Schlumbergera Seedlings update & Stapeliad

Stapelia Gigantea bud growing longer...

Schlumbergera Seedlings

I don't like the idea of posting pictures of my schlumbergera seedlings. I guess I'm so discouraged when it comes to them. With the utter total failure of the first pot earlier this year, I've sort of adopted the attitude that as long as I don't develop an attachment, it won't be no skin off my nose when they keep dying. With that in mind, I decided to finally add a smidgen of miracle gro fertilizer to the spray bottle. I figured if this small amount still burns them, oh well. At least I tried.

I can't help but feel some sort of excitement in the back of my mind that there's still a good amount that's still growing. With first leaves popping out of some while random others just keel over... It's survival of the fittest even though I'm trying to find advice online.

I posted on a forum that was meant for growing schlumbergera from seedling. After explaining that my first pot attempt was potting soil and this current attempt is peat moss, I was told that next time I should add perlite and vermiculite to break it up a bit. There's also suggestion of maybe buying a cheap grow light. With how long it's taking these to grow, I'm worried they won't make it in the greenhouse over winter. Maybe I could set up some small grow light in the laundry room and bring the seedlings in to keep them safe. It's something to think about.

Stapelia Gigantea

Stapelia Gigantea Flower Bud

You know, it's kind of neat to see it sending out a bud. My experience with this plant has been pretty much a roller coaster. After receiving the plant in a rather soggy pot last year - it was given to me with black rot already having set in. Pretty soon the entire plant just died. I realized that after everything was slowly dying away, there were these little 'clippings' that had been tossed into the pot and was pretty green. I potted those up in different soil.

Then they grew a little bit. Then they got stung in the greenhouse over winter. I thought the plant was pretty much going to die after it got stung but to my surprise, once spring came, it set out to grow new 'arms'. Now to see it have a flower bud, I'm really pleased. Had it died after being stung from the cold, I might've written this plant off for good.