Lithops seed germination

[spark]

They're coming up everywhere! I got some Lithops seed off of ebay a week or so ago, and planted it right away, and now I've got seedlings all over.

I'll probably end up killing most of them. But I hope at least a few make it.

[marvin1997]

They have seeds?

[plantlover]

Of course. Every plants with flowers have seeds. Only mosses(like sphagnum), ferns(like staghorn fern), conifers(christmas trees) don't have flowers so they don't have seeds. But conifers produces cones and those other plants have spores

[David]

Hey spark! Can you tell us how you sow the seeds and what must be done to germinate them? We virtually have no information here with regards to Lithops, let alone germinating info. Can't find them in Malaysia as well.

[spark]

I actually followed the instructions from this site: http://users.skynet.be/fhoes/rsasucculents/sowing.htm

Lithops are not hard to sow and germinate at all. They basically just need to be kept damp and given some light in order to germinate. It's keeping them alive afterwards that's the challenge.

This site has excellent care information, although it's not aimed specifically at tropical climates http://www.lithops.info/

Another good site is http://www.lithops.co.za/cultivation/cultivation.html

I would assume you'd want to water them less, since they'd be getting some water just from the humidity in the air, and I'm not sure what you'd do to give them seasons, I suspect they wouldn't thrive (and certainly wouldn't flower) without seasons.

[David]

Thanks spark.

So this means that even if we try our best it will eventually die as we are unable to give them seasons here in the tropics.

[spark]

Possibly not. Although I know some people in the tropics grow venus fly traps and sarracenia, both of which are also supposed to get seasons... how do they manage that?

[marvin1997]

I put my VFt in the fridge during dormancy though most people say they would die in there mine did not.

[plantlover]

We people in the tropics give dry dormancy to these plants. Check some articles on the forum for that.

[David]

Problem is for lithops, their natural habitat is the oposite of how sarra and vfts grow. So we can't follow what we do for sarra and vft. But I believe there is a way. Just that nobody has tried it and found the right cultivation tips yet.