Update of the 05th of June

Those two weeks have been quite busy. I received once more new seeds : verbena, 60 seeds of pseudolithos, 100 seeds of talinum caffrum, 100 of schizobasis intricata, 100 of arthrocereus rondonianus, 100 of hildewinteria hybrid, about 20 of gasteria and 20 of aporophyllum Karen. We have had also a lot of rain so I was a bit worried for my Adenium seedlings but they seem fine and I won't water them until they are well dry. 

I also sowed seeds from fruits I bought at the market or found in town.

This is Melococcus bijugatus, it is called guaya where I live. It is a sweet and sour fruit from the family of the lychee or the rambutan. I like them but I think they are astringent so if I eat too many it leaves a weird feeling in the mouth. This year I decided to sow some of them. There weren't many resources about them, but I watch a video on youtube, and the woman had experimented so I decided to follow some things I saw and experiment myself. I took the outer coat of three of them and I put them all on their side, because that is the way they grow (like lychees).

  

This is the seed of Carissa Macrocarpa or Natal plu, it is a small bush from South Africa. It gives flower smelling jasmine and red fruits that are edible. I haven't tried them yet, however I thought I could try to sow some. I let them soak for a night and then sowed them after as little as a week they are sprouting. 

These are the seeds of my babies...... Since I started to be in plant groups on Facebook and ordering seeds from Internet, I have learnt a lot and I have also seen many plants that I dream to get. These were one of them. They are succulents in the family of the Asclepiadaceae, they look like stones and I find them awesome. However the seeds, I had found, were quite pricey. One day I was wandering on Ebay, I found these seller from Thailand he was proposing 30 seeds of pseudolithos (several species) for a reasonable price. So I ordered 60 of them, they arrived quite fast (about a month). I had many doubts about the germination rate also the growing they are supposed to be quite hard, like other stapeliads. But I did what I usually do with Asclepiadaceae. First I soak them overnight, none had germinated during the night. Then I put some directly onto some soil and other onto a damp paper towel. But as with Adenium seeds, I have better result with the paper towel, so I took off the seeds from the soil but them onto paper towel and I've had about 45-50 germinating. Of course some will die, but I think that at the moment at least 30 came out so at least 50% of germination rate. This is awesome, I can't wait to see them grow.. 

This little pseudolithos were born without roots, but it is actually growing a side root at the moment, not as fragile as I thought. 

Another plant I love : Pachypodium. I have tried 3-4 times to grow Pachypodium but without any success. They were actually growing mold, fungi pretty fast and then dying. This time the seeds of pachypodium saundersii were showing the same kind of problem, but three of them decided to sprout. I am so happy :) :) 

Aloe variegata, I soaked them and then put them onto soil and they finally began to sprout after they got soaked with more than 1 cm of water. But I kind of dried them and I have counted 5 at the moment.

My two adult lithops. I bought them when I was in Mexico City to try to grow some because I find them awesome. I was actually thinking that I would kill them quickly but it appears that no. I thought I had killed one because it was beginning to wrinkle, but it appeared it was just thirsty. 

  

and here my baby lithops, grown from seeds. 

  

The little cannabis is growing not as fast as it is supposed to but it is still growing. I will have to give it away pretty soon.

These are the seeds of Secamone, I am not exactly sure what a secamone is but what the hell I will find out when it will be growing.

These are my Eureka lemon tree, they were beheaded by an iguana but thankfully they are strong and they are already growing side branches. 

The little submatucana are sprouting 17 out 20-25. Pretty good, I love growing cacti although they are pretty slow grower.

 This is my kitchen when it was raining. I had nothing to protect my plants or not much and there were no ways they would get flooded. 

My arthrocereus rondonianus, not that pretty besides it rained on it. But I have hope that it will recover well and keep growing. 

My schizobasis intricata, they are definitely slow growing but they are there. I think they are waiting for winter time to grow.

   

I found some seeds of Nerium Oleander and I decided to grow them. I soaked them for a night and the interesting thing is that the two leaves come before the roots. It looks like a split root but it is actually the cotyledon. Really interesting, there haven't been that much advance since then and most of them are actually rotting. 

  

This is a fruit called Baina in Mexico, Inga edulis. The coat of the seed is edible and so are the seeds but they were already germinated so we couldn't eat them. I however decided to sow 4 of them.

My begonia is finally recovering, I can spot some leaves forming. I don't know why but it is quite slow to recover and the principal bud died. I just hope it will grow back. 

The first seed of my albuca spiralis sprout. It is just a miracle, it has been quite a long time since I sowed them. Such a long time that I had lost hope, maybe two months, but here it is the first one, I hope that one or two more will sprout.

From the three seeds I took of clivia, only one has survived and the first leaf is actually coming out. It is quite a slow grower compared to others.