pot optimization

i've always grown some tropical fruit trees, but recently i've become a "bit" more interested in them.  the following post is for the tropical fruit forum...optimal pot riddle.

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"if you really want to give something a head start, put it in a deep, deep ass pot." - flyingfoxfruits 

"after 10+ years of side-by-side tests of different pots, i'm sold on the fabric pots, at least for my conditions." - coplantnut, experiments with container-grown mangosteen in colorado

"neither, after trying both pots you mentioned and the fabric pots, I have finally switched to regular nursery pots coated with microkote." - simon_grow, which is better? air-pots versus rootmaker's rootbuilder II 

when i 1st moved into my place i dug a bunch of holes to plant trees.  if i was lucky i would find a marble.  i'd tell my girlfriend at the time that i had a valuable surprise for her and she was nice enough to pretend to be happy to receive a random marble.  she ended up filling half a jar with them.

when i 1st joined this forum a little over a year ago i have to admit that i didn't do much digging to find old but valuable threads.  the other day though, when i decided to share some of my thoughts on pots, i figured it would be a good idea to 1st dig to try and find some buried treasure.

here are some of the more or less relevant things i unearthed...

side by side microkote experiment - graftingavocados

why do my jackfruit seedlings always fail? - daintree

garcinia seedlings (confessions of a repot head) - ethan

sourcing tree pots - zephian

jabuticaba: how to grow them? - huertasurbanas

greenhouse, rootmaker pots for tropicals and fruit "porn" - mark in texas

air pruning pots--opinions? - starling1

100% synthetic potting mix? - josh-los-angeles

mangosteen and lychee, growing in warm enclosure - socal2warm

did i overlook the most useful content about pots?  if so, please share it.  overlooking the best things in life is one of the worst things in life.  like the time i went to puerto vallarta 25 years ago and overlooked luc's garcinia.

if we could use our donations (to the tff) to determine the creation and order of forum categories, how much would we donate for the topic of pots?  in my previous thread i didn't include the topic of pots among the top three topics that i'd be willing to donate for.  maybe that was a mistake.

prior to digging for pot threads, i had never heard of microkote before, which was curious since it seemed quite useful, but i don't remember it being mentioned in any relatively recent threads.  so i googled within this site and found 1 microkote search result since 2018.  

then i found 0 "semi-hydro" search results since forever.

which is more useful... semi-hydro or microkote or...?

naturally we all have different conditions, so something that is useful in wet conditions, for example, might be useless in dry conditions.  optimal is relative, kinda.

a year ago i visited the salton sea for the 1st time and was intrigued that the shore consisted of a very loose mix of barnacle shells, fish bones and sand.  i asked my friend whether it might make a good medium and she replied something like, no way, it's toxic!  i replied, hold my beer.  i found a random empty 5 gallon pot, filled it with the seashore medium, took it home and rinsed it several times.  then i stuck two well callused aloe cuttings (tenuior and my tenuior hybrid) into the medium in a 1 gallon pot.  for the sake of comparison i stuck two more cuttings in pure pumice and two more cuttings in cat liter (my ex left it)...

the cat liter was an obvious fail, guess it was the wrong kind.  but surprisingly the salton sea medium seemed to work.  here's a recent pic...

the roots...

the left two aloes were in the salton seashore medium, the two on the right were in pure pumice.  the roots that were in pumice look a bit better so it seems reasonable to say that with these two aloes, and in my relatively drier conditions, pumice is a bit more optimal than the salton seashore.   but perhaps in wetter conditions the seashore medium would be a bit more optimal.

Update On Orchid Seeds That Germinated On My Tree

On the OrchidBoard, Camille1585 requested an update on the orchid seeds that germinated on my tree.

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In 2011 I sowed a bunch of different orchid seeds on my Cedar tree and much to my very pleasant surprise some of them actually germinated...




