perlite is the particle size.

Turface is much smaller than good quality perlite. They are similar in that they both last a very long time and are quite durable. Turface holds a good amount of water, which is why it's good to mix with other things.

Daniel - I agree with Howard. Seeds are complete gambling. =)

so is the spotted groenewaldii a type locality? (idk if i am using that term correctly). I've just wondered how easy or hard it is to get the spots, it is quite an interesting look. and nik, check out ewws post for some great info.

daniel, have you grown seeds before? def try if you haven't.

new haws

Gabby, I'd say its a selected clone from a particular locality. Groenewaldii is one if the more recently discovered haws and I think that it comes from just one place, some guy's farm. His surname is Groenewald.

Thanks for the link!

Daniel, that is about the going rate for Splendens seeds. 6 months ago, I paid $20 for packets of 12 seeds. Some were hybrids, others were species crosses. The seller was generous and sent more than 12 seeds of every kind that I bought and so in the end, my germination rate amounted to 12 or more seedlings in every batch that I bought.

They are very slow to germinate through

I have about 600 seedlings currently growing, I do not have any Splendens. I see about 30 to 70 percent depending on the source. I am not sure if I should purchase a plant or 2 or try 10-30 seeds.

That depends upon what the $ is for the plants and whether you are willing to be patient with seeds, I imagine.

What Paul said. Splendens are also plants that can be real ugly ducklings. You sometimes have to grow them a couple of years before they go from ugly to stunners

I bought GM452 crosses, as well as prickly pete x chockwonderXsplendens. It will take a while to see what happens

Excuse the out-of-date name, but what do you think about coring or leaf propagating a Haworthia venosa subsp. tessellata? Would it be easier than regular Haworthias, or the same? I have an extra I'd like to use for propagation.

Why bother with tesselatas? They offset and clone themselves pretty freely, no need for mutilating plants. Coring and leaf propagation is for plants that don't offset

I haven't gotten any good offsets from them for a while. I've got one that grew out the bottom hole of a pot and another that stuck a super skinny stem through a leaf on another plant in a pot, but that's it. I don't know if anything will ever come of those. I'd like to get to it.

I know we can’t sell items on the forum. It is difficult to otherwise target an interested party. So here goes and it’s my bad! I have Akadama. PM ME or email works better. LASSERH@hotmail.com

That's where messaging come in handy, but Jeff's account is not activated to receive, I think.

Paul, me? Mine's active to receive, but I wasn't asking for anything, I don't think. I'm older but not that old yet. Just often confused.

Daniel, when you say you 'see about 30 to 70 percent', are you talking germination rate? That would be encouraging to me if that's the case.

Yes germination rate. I ended up buying seeds H. Splendens, H. "dark knight" and H. "zuicho". With only 10 seeds each there is little room for failure.

I just received some H. Emelyae V Comptoniana from China, very beautiful plants with great roots.

For some reason, Houzz only showed your comment about perlite, etc. now, Kevin. Thanks for the feedback. One last question: does perlite dry out very fast and that's why people prefer turface, etc?

How about pics, Daniel?

Kevin will know this better than I, but I don't use perlite because it is so light weight it rises to the top and blows away and it is dusty and yes it probably dries faster.

That's been my experience, Howard. I have been using perlite for my seedlings and it seems to work well in that context but I was wondering if or why anybody used it for adult plants

Turface holds both water and nutrients much better than perlite. Perlite floats and can be annoying. Perlite also crumbles when re-used. (aka. I agree with Howard)

Daniel - Post photos! Comptos are my favourite. An older one of mine, Haworthia comptoniana JDV 90-80:

A small summer addition:

And one from a few weeks ago, Flower Shadow Ex Jiyang:

Perlite is awesome for seedlings, that's my main use.

For adult plants, perlite is a good choice because it's readily available and cheap. This is good for those getting into the hobby, selling, or not wanting to invest a lot. Pumice and pumices mixes like Lechuza Pon are superior but quite a bit more expensive.

Slightly off topic. Does anyone know if Kambroo Nursery SA Kambroo and Gariep Nursery Gariepare one in the same? Contact info is the same for both.

Yes they are Howard. I'm not sure why it has 2 different names but could be due to internet domain registrations or something because Gariep is also the name of a place in the Northern Cape

We know them as Gariep. Only the website for sales is Kambroo

Thanks, Nik.

[Time to move, folks![(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/haworthians-page-10-dsvw-vd~5525617)

go for it pagan, m'dear.