Growing Living Stones at 63rd Parallel North

the temperature is + 25 °C. i have reduced the amount of light the containers receive and it is now 13 hours. i try to simulate the darkening evenings although not in any scientific fashion. according to wikipedia seedlings generally require 16 hours of light and 8 hours of night. according to it seedling growth stops under less than 14 hours of light. i am going to risk it because i want to simulate more my own growing conditions. besides i am unsure if this universal law is absolute with living stones. i use plant lights and the article is naming that low intensity light of 16 hours or more brings continuous free growth. i don't know if my light intensity is considered low. it doesn't vary except being on or off. you can read more about my grow lights here . the moisture has dropped in the other containers except in the monilaria one which has been watered yesterday. i water the argyroderma, the conophytum and the lithops by soaking their containers from the bottom for 2...

the temperature is + 25 °C. the amount of light is the same as previously but the moisture has dropped in the monilaria container which was opened yesterday. i water the monilaria for the first time after sowing them. i also give them diluted cactus and succulent fertilizer. how much fertilizer, it is hard to say because i soaked the bottom of the whole container in a larger container with water and didn't measure the fertilizer exactly either. though the amount of fertilizer was less than recommended on the bottle. i also soaked the pumice through because some of the monilaria seedlings hadn't grown their roots into the pumice yet. clearly a downside of a coarser medium. 19  of the monilaria seeds have sprouted (see picture below), 6 of the argyroderma and 3 of the lithops.

the temperature is + 25  °C. the moisture in the containers and  the amount of light is the same as previously. 19  of the monilaria seeds have sprouted, 6 of the argyroderma and 3 of the lithops. i removed the lid from the container with the monilaria because most of the seeds had sprouted. the risk of getting mold or fungal attack on the seedlings grows every day when the lids are closed without ventilation.  it's difficult to say when exactly the monilaria became so numerous because of the mist on the lid and the fact that i also checked the containers only once a day. the lid removing happened on the day 5 for the monilaria which seem to be the first in everything though apparently they are notoriously difficult to flower.

the temperature is + 24  °C. the moisture in the containers and  the amount of light is the same as previously. 9  of the monilaria seeds have sprouted, 3 of the argyroderma and 2 of the lithops.

the temperature, the moisture in the containers and the amount of light are at the previous levels.  at least 6 monilaria seeds have sprouted and also 2 of the argyroderma seeds and 1 lithops seed! the project is at day 3.

the temperature is + 26  °C.  the plant lamps have been on from 7 am to 9 pm (14 h). the lids have kept moist and it's  hard to see anything yet through the lids but 4 of the monilaria seeds seem to have sprouted! only 2 days since sowing - go monilaria, go!

nothing to see yet. the containers have retained their moisture, the lids have mist and water droplets on them. the temperature is + 25  °C. some sources claim that the best sprouting temperature is between + 18 to + 20  °C. the plant lamps have been on from 7 am to 9 pm (14 h).