All the seedlings turned out to be Laelia anceps.  Over the years I've documented the growth of the largest seedling...

December 2012




June 2013




Dec 2013




Aug 2014




Nov 2014




April 2016




June 2018



There's a really big disparity between the seedlings in terms of size.  Here's one of the smallest seedlings...

What explains the remarkable size disparity?  Is it because of the difference in the seeds and/or the difference in the microhabitats and/or the difference in the helper fungus?

The largest seedling germinated right next to the roots of a slow growing variety of Dendrobium teretifolium.  Evidently the Dendrobium harbored a fungus in its roots that the Laelia seed was able to put to good use.  Is this fungus from Australia like the Dendrobium, or from Mexico like the Laelia, or is it pantropical?  In any case, given that the Laelia is in the process of outgrowing and overgrowing the Dendrobium, clearly it isn't always advantageous for an orchid to harbor fungus that can help germinate the seeds of unrelated orchids.   I wonder whether the seeds of this Dendrobium would be able to germinate near the roots of this Laelia.

Right now the largest seedling has five new pseudobulbs starting to grow.  In many, if not most, years its pseudobulbs mature around August and new ones would start to grow.  They would mature late winter or early spring.  Part of the reason for this is because this individual hasn't yet allocated any energy to blooming!  It is definitely not precocious.  The trade-off between growing and blooming is quite interesting.

Last year I removed two keikis from my very wonderful Dendrobium Gloucester Sands (discolor x canaliculatum) and attached them to boards...

The smaller keiki decided to put out roots and a new pseudobulb while the larger keiki decided to bloom.  Blooming is very costly in terms of energy so, for a plant this size, I'd normally nip the spike in the bud, so to speak.  In this case I decided to leave it for illustrative purposes.  Some animal decided to mostly override my decision by eating all of the buds except for one.

The "pockets" made of shade cloth are filled with slow-release fertilizer granules.  This effectively fertilizes all the mounted plants beneath it, but I really shouldn't have attached the pockets to the boards.  Bundling the pockets and the boards discourages me from moving the boards.   Instead, I should have made completely "independent" pockets.  Another thing, seedlings and small newly mounted divisions don't respond well to lots of fertilizer.

Getting back to the Den Gloucester Sands, here are its roots growing on my Pachypodium lamerei...





Here's a video of it...





Diversity is the best.  Last September I excitedly purchased a flask of Bc Beulah Bradeen (Cattleya walkeriana x Brassavola nodosa) from eBay.  Both parents have done quite well for me so I was very curious to see whether their offspring might do even better.  As per my standard operating procedure, I carefully mounted the largest seedlings on sections of trellis wood...

I distributed all the mounts throughout the garden.  So far only around five seedlings survived the winter.  And it was a pretty reasonable winter... it didn't even freeze.

Why did so many seedlings die?  Was it primarily from a lack of heat?  Or was it primarily from a lack of water?  During winter, for most of my plants I drastically cut back on watering.  In any case, given that a few seedlings survived, there's certainly variation in terms of the seedlings and/or the microhabitats.

One issue with flasks is that there's usually no selection in terms of drought tolerance.  Last fall I had a relevant e-mail discussion with an orchid hybridizer in Australia who specializes in tea tree orchids.  He had recently registered Dendrobium Ultraviolet, which is a cross between a less succulent orchid, Den Berry, and a more succulent orchid, Den canaliculatum.  Even though the cross is 62.5% canaliculatum, it looks more like kingianum.

My theory is that, in a flask with adequate moisture, storing water is a disadvantage.  Seedlings that are more succulent are going to lose the competition for limited space to the seedlings that are less succulent.  So when a more succulent orchid is crossed with a less succulent orchid, if the seeds are flasked, then the seedlings will be less succulent.

