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When I was picking up supplies for my seedlings I had a good wander through the store and found this "Cactus and Succulent" (sometimes the tags in plants are more useless than others).
I recognized it as a Haworthia but had never seen one with that growth pattern. So I bought it. I've ID'd it as a Haworthia limifolia (probably var. limifolia? var. striata has more defined stripes, var. gigantea sounds like it should be bigger? There's a variegated form which this isn't either.).
Haworthia limifolia var. limifolia
You can clearly see here the same pattern that this plant shares with Pandanus utilis and so many other plants. Huge bonus points with me for any plants that grow in a spiral. This may even help me from needing to track down an Aloe polyphylla. Well, for now anyway!
Actually even in Haworthia limifolia var. limifolia there seem to be at least two more distinctions?
v. limifolia - Barberton (not mine)
v. limifolia - Hluhluwe (maybe this one)
"Hluhluwe" is a small town in the north east corner of South Africa. "Barberton" is also a town in the north east corner of South Africa (a little north of Hluhluwe) so I guess these are collection points. If there are only two collection points then mine is the Hluhluwe form. If there are more I can't be sure as I've only seen pictures of these two.
Update - There are several more collection points. I can't be completely sure but I'm fairly certain that mine is the Hluhluwe form.
Anyway the internet tells me that these are fairly easy but should be kept on the dry side. More water in spring and fall, less in summer (maybe the same amount since it'll dry faster even given the same amount of water) and much less in winter to match the lower light and temperatures.
Haworthia limifolia var. limifolia
Unlike many other plants which express a clear spiral pattern this plant basically grows with a pair of opposite leaves with the next opposite pair being offset by a certain amount.
Mine has a full pot of roots (I assume) and will need be re-potted umm.. soon? Not soon? Early spring when it's growing more? Now while it's somewhat dormant? From the sounds of it it'll be dormant or almost dormant during hot and cold weather and from experience and reading re-potting should be done while plants are starting to grow so that roots can also grow, especially if there was damage done. So early spring?
I've also noticed around 5-7 (or so) runners coming out the bottom of the pot. At what size can these be separated and potted up? Most are very small but one is clearly beginning to form a (very) little rosette. So it looks like it'll produce new growths at the base of the older ones as well as send runners out a longer distance, which is nice. It means I can have a nice large clump and still be able to propagate by runners without breaking up the larger plant.
This is also supposed to be an easy Haworthia to start with, and is attractive as well. It's always nice when you buy a random plant with no ID and it ends up being exactly what you needed.
I agree with the ID, and agree that it's an easy plant. My own plant is an offset I took off a work plant, which when I did it only had maybe two or three leaves (picture after it'd grown a couple more), and it worked out fine. Time of year might have affected that, too, I suppose, but as a general rule I don't have trouble separating Haworthia offsets at any age. I do have a hard time withholding water in the winter, though that's less a problem with limifolia (either of them) than with some of my other Haworthias.
ReplyDeleteThat v. ubomboensis is really nice!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to hold off a little bit on most of the little ones, but the one which actually has ridges visible on its tiny leaves may be coming off sooner. Whenever I re-pot the rest will basically have to come off as they're sticking out the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot.
I suppose I don't need many of these and I'm sure I'll get more so it's probably not worth worrying about losing some now.
Very nice. I really like Haworthia. I'm also impressed with the large number of interesting plants that seem to stream out of South Africa.
ReplyDeleteI really like Haworthia of any description. I split them up any time, they're very forgiving. If the plant has roots or offsets coming out of the bottom, you could do it any time. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteNice Haworthia! They're so easy, and yours looks like it's not your everyday attenuata you see everywhere.
ReplyDeleteWow, these comments are making me really happy with my plant and secondly are making me really want more Haworthias! I think they're the winners for which succulent group I'll get into (first, anyway).
ReplyDeleteI have a nice "aged" clay pot I cleaned and sterilized today I'll be potting this into. Might tackle that tomorrow. (Anyone know an easy way to speed up that aging process? I really don't like the look of bright orange clean clay pots...)
Hi again Andrew - just a thought on your newly budded Haworthia addiction. I have four different Haworthia, plus in another post I think you were looking for Echeveria 'Perle von Nurnberg' - how about a trade?
ReplyDeleteI also found a source of Lithops seeds if you're still looking - try www.thompsonmorgan.ca the code for them is 2546 40 seeds $5.95, which seems exceedingly pricey, but what the hey.
If you're up for some swaps, go to my website in my profile.
Sounds interesting. I've started some offsets of this Haworthia (one that will take, one that should take and two... well... we'll see!) so by the time it's warm we'll know if those are growing or not. Will get in touch later - I think on your site you say you start shipping around April 15th or so?
ReplyDeleteApril 15 is usually when I start - but with this very strange weather, who knows?
ReplyDeleteTo age your pot, why not try a mixture of sheep or steer manure (rabbit or llama works too) mixed with buttermilk. I know, sounds gross, but it will give your pot a start in the aging process.