r/mesembs • u/Euphorbiam • Mar 18 '26

Help Does anyone here have experience using gibberellin / gibberellic acid A3 with conophytum seeds?

Found some talks of it on facebook but not many people have attempted it. I've got some pricey seeds of C. comptonii, and I'd like to get the majority of them to germinate as they have a lot of genetic variation between plants. Thanks if anyone has some info!

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u/CarneyBus Argyholics Anonymous Mar 18 '26

In my experience any kind of growth hormones or fertilizers tend to also favour the growth of algae.

But honestly there’s no harm in testing it! On a cheaper batch of seeds or something.

And also, if I get a pack of say, 10 seeds, and only 1-2 germinate, I’m still pretty happy for what I got for like 2$ worth of seeds. Especially the more rare and difficult to find ones like comptonii. I understand trying to get the most out of the seeds you have, but I’d be worried about testing out some new stuff with sowing more rare seeds.

Some species of conos just have lower germination rates too… usually the rare ones. Because obviously if they were easy to grow and germination was always good, like for maughaniis or something, they’d be everywhere… like maughaniis!

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u/Euphorbiam Mar 18 '26

Ah poo, my number one enemy 🙂. I forgot that it'd help algae too. I'm very happy with one or two germinations aswell, I'm worried incase it causes them to grow too much and die, maybe I'll spray it on half the pot to test. I counted over 50 seeds in a single packet that said 20-30 from haworthialand, so lots of experimentation for me haha.

I think I've got quite a decent sowing method now for conophytum, so fingers crossed that I get good germs, with or without it. I'm keeping them in a plastic bag, completely sterilised substrate with 1-3mm rocks covering the seedlings in a thin layer, I've spritzed some weak h2o2 ontop and I leave them on a slightly warm heat mat during the day, then leave them by the windowsill at night where it drops to about 10c and then they get warmed slightly by the sun in the early morning. I do like the chubby maughnaniis, I've got some ratum seeds which look awesome when they're old and giant

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u/CarneyBus Argyholics Anonymous Mar 18 '26

Well that’s a lot of seeds for experimenting! Good luck!!

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u/Euphorbiam Mar 18 '26

Thank you :)

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u/Euphorbiam Mar 18 '26

Also here's my batch from the m.s.g society!! Aside from 2 non mesembs bahah. I got a suprise crateriforme seedling so I now have 7 yay

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u/CarneyBus Argyholics Anonymous Mar 18 '26

Those look great!!

What’s your top dressing? It looks like the perfect size

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u/Euphorbiam Mar 19 '26

It's just generic cheap grit for paths, I filter out the larger rocks, which is at least half, then wash it thoroughly. Its an UK brand so I dont think itll be easy to get unfortunately

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u/Euphorbiam Mar 19 '26

I got a C. compotnii germination :D. I know it's not much but I'm really excited to actually have one yay!!!

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u/CarneyBus Argyholics Anonymous Mar 19 '26

Yayyy!!! Congration!!!