I think the same concept must be true for temperature.  If a cooler growing orchid (ie Den Berry) is crossed with a warmer growing orchid (ie Den canaliculatum), and the flasked seeds are kept cooler, then the seedlings will predominantly be cooler growers.  I doubt that any professional flasking laboratories expose their flasks to temps as high as the temps that Den canaliculatum experiences in its native habitat.  Basically, the deck is stacked against Den canaliculatum's warmer growing and drought tolerating traits.   

Orchids populations, like all populations, conform/adapt to their conditions/environment.  Here's the most relevant passage that I've found on the general topic...

An ovule is successfully fertilized by only one pollen grain out of (potentially) many thousands.  If fertilization is performed at a sufficiently low temperature, the growth of chilling-resistant genotypes of pollen will be favored over others.  These will reach the ovule first so that their genes will appear in the resulting seed.  At no other stage of development can selection be made on such large numbers of genotypes. - Brad D. Patterson and Michael S. Reid, Genetic and Environmental Inlfuences on the Expression of Chilling Injury

What's very interesting to consider is what happens when an orchid is pollinated during the spring or fall here in Southern California.  A few days ago the high temps were in the low 90s.  Now the highs are in the low 70s.  That's a pretty big range of high temps.  Imagine how much impact this fluctuation would have on the race for the ovule.  In theory the most hercuthermal genotypes should win the race.

Laelia anceps generally blooms from fall to spring... depending on the plant and its conditions.  Honestly I don't even remember pollinating my Laelia anceps.  For all I know the seeds that germinated on my tree were from a Laelia anceps owned by unknown neighbors.  But in terms of adapting to SoCal's climate, it is advantageous for Laelia anceps to bloom when it does.  Unfortunately, its blooming also coincides with my break from my plants.  I think that, after the seeds germinated on my tree, I only once tried to pollinate my anceps, but no pods developed.  Evidently the pollen that I used (ie Brassavola) was too different.

There have been a few other times when I sowed other orchid seeds on my tree.  Only one of these other sowings was somewhat successful...





I noticed this NOID seedling in 2016.  It germinated right next to the roots of a Vanda tricolor.  I looked around and managed to spot a few other similar seedlings in the vicinity.  It is definitely a sympodial orchid and its pseudobulbs and the undersides of its leaves are burgundy.  When Camille1585 asked for an update on the Laelia anceps seedlings, I climbed the tree and noticed that one of these NOID seedlings was about to fall off because somebody, probably a squirrel, had dislodged the piece of bark that it was attached to.  I carefully removed the seedling and attached it to a board...

If you zoom in you can see a bunch of reed-stem Epidendrum seeds germinating near the NOID seedling.  My hope is that the helper fungus in the roots of the NOID seedling will inoculate the reed seeds.  It's my best guess that, unlike other orchid seeds, reed seeds already have enough nutrients to germinate on their own.  Even if this is the case I still want to help to spread the fungus that helped the NOID seedling germinate.

The board is sitting on my coffee table without any sort of covering and its right under a bendy octopus type lamp that stays on during the day.  Right now the reed seeds are completely dry.  Hopefully this is giving an advantage to the marginally more drought tolerant individuals.

Next to the NOID seedling's mount is another mossy mount that has a reed seedling on it...

Also on the board are some Echeveria gibbiflora seedlings and a Schlumbergera microsphaerica that I received last fall.  The Schlumbergera grew quite well over the winter.  I'm really happy with how well it has done even though the house was coldish during the winter.   If anybody is interested, this species is currently for sale on eBay.  The vendor also has some other interesting plants for sale.

Getting back to orchids, one of my very favorites is Dendrobium trilamellatum...

