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Description: This is a cross between
Gasteria batesiania
and Gasteria cv. Old Man Silver obtained by the Australian
hybridizer David Cumming .
It is a nice plant with attractive leaf colour that clumps easily and
not so little in time, but slow. The white and green colour along with
it hard plastic appearance make it looks very unusual. It is indeed
quite unstable and several slightly different clones and growing forms
are available.
Stem: Nearly stem less (acaulescent).
Roots: Succulent and cylindrical (terete). The roots are thick with
little branching.
Leaves: Distichous or more or less spiralled,
firm, bright green (to dark-green in full sun) with raised pale
silvery-green or pale olive-green stripes and edge with lots of pearly
tubercles (warts) in the upper and under sides. The
leaf apex is obtuse bearing a mucro.
Note: There are some closely related and quite similar cultivars
like “Lime Warty” and “Lizard Warts”
The
"little warty" is one of the ancestor of
Gasteraloe cv.
Green ice.
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Cultivation: They are slow growing but
long-lived plants of easy culture which makes them a good
houseplant and can be an excellent subject for the beginning
gasteriaphile (it can grow easily on window sills, verandas and in
miniature succulent gardens where they are happy to share their habitat
with other smaller succulent plants, or in outdoor rockeries) Need light
shade to shade, but will take full sun part of the day. (with some sun
exposure the leaf develops a nice reddish tint and remain compact) They
are tolerant of a wide range of soils and habitats, but prefer a very
porous potting mix to increase drainage. During the hot summer months,
the soil should be kept moist but not overly wet. The plants are
fertilized only once during the growing season with a balanced
fertilizer diluted to ˝ the recommended strength. During the winter
months, water only when the soil becomes completely dry. Frost hardy to -1°C (Or less).
Propagation: Gasteria is easily propagated by
the removal of offshoots or by leaf cuttings in spring or summer. To use
offshoots
It should stay intact in the post though every head will have its own
root system and it could easily be split for propagation.
To
propagate by leaf cuttings, remove a leaf and let it lie for about one
month (e.g. in a cool window sill), giving the
wound time to heal. Then lay the leaf on its side with the basal part
buried in the soil. This leaf should root within a month or two, and
small plants will form at the leaf base. Young plants
can be harvested the following season. They can also grown from
seed. Seed should be sown during summer in sandy well
drained soil and preferably protected from full sun. The seedlings are
slow growing and can be planted out in small containers when they are
large enough to handle. The soil should preferably be enriched with
compost. They react very well to a liquid organic fertilizer.
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Cultivation
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