African Violets and Gesneriads: florida Sinningia, 1 by Keyring

Keyring wrote:

Quoting:When did you sow the seeds for it?

2 or 3 years ago. Note to self: mark tags with sowing date!

Quoting:Do you find that the Sinns prefer sunlight to artifical light?

Some of the bigger ones do. (Actually some of the bigger ones are several feet tall so they wouldn't fit under lights.) Cardinalis, eumorpha and leucotricha are generally said to be fine under lights, but they would also grow well in a window sill - may even grow better - I've never tried it because I don't have so little window space.

On a windowsill, they would go dormant naturally, which I think is a plus because I still think that they do like to get a break. Of course, there is the issue with some of them never waking up..... (Sinn piresiana is still not waking up and since that one is also several years old but has yet to flower, I really do want it to break dormancy!)

Under lights, it is easier to keep the dormancy period close to zero - let the old growth start to die back *after* new growth appears at the base. But then they don't get much of a rest.

The minis and micro minis do better under lights, I think.

Quoting:I don't try lots of plants because it's so darn hard to tell how big they get or what their habits are.

These types of things might be candidates for pots outdoors - bring them in to a garage or something in the winter? I'm not sure what the cold tolerance of this one is, but many will be happy down to the 40s. The other issue is that some Sinn tubers are very tasty......


Here's a pic of the same plants in February. You can see how weak the growth looks. I repotted them in Feb, and then stuck them in the window box in late April. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/715840/

Lets hope our weather doesn't rot the tubers off....