This robust epiphyte thrives in habitats in which few other orchids can survive. It occurs from a little south of Cooktown to the islands of Torres Strait, southern New Guinea and the Top End of the Northern Territory. It is a species of the very seasonal and hot open melaleuca woodlands where the wet season usually starts in December with occasional storms building to heavy rain in January to March, followed by a dry season in which virtually no rain falls from June to November. The Yellow Antelope Orchid flowers in spring (July to November) and the flowers are attractive, long lasting and pleasantly scented. They are about three to four centimetres across. In cultivation this species does moderately well, but must be given a dry season and the medium must be well drained. - Bill Lavarack, Bruce Gray, Australian Tropical Orchids

Last month mine bloomed for the first time.  There were only two flowers.  I really wasn't quite in my plant "mood" yet, but because I love this orchid so much, I knew that I'd be really disgruntled with myself if I didn't endeavor to put the pollen to good use.  So I used the pollen to try and pollinate two closely related Dendrobiums...

Dendrobium canaliculatum x (parnatanum x trilamellatum)
Dendrobium canaliculatum x antennatum

Both these orchids now have a seed pod developing on them, but the first orchid's seed pod is twice as large.  When the pods ripen should I sow the seeds on my tree?  I'd like to, in order to select for the individuals that are best suited to my conditions, but I'm not confident that any seeds would germinate.  Right now I'm leaning towards offering the seeds to the curator of the Huntington's succulent collection.... John Trager.  A while back he had an Oncidium cebolleta cross flasked and the seedlings were included as part of the 2012 International Succulent Introductions (ISI).  It was really great to see an orchid offered alongside the other succulent plants.  Since that year no other orchid has been offered in the ISI so naturally I think it's time for another orchid, or two, to crash the succulent party.

If I was going to summarize all of this entry with one word... I'd go with "Californication".  It's a show staring David Duchovny as a writer.  Unfortunately the show isn't about plants but the word "Californication" strikes me as really relevant to the incredible and amazing and fascinating process of the millions and millions of non-native plants growing here in California being selected for, and adapting to, California's climate.  Any Californian who grows non-native plants outdoors helps to facilitate this process, especially when they grow these plants from seed.  In theory, since orchids produce so many seeds, they should adapt the fastest.  But then there's the tricky issue that virtually all orchid seeds require fungus or flasking to germinate.   Well, this issue is only tricky if we assume, or decide, that Californication is truly desirable.

Anybody else a fan of Blade Runner?  The setting is Los Angeles in 2019.  There's an abundance of flying cars, but a scarcity of plants.  Personally, if we are going to err, then we should err on the side of too many plants.  If we're going to give future people something to complain about, then let them complain about an abundance of plants.   Let them complain that California has too many different varieties of tree Aloes that host too many different varieties of orchids that nourish too many different varieties of hummingbirds and harbor too many different varieties of lizards.

Maybe the one movie that best depicts how we should err is Annihilation.  This passage comes to mind...

A few species of orchids are occasionally able to become established in very odd microhabitats.  Withner (personal communication) reports seeing small orchids - probably Comparettia Poep. And Endl. - growing on mango leaves.  Since the leaves last about three years, this suggests that the orchid may complete a life cycle within this relatively short time.  Even more bizarre, Bowling (orchid propagator, Kew; personal communication) told me that he had once seen a tiny Microcoelia Lind. Growing on a spider's web in Ghana!  I very much doubt, however, that either leaves or webs will ever become very important orchid habitats. - William W. Sanford, The Orchids, Scientific Studies

Here's a photo of orchids growing on leaves, here are some photos of an orchid blooming on a leaf, and here's a video of an orchid blooming on a leaf.  Unfortunately I haven't seen a photo of an orchid growing on a spider's web, but I've seen plenty of spider webs on orchids.  Maybe Sanford is correct that leaves and webs won't become important orchid habitats but, given that ants live inside the pseudobulbs of certain orchid species, and virtually all orchid seeds need a fungus in order to germinate, and there are many different orchids that are happy to grow on cactus, I personally wouldn't underestimate potential associations between orchids and other organisms.

[UPDATE]

The largest Laelia anceps bloomed on Jan 2019....

