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26-06-2004, 02:02 PM

(Skirmishd) wrote in message ...
Do any of you have one of these beautiful plants? Have you ever had yours
flower or form bulblets? I can't find my cactus and succulent book right now.
It was written by a guy with an Armenian-type name. He wrote that a bulb had
been kept dry on a museum shelf for years and yet was still able to grow after
having been put back in soil, but I suppose there are other plants like that,
too.

. Mine is baseball-sized and I've had it for years in different locations and
it never has flowered. Mine seems quite happy now in a southern window that's
partially blocked by the house next door. I tried a search of how to propagate
these but the one article that seemed to address the issue was a little over my
head with the terminology. It seemed to state that some methods of propagation
would kill the mother plant - I would never want to kill this plant! I did see
some pictures of its flowers so if I could get it to flower perhaps I could get
seeds. I haven't given this plant any fertilizer in quite some time. I
probably don't water it as much as I should and sometimes it goes dormant but
always comes back. I've heard it goes dormant in summer but this one seems to
keep it's own schedule, maybe it's still on African time. I suppose I should
fertilize it now and more often when it is growing.

It would be unique to have some of these to give to friends. Any suggestions?

They throw off plenty of offsets if well fed. The flowers are small
star shaped things maybe all of 3/16" across, I never bothered to look
for viable seed as they seem to offset enough to have plenty of gift
plants.
Mostly mine have been fed on aquarium mulm but my potting mixes are
very rich having made compost at this house for 25 years.