Alberto must be sending out vibes to you all to say "hi" because he has been very much trying to grow again, though it is a painstakingly slow and arduous process until he is mature enough to maintain leaves on his very young root system. I would love to hear if OldGardener is still getting 25% albinos! Would be awesome to have so many to work with to increase the odds of success (my ratio has been only 1 in 300 seedlings *yikes!*). Have you got any of them going? :D And, special thanks to crittergarden for letting me know there was still interest ... i get so deep into the ATP database that i miss most of what is happening on the forums ... a kindly, helpful tree-mail link from crittergarden helps me get back in the groove!
It is all a hit-or-miss adventure, and each choice to do - or not do - something to keep him developing is always a risk. But, so far, he is developing! I have a friendly near-albino seedling with him to help me track his progress (for example, I was sure Alberto had croaked a few weeks back because of no visible growth to his one developed leaf and no new forming leaf, when his seedling-mate shot out some new foliage and made we wait a few days just to see - sure enough, Alberto began forming a tiny new leaf).
Here are some pictures - you will see he is still very tiny after two months of growth this year. But as one picture shows, he is indeed developing a root, which means he is on his way to hopefully being able to feed himself, rather than needing sugar-water to develop further. He was on sugar for a month after appearing this spring and was able to send out multiple leaf blades, but after I switched him to water-only for a few weeks he subsequently dropped down to just one viable leaf, so now I'm giving him some added sugar feedings to see if it will help this single blade send out more shoots again (it seems to be working).
I must admit, I love checking on him every day and seeing if there is any progress. The color is enchanting to me - just the tiniest hint of green aura in all that translucent white. And, no matter his outcome, a pleasure to watch as he reaches out those new, if rare, leaves.
This is April 2013 with new foliage - the blunt-cut end is the blade that was taking the sugar feedings. At this point, his root system was pretty non-existent - just a couple of nubbins, and all growth was due to the sugar-carb diet.
Just this week I started him back on supplemental sugar, and caught a photo of his developing root (foliage leaf is to the right, long root to the left). I adjusted his pot to accommodate a small feeding "bowl" of the sugar water and dropped in a slow-release fertilizer pellet to help round out his nutrient needs and hopefully get him going stronger again.
Shown sipping on his sugar-smoothie next to his leggy lighter-green-than-usual companion seedling (who also needed some sugar supplement early on).
Thanks so much for asking after Alberto! ... it is quite an adventure even if progress is so very slow and the outcome so unsure. Having people cheer him on is so encouraging in the face of so much uncertainty!!