Cedar Tree Epiphytes

[update] If you have trouble seeing any of the photos in this entry try this link to my Google photos album. [/update]

Recently I got thinking about one of my vining epiphytes...

It's on the second mount from the left.  At first I was pretty sure that it was a Dischidia.  My guess was Dischidia acuminata.  But then I became pretty sure that it was a Hoya.  My guess was Hoya micrantha.  I think the reason that I changed my mind was because I saw the flowers.  They looked a lot more like Hoya flowers.  However, they were so small and underwhelming that I didn't bother taking a photo of them.

What's remarkable about this Hoya is how well it does epiphytically.  It does really well.  Really well!   It's definitely a very strong contender for the best epiphytic growing Hoya family plant in Southern California.  I've seen it in several people's collections but nobody ever knows its name.

The other day I decided to inspect the one growing on my Cedar tree...

This one growing on the tree has smaller leaves that are yellow and quite succulent.  During summer I usually water the tree 2x/week at night.  As the temps get cooler I water less frequently.

I inspected the plant more closely but didn't see any flowers.  But I did see this...

It's a seed pod!  Surprise surprise!  The only other of my Hoyas that has produced a seed pod is Hoya serpens.  So far none of my Dischidias has produced a pod.

The other plants in the photo are a bunch of Tillandsia aeranthos volunteers growing on a Nematanthus stem.  Yesterday I was eating some lemon guavas off my tree and I brushed a bit of spider web off of one.  When I looked closer at the web, it was actually the "parachute" of a Tillandsia aeranthos seed, that had just started to germinate.

Also in the photo is Dockrillia teretifolia.  I have three different ones on my tree.  They've all had plenty of time to become specimens, but none have done so.  Maybe they want more water?

Finding the seed pod on my Hoya got me extra curious to see what else was happening on my tree.  So I started climbing.  Here's one of the three NOID orchid seedlings that most recently germinated on my tree...

Here's a pic that I took last year of one of the other NOID seedlings...

All three seedlings are growing next to the roots of a Vanda tricolor/suavis.  The seedlings have been growing soooooo slow.  It's like they are trying to kill me with suspense.

The previous batch of seedlings that germinated on my tree all turned out to be Laelia anceps.  There are around half a dozen on the tree... ranging from super small to blooming size.  I thought the largest seedling would bloom for the first time this year... but nope.  It's been around 6 years since they germinated.  Sheesh.  Here's an album with some pics.

Speaking of super slow seedlings... at the top of this NOID Sedum there was a succulent seedling...

At least I'm pretty sure that it was a seedling.  I was happy to discover that it was still there.  It's been hanging in there for several years.  So I decided to carefully remove it along with a section of the moss that it was growing on.  Here it is with two other small succulents...

Sedum versadense (top) and Sedeveria 'Acultzingo' (right) were also growing on the tree.   The third succulent is the NOID seedling.  Perhaps it's Echeveria nodulosa.  I did sow some seeds of it on my tree a long time ago.

I attached all three succulents to a board with Sphagnum moss on it.  The mount is now hanging in a small section of my garden that I water 3x/week at night during summer.  Hopefully the seedling will respond positively.  As I mentioned in this blog entry, I would like to try and cross Echeveria nodulosa with rosea.

Here's one of the Echeverias that has done really well on the tree...

I'm guessing it's Echeveria minima.  Also in the photo is Columnea Elmer Lorenz, Dischidia formosana, Crassula pruinosa, Sedum rubrotinctum and Cattleya Portia coerulea.

The Echeveria clump is happily growing among the roots of Anthurium schlechtendalii.  If you look closely just below the Echeveria clump you'll see the Anthurium's two very first offshoots.  What's rather surprising is the amount of distance between the offshoots and the root crown.  The angle of the photo makes it hard to tell but the distance is around 2 feet.  Then again, now that I think about it, perhaps they might be seedlings.  Every couple of years or so the Anthurium manages to produce quite a few berries.

