Monilaria moniliformis? So cute with rabbit ears already. I have one, and for a change this one didn’t die immediately. The ‘ice crystals‘ on the ears are beautiful. Have you grown them before? The Mitrophyllum is new to me. Weirdly cool plant!

Monilaria moniliformis, indeed! I have never had these plants, Dinie. As I mentioned in another thread, I got a bunch of seeds in 2019 but I didn't get to sow them until this autumn. I was not expecting such high germination rates! I'm now a little horrified at the prospect of moving them apart at some point.

I took pictures today and they look even freakier in a little over a week:

I also planted a pack of Cheirodopsis pecularis seeds:

This is what the M. grande looks today (even worse!):

Also, in case anyone is curious what plant oedema looks like (overwatered C. pecularis):

This is what my other one looks like (the one that didn't spend overnight in a bowl of water):

I still have 10 packets of MG mesemb seeds to sow... There are just so many other things that need to be done. Promise to self: within a week. I also want these cuties.

That Cheiridopsis is gross. I never knew oedema could be this bad. I hope it gets its former waistline back! And the Mitrophyllum is even better now ;-).

It would be really difficult for me to resist the urge to “help” it remove its jacket.

I may accidentally bump into that jacket one of these days.

Here we go, my first successful mesemb sowing project: S. suaveolens. It was a Mesa Garden order of four different S. suaveolens ssps. Only this pot survived and it has long since lost the label so I don't know how MG classifies this subspecies.

It's supposed to be a summer grower but it's really a whenever grower.

I'm not really sure why a lot of my mesembs are not in the mesembs box. I found this in the basement today: Aloinopsis schooneesii.

Second A. schooneesii. I don't know what happened to this one.

This one below is a pot of poorly-maintained Conophytum pellucidum var neohallii. I definitely watered it at the wrong time. So, hello cono growers! Any instruction on how I must proceed from this point on? I'm bottom-watering it now, much more sporadically than its brethren.

Below is an Antegibbaeum fissoides (Springfontein MG), definitely thirstier than most mesembs.

Finally, arriving in the mail! A celebratory order from Phoenix which I really hope to visit (instead of just connecting flights in) someday:

Success! Looking great, and the Monilaria gets a cuteness prize! What substrate did you use? I still have not sown my seeds (kicks self in lazy pants).

lol are you ready, dinie? well...

1. one-third coarse sand (the washed kind, like the top-dressing in the pictures above. No clue what that is, I got it ages ago and it's in a fancy bag with a draw string, for some reason

2. one-third top soil (I know, I know. lol it was the only thing I had in the middle of winter; I spooned the stuff straight out of the bag stacked outside on our driveway; sifted out the big bits)

3. one third scoria/pumice mix that I had lying around from previous repotting projects.

Then I baked the whole thing in the oven for 30 minutes at 100C, covered. It probably should have been shorter but I forgot it was in there. I was just really concerned that it would not have enough fines on top for the young roots to grow into. Seemed to work well, though.

I think the only other weird thing I did was put the whole germination project inside a sterilized glass aquarium that used to be a terrarium. After a week, I removed the seal but left them inside, regularly watered with distilled water.

Well, you are not a half baked grower, I see ;-). Thanks for the detailed info. I think part of my problem is not knowing which of the many possible substrates to use. Something similar should be possible for me to cook up, and it obviously worked well for you. Wait for my truimphant follow up post now! Or ?