Diplosoma(Maughaniella) luckhoffii flower

[meier]

weather to flower

[iann]

Very nice. How old is it? My D. retroversum are certainly not in flower but I'll have to go and check them for buds.

[BrianMc]

Fantastic!

I love the dark filamentous staminoides.

Is this growing under natural light or artificial light?

[meier]

natural light

[Morgans Beauty]

fantastic pix, beautiful plants, i ordered seed by mesa

[Aiko]

I ordered some seed at Mesa Garden too.

Any sowing / cultivation advice?
I understood they are best sown in December, because they like to stick very firmly to growing in the colder and darker months of northwest European winters? And will not do so well when sown in February to the autumn months?

[Morgans Beauty]

hi aiko, i sown them at the last weekend under the motto "let's try it and see what happens" the conditions are like the most other mesembs. i hope it will be successfull, if not, i will do an other try

[FlorentG]

Very nice !

I add pictures of the plants in the wild (2008): flowers and fruits

[iann]

Very thirsty plants! Germination is easy, but probably you should have done it a couple of months ago. They won't do well once it gets warm. Adults (6+ months) go deeply dormant even in a British summer, and they shrink into a tiny dry lump below soil level that is apparently a dry leaf pair like other sheathing mesembs.

[Aiko]

So you would recommend waiting until very late autumn, say late October or November?

Last October I had sown some Conophytums, just to see how they would manage through the winter. They still seem fine, although haven't grown any in the last months. Was not intending them to do so. I think I will use the same strategy for the Diplosoma's, although they might want to have more encouragement for growing in the winter. I don't use growing lights, unfortunately.