Thanks Tamara! Your plant is beautiful, so large and so many flowers. I found my first large stapelia this past week. I found it when I was in NYC for some meetings and took her to my place upstate to be in my sunroom with my other plants. The owner didn't know the exact type but it has stems similar to yours. It seems to have little pops of new growth on it already after I watered it a few days ago.....not sure if they're buds or new arms but I'll wait and see.
How do you grow your stapelia? I see your in California so I'm assuming outside which I hear they love, if the weather is right.
I've tried everything from pure pumice, pure perlite, mostly dirt, compost, cactus mix, and a mix between all of those hah. So far my Rhytidocaulon (the gray/brown stems with tiny starfish) seem to be the happiest in the tiniest pot possible and a mix of 60% perlite and 40% forest compost. All of my other ones are a mix bag, but I am growing indoors only so it is a constant battle of testing new conditions for them.
This current test of heated perlite with water will be interesting. I've read they like to be pot bound before growing a lot, so this test might not lead to much if there's a bunch in the same pot/tupperware.
But I've read so many conflicting theories for these plants that at this point I figured I might as well try some new ways of growing.
Anyways, thanks for sharing your photos. I'm hoping my larger one flowers some day. Those massive hairy flowers are really something special. How big are the flowers on it?
Here is my new larger one...if anyone can tell what type it might be (grandiflora...gigantea?) let me know. Just excited to have found one in person and not online, like all of my small ones.
