Dactylopsis digitata

[SubRosa]

The incident of having a couple of common Jade Plants survive outside last winter just outside Philadelphia got me interested in succulents, and a short while later I discovered this plant. It's very rare in the US, but fortunately my interest coincided with a seed order from
South Africa where the plant is native. I started the seeds and had germination within a couple days. Conversations with Kevin, known here as plantman suggested that the seedlings were very prone to damping off, and that's exactly what happened. A bit more research suggested that I had gone about it all wrong. I had sterilized my media by boiling, which naturally left me with damp media. This no doubt contributed to the fungal issues. Since only a small %of the seeds had germinated I decided to go the other way and let the media dry out for a couple weeks. I then started lightly misting the surface each morning, and now have several seedlings much further along in their development. I'm not comfortable with saying I have this knocked, but I will say that if these ones die it will be from dessication!

 

[theplantman]

I ordered and lost a bunch of mesembs this year, too. Like I said, I can count many more failures with them than successes. However, that in itself gives me an adrenaline kick to keep trying until I master it.

Another little trick is that you can microwave wet soil until you get the moisture level just right. And remember, if you put unsterilized seed into sterilized media, you'll still get rot.

I do think that misting such that only the top few cm of soil is damp is a good way to go. More labor-intensive, but if you're a micromanager this is a great way to get them started.

I am afraid of what this can do to a person's plant budget, but going to share mesagarden.com (a non-CP vendor of cacti and succulent plants and seeds of all types). At ~3 bucks a species, you can afford to try and try again until you succeed. And the availability list is almost endless. It's a small operation and the response time is pretty low, but again you don't have to make much of an investment to get these plants.

 

[jwalker]

Awesome keep the updates coming succulents were one of the first plant species I learned how to grow

 

[DragonsEye]

Had you considered baking the media instead of boiling to sterilize?

 

[SubRosa]

If I had a camera that could show it, I would post a pic of the first seedling in this new batch, which is now growing its first true leaves! I recently moved the tray to my cold room which lately has been getting reliable 20 degree daily temperature swings, and located it 3" below a T5HO tube. Several new seedlings and obvious growth has been the result so far. I'm feeling good about these. My method of light misting 2 or 3 times a day seems to be working well, although for someone on a "normal" work schedule it probably wouldn't be possible.

 

[SubRosa]

Figured an update was due. I currently have 6 plants in various stages of dormancy. One plant formed a hard little ball about a month ago. The last two plants are firming up now. I expect to start watering the early snoozers sometime next month. Wish I could get better pics:

 

[gnathaniel]

Nicely done! I need to drastically improve my seed-growing setup and abilities.

 

[SubRosa]

Nicely done! I need to drastically improve my seed-growing setup and abilities.

Thanks, but save the praise for when the little suckers break dormancy! Starting the seeds was a bit tricky and I lost a bunch, but once they establish a bit they're very easy plants to grow up to dormancy. Ask me about dormancy in September!