This is new to me, maybe others already knew about starting chirita leaves, but all the reading I have ever done, I don't remember reading this tip. But this is something I learned at a seminar.
If you cut off a chirita leaf and root the end, you will get a couple baby plants. If you cut that leaf in half and put the top part down to root too, you will get a bunch of baby plants. Not that anyone wants a dozen to find homes for, ha.
If you are having trouble with the more thicker leaves rotting instead of rooting, use hardly any water in the rooting medium, they will root practically dry. I had this trouble with gemella and URSB 83 (think this is correct name), so next time I will try that with them.
Also they are not sure if chirita sp. taminana is actually a chirita. I thought that interesting because I never thought it looked like a chirita, ha.
tish
Starting Chirita from leaves
here are pictires of a chirita logangensis i grew from a cutting & petrocosmea rosettoafolia from a leaf.
bonnie
my chirita
bonnie
Hey thanks for the info Tish. I have one I am trying to root and I guess I better check it to make sure it is not too wet. I think I killed a bunch of AV leaves by keeping them too wet and I sure don't want to do that to my chiritia leaf:)
Pat
I grew lots of tamiana chiritas last year from seed. Ordered it from Mauro out of Brazil.
I always root my chirita leaves in the same vermiculite and perlite that I do my african violet leaves. When I use the leaf the second time around, I use a light soil less mix..........
Just potted up Chirita Patina..........grown in vermiculite and perlite........if anyone is interested, I ordered a lot of good chirita leaves from Cedar Creek Violet. They sent awesome big leaves...........
Glad you reminded me to take the dome off for tonight as the perlite and vermiculite were too wet.
I can never decide whether to plant in soil less mix or perlite (LOL)
This Patina baby is potted up and I have stuck the mother leaf again........this time in soil less mix...
Gessie,
Where did you get the patina? I didn't see that over at Cedar Creek.
Pat
Bill Price from Canada grew it and won 'Best in Class' for it. A friend just sent me one leaf of it. In fact, when I showed it to Cedar Creek, they begged for a plant, so I am currently growing them a plant by sticking the leaf for a second time. Once I get Cedar Creek a plant, I will start propagating to share with you all........RainGazer wants a leaf also.
There are also some awesome chiritas on Lyndon Lyons Greenhouses.........although I couldn't get the two species I wanted. But, what they did send were big magnificent plants.
We had a speaker come and talk to our AV society and he brought a large patina with him. If I had known how hard it was to find I would have pinched a leaf and stuck it in my bra:) Okay, I wouldn't have really but I certainly would have been tempted. Such a lovely plant!
Pat
Pat, I would have gotten one somehow (LOL)
Who was your speaker and maybe we can start from there.............to find more......
Ok, you are growing extra babies, I wouldn't mess with that leaf, as it is important, but you could try with another leaf to see what happens if you:
Cut that leaf in half. You know sometimes when you put down a violet leaf, you cut off half of it to put more energy into growing roots? Well, with a chirita leaf, if you cut the top half off, you can root that too and that top part gets 3 x the baby plants as the bottom end....you know, like the cut strep leaves produce lots of babies? Well at the chirita seminar the speaker said chirita will do the same...he got 15 baby plantlets from the cut leaf and about 3 from the bottom end.
I'm trying it to see what happens, just curious although I don't have anyone to give that many plants away to. In the leaves I have down in this picture, you can maybe see on the right side how I cut the top of the leaf off and planted both ends to root. I also tried this with four other leaves. I just did this, so if they grow ears, I'll try and post another picture. Sometimes chirita grow baby plants fast and other times slow, someone told me it was the time of year I put them down. tish
After I get my second baby, Tish, I am going to cut the mother leaf assuming she is still in good shape. Can't wait to see your babies!! Be sure and show us.............
Gessie I don't remember the name of the speaker but I will try to find out at the next meeting. I know he is hybridizing so he probably sells them too.
Pat
That would be fabulous, Pat................hope you can find out................thanks so much!!!