One very consistent and productive fruiter is Columnea Elmer Lorenz...

Here are all the fruits that I harvested...

Last month I harvested pretty much the same amount of fruit.  Columnea Elmer Lorenz is the only epiphyte I have that is almost always in bloom.

In order to extract the seeds, I peel the skin and put the fruit into a water bottle that I fill half way with water.  I put the lid on and shake the bottle vigorously to separate the seeds and the fruit.  The seeds will sink to the bottom and the fruity water can be poured off.  Usually there are at least a few unsunken seeds so I'll pour the fruity water into a large bottle.  Once I'm done processing all the epiphyte fruit (ie Anthurium) I'll pour the contents of the large bottle on mounts and in hanging pots/baskets.

This time I decided to drink the Columnea's fruity water.  I knew that the fruit was edible.  Well... I guessed that it was edible.  I remember Kartuz saying that Codonanthe fruit is edible.  Not sure though if he said that all Gesneriad fruit is edible.  Anyways, the Columnea fruit water turned out to be quite bland.

But it got me thinking about how different cultivated corn is from wild corn.  What would the fruit of Gesneriads, Rhipsalis or Anthuriums look and taste like after a 1000 years of selection?

I climbed a little higher on the tree and took a photo of the roots of this Cattleya Portia coerulea...

The roots are covered in moss.  Unfortunately this moss doesn't really escape onto the bark.  I super wish that I could find a moss that would be happy to grow directly on the bark.  It would help capture and germinate all sorts of seeds and spore.

Here's a photo of the shady side of the Anthurium schlechtendalii's root ball...

The plants in this photo include Columnea Elmer Lorenz, Dischidia formosana, Anthurium NOID seedling, Polypodium aureum, Crassula marginalis minuta (?) and an Aeonium that grew from seed that I sowed on the tree.

The Anthurium seedling grew from a seed that I received from Loran Whitelock during a tour of his place.  He had a decent sized Anthurium growing in the ground that had quite a few ripe berries on it.  I asked if I could have some and he said sure.  After I got home I sowed them on the tree.  This seedling and a bigger one higher up on the tree are the result.  Unfortunately, I don't remember taking a photo of the mother Anthurium.  But I'm guessing that it's something that has been referred to as  Anthurium 'whitelockii'.  This page has a picture of a mature plant.  What's rather tricky is that PalmBob and a few other sources indicate that the name has been changed to Anthurium faustomirandae.  From my perspective though the size and orientation of the leaves are quite different.  Plus, the leaves of Whitelock's plant are much more glaucous.

A few years back Dylan Hannon sold an Anthurium on eBay that was very similar to Whitelock's.  Here was the description that he gave...

Anthurium sp. Tomellin Canyon, Oaxaca, Mexico. This is a dramatic species that slowly grows to about 3ft across and not quite as tall. Leaves are strikingly blue-glaucous, very tough and heavy. Spadix and spathe are maroon. Fruits take well over two years to mature. This is an excellent outdoor plant in Southern California and has been around a while since its introduction by the late Loran Whitelock. It goes under a few names but I am not sure any of them are correct and it could still be an undescribed (new) species. Sale item (2nd photo) is a young seedling.

Let's set this mystery aside for a bit and continue climbing the tree...

Not sure if this succulent is a Sedeveria (Sedum x Echeveria) or a Graptoveria (Graptopetalum x Echeveria).  Maybe it's Graptosedum (Graptopetalum x Sedum) Alpenglow?  Whatever it is, it can get a nice bronzy/burgundy color and does really great on the tree.  It grows super easy from leaf cuttings.  I just break some leaves off and place them wherever I want this succulent to grow.  Evidently I wanted it to grow here among the roots of Cymbidium madidum.  For some context, here's a picture that I took last year...

The other orchid blooming in this photo is Cymbidium aloifolium.  On the shady side of this orchid is a really neat trailing fern...

