Ramonda serbica-tufa lover?

[Jan Jeddeloh]

I have a couple of dinky little Ramonda serbica plants that I grew from seed.  About the slowest growing things I've ever seen.  I have also acquired a small chunk of tufa and my Dad drilled holes in it.  So would one of my precious serbicas like tufa? Or is this a bad idea?

Jan Jeddeloh

[Tony Willis]

My answer would be no.

In the wild Ramonda serbica grows in humus filled crevices on the north side of boulders and cliffs and my impression is most of the humus is supplied by their own old rotting leaves. The same applies to both R. nataliae and R. pyrenaica/myconii although the latter also grows in large clumps on the ground under trees. A couple of pictures attached,serbica in cultivation pyrenaica in the wild

I grow mine in a rich peaty gritty compost and they are in five inch clay pots plunged in sand. They have rooted through the pots into the sand with roots about nine inches long(I should have repotted them but they look happy). They are constantly moist and although they have not made side rosettes the individual ones are six inches across.

My climate is quite similar to yours