4/20 boring update

Asterella is dried up and thus dormant, because I got sick of having moldy wet dirt in my house. Sphaerocarpos is dead again.

I'm not sure I like dirt any more

The cactus potting soil I stored dry and seemingly in clean conditions for months began emitting a faint moldy odor as soon as I rehydrated it. The gravel in the Asterella californica cup has also developed a similarly mild but unpleasant odor over the past few months. Intriguingly the dead mushy parts of the Asterella itself have no visible or smellable microbial presence; I suspect its flesh contains natural antibiotics. Ironically, the dirt in the Sphaerocarpos jar had a pleasant nutty smell and no mold (despite being in an airtight humid container) when the Sphaerocarpos in it were still thriving. The nutty smell is gone now that the sphaers are decaying, of course, but I'm surprised the pleasant scent lasted for weeks under sopping wet conditions.

Also I got some new Sphaerocarpos to replace the dead ones. I touched the new ones with my hands after washing them in hard water, because I had no access to soft water at the time, and I suspect the calcareous residues from my hands may kill them eventually. So far it is still alive though.

Anyways, despite being in microbe-infested dirt, the Asterella seems to have increased its sprout size by a few more millimeters! I can't wait for the pandemic to end so I can give it a thorough sanitization and acquire some dirt that won't mold.

4/10 update

Sphaerocarpos turned to slime. I suspect I used tap water w too many chems.

Asterella californica became subtly but increasingly brown around its growing point, I let it dry out one too many times because of absentmindedness and misery. Fortunately I imagine it may recover from this if I keep it damp long enough.

4/5 hasty plant update

 

Asterella californica: As usual I couldn't be bothered to take a nonblurry photo, so here is an ugly one! If you look carefully, you can see that green lobes are growing around the brown orb in the center. I highly doubt the lobes will grow into a new orb; I imagine they'll grow into new "leaves". I am glad that it is capable of surviving on hard water! Quite exciting.

Sphaerocarpos: v probably still growing rapidly. Have not checked it.

Physciella chloantha: I acquired some more. It better not die.

Mosses: Tired. Unmotivated. I dumped all of them (including the uninvited freebies from the Asterella cup) into a small container and let it dry out.  Maybe I'll rehydrate the thing when I am less tired.