Lemmaphyllum microphyllum is an epiphyte and lithophyte from Japan.  It's perfectly happy with our temps here in SoCal.  It can handle drying out, especially during the winter, but it does appreciate a decent amount of moisture when it's warm.  Like the rest of the plants on the tree, this fern receives water 2x/week at night during summer.  However, it's growing on a decent amount of Sphagnum moss.  So far it has not managed to "escape" from the moss.  One of the best escape artists, as far as ferns go, is the somewhat larger trailing epiphytic fern Microgramma vacciniifolia.

Moving up the tree even further I have a big clump of plants all growing with the really excellent fern Aglaomorpha coronans...

In this photo you can see a never-blooming Oncidium sphacelatum, a Codonanthe carnosa (round leaves) that grew from seed sown on the tree, several Echeveria gibbifloras that also grew from seed sown on the tree, and a clump of seed sown/grown Tillandsia aeranthos.

As I mentioned in this entry, the E. gibbiflora seedlings grew really great on my tree... until they reached blooming size.  The very large and heavy rosette would badly bend the trunk and the plant would slowly deteriorate.  There have been a few exceptions.  The E. gibbiflora seedlings in the photo that are growing to the left aren't quite blooming size but the seedling growing to the right is.  It has already bloomed for a couple years but the trunk still hasn't badly bent.  One difference is that this seedling, unlike all the ones that badly bent, has branched.  You can see it a little better from this angle...

There are several different plants in this photo.  At the top is Tillandsia aeranthos (by far my most productive Tillandsia), Crassula sarcocaulis, Sedum rubrotinctum, Oncidium sphacelatum, Aglaomorpha coronans, Echeveria gibbiflora, NOID succulent (Sedeveria?), NOID Sinningia and another clump of Tillandsia aeranthos.

This gibbiflora has actually branched twice and is going to branch again.  Another difference, besides branching, is that the leaves aren't as long and the red outline seems to be more pronounced.  Here's the view from above...

In the upper left hand corner of the pic you can see the second Anthurium seedling that grew from seed that Whitelock let me have.  It is just starting to get the glaucous appearance of mature plants.  Recently I asked my friend if he had Anthurium whitelockii.  He said that he did and he gave me a seedling.  It is between my two seedlings in size, and looks somewhat similar.

If you only saw the Echeveria from this angle you'd really have no idea that it's actually one plant.  Here's a picture that I took last year of the mother plant...

I attached a Dendrobium orchid and a few Tillandsias to the trunk of the Ecehveria.  It's near a Parkinsonia aculeata tree which has grown quite a bit.  As a result, the Echeveria was in too much shade and it started to lean.  Here's a recent pic...

Echeveria gibbiflora fell into the open arms of Kalanchoe beharensis.  It would be wonderful to have a sturdier Echeveria that readily branched.  Then epiphytes could be attached to its branches.  One potential cross with this goal in mind would be to cross Echeveria gibbiflora with Sedum dendroideum ‘Colossus’.  Wow!  But I'm guessing that they wouldn't be compatible though.

In addition to harvesting a bunch of different seeds from the plants growing on my tree, here are some of the plants that I harvested...

Tillandsia mallemontii clump (upper left) grew from seed that I sowed on the tree.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  It was so full of blooms that I decided to remove the clump to share divisions with members of the Epiphyte Society.  The Tillandsia aeranthos clump (upper right) grew from seed that volunteered on my tree.  It was growing in my way so I decided to remove it to share.  Below the Tillandsias is a cutting of Columnea Elmer Lorenz.  I didn't make the cutting.  Last month I found 3 other cuttings.  I'm guessing that a squirrel or raccoon had made them.  The last plant is an Echeveria gibbiflora seedling that grew from seed that I sowed on the tree.  It was hanging rather precariously.

My tree has so much going on!!!  I probably only documented 5% of it.  Watching the tree is better than watching most TV shows.