Thanks to Gail, I just realized that I may be harming my plants by using tap water. I called my water company to find out our ph, however it was already closed for today.
Do you use distilled, filtered, or special water for your av's and gessies?
Living and learning:)
Ellen
This is a pic of a very sad strep from VioletBarn which has since passed on to Plant Heaven... or Hell, lol!
Ellen,
I use well water on all my plants... Looks like the soil in the one above is not loose enough . I always repot when I get streps in that type of soil.. BUT I am not an expert by any means... So maybe someone else will come in and help.
Hugs,
Susan
I agree w/Sue. The soil looks very compacted which can do your plants in because there aren't enough air spaces around the roots. It looks like a lot of peat and not enough of the perlite/verm. or other aerating medium.
I doubt it is your water.....
Me too , I have learned that I need to repot the streps I get from the different vendors as the soil dries out too fast and gets hard and then is too wet when watered , I am used to my soil and they always do better after I repot them in my own soil I hope the rest of your's are doing ok but try repottiing and see if they do better in your own mix :)
Night all , sweet dream wishes are sent to you ,
Hugs
Connie
Connie,
Do you want any of the baby streps of mine?
Sue
sue;
do you have any for sale on the garden here?
mrsbonnie
I still say to check the ph of your water and always change the soil on a new plant. (but I do let mine sit for a few days in my house before I change the soil.....for the plant to come out of shock after sitting in a box)
My plants have never looked better since I started using half reverse osmosis water and half tap water.
I use aged tap water. Our water has a high Ph, and is very alkaline but most plants seem to do well with it. I do have to watch that mineral deposits don't build up.
Ellen, I have to immediately repot anything I get from Rob's. That potting mix he uses is a death sentence to anything I receive. It gets so hard and dry, it's next to impossible to rehydrate.
But here's a tip - anything that's got a lot of peat in it, use very warm water to rehydrate it. It soaks up the warm water when it won't cold. I even use a little hot water, just to get it started soaking, then change to warm.
Thank you, all, I will get the hang of this... one day!
When you repot, do you just shake as much soil off the root ball as possible, or seriously wash all the soil off the roots?
I personally hold the roots under the running water and swish them back and forth and gently work them with my fingers to get as much of the old potting mix off as possible. Now, the last time I told Gail that, she was absolutely mortified at the thought of disturbing the roots that much! LOL So, I can't necessarily say that I recommend doing that, but it's what I do. ;o)
Rain, thanks- is it better to do this when the soil is moist or dry??
Moist is my preference.
Really, though, get some other opinions before you do that. I don't want to be responsible if something bad happens. :o) Or try it with just one plant and see how it works for you. I do a lot of things that aren't the conventional or accepted way of doing them, but they work for me and I do like to share what works for me, with the warning that it might not be the best for anyone else. ^_^
So my water company said the water is 7.6 - 7.8.
He also said that there is chlorine- I should let it sit for 24 hours OR bring it to a boil and let it cool before watering the plants.
I have well water, but it is treated with water softener (salts) so I use spring water for the AV's - tho I must say, I know of ppl who use treated well water and have no issues.
I doubt it is your water,although your water is alkaline.I think it's just the type of soil mix they are in.Water probably runs straight through and if you get it throughly wet it's too wet.Peat moss is difficult to get wet by just a watering,unless it has some perlite or vermiculite,or both,added.Then when it gets dry,it's bone dry.Charcoal helps a little too.
Last Spring I tried repotting and killed my three plants! They died a slow death...I rinsed most of the old soil away...down to the main root ball.. which I have since learned is all wrong! I loved those plants, too............and can't even get them to grow again...from a leaf my neighbor gave me from the same source............it must have been a solid color Chimera?? from what I have read about propogating Chimeras..which would account for no green ears and only white roots popping up from that...
I have alot of baby plants now..........doing well except for the one with yellow leaves??
Live and learn..
bbon (learning 'fast' now)
Hi, thought I'd answer this question. I use drinking water from my Britta filter pitcher. I have a gallon jug I fill up with the Britta water and keep that full. Don't think the tap water here would be good for the plants I have at all. Nor for me either! ChuLin
I use rain water whenever possible as I also grow carnivorous plants and tap would kill them. So I also try to use rain water for everything else. IF I have a good supply of it which this year was easy with all the rain we got here.....
Lynn, I didn't know the importance of the ph of water until I learned...................it is critical that it not be as alkaline as mine.......7.8. So I check with some of the Texas hybridizers and they are using 1/2 reverse osmosis and 1/2 tap water. My plants look like new plants............can't get over the difference. You could use reverse osmosis totally if you could afford to have a small one put in one faucet in your house............
african violets and streps both like to be in the range of 6.4-6.8...........I think that is why David Thompson ships in almost pure peat......it is very acidic alone........
Thanks Gail,
Our water here is alkaline,too.But because of the peat I use in my mix and the fact it becomes more acidic as it breaks down I don't usually have a problem.I check my PH and the highest reading I have ever gotten was just below 7,which is okay for AVS,but a little high for some Gessies (according to the experts).But to be honest I have never had a problem with any of my plants,due to PH,not to say they might not look even better if I lowered the PH a little.I do not use lime in my mix and it contains Pinebark,which probably helps.
I only said that because ph is not yours or my problem.......but it sure could be for someone else. I don't use lime either.
It certainly could be Gail.Especially for people with water softeners or extremely alkaline water.
bbonnie you mentioned a solid color chimera and I can't say I've ever heard that they could be solid color but I am no expert by far. I thought that chimeras always had a stripe of some kind and are bicolor.
Also not sure that rinsing to the rootball would kill a plant as I've done it with plants and they've lived. It might not be advisable in all circumstances but I think it can be done without causing death.
I have killed many a plant in my lifetime,but never by rinsing the rootball.Just MTCW.
Rain,that was great advice about peat!!
Lynn
Lynn what is MTCW?
MrsBonnie, pleaes send me a dmail with your address..... Can't make any promises of what you get with names as most are not named in this batch but will send you a few and down the road we can name them because I have all of them in plants that I put leaves down... I don't have anything in the market place now... I got scared and took it off....LOL I may put leaves back up the coming weekend.... I am not the selling type... Gail, is my favoret buyer...LOLOL I asked her to go look at it and tell me if it was right and boom she bought them.... Silly lady... I think she was happy.... I know I was..
Hugs,
Susan
I agree , anna.........what MTCW?
Rain, you don't have to quote me...........(LOL).........I rinse the old soil off.........I just don't get every piece of old soil off.............
This message was edited Oct 7, 2009 6:48 AM
MTCW is "My Two Cents' Worth"
LOL I didn't actually quote you, Gail! But I remember something about you thought I messed with them too much. ;o) I do that because I'm quite prone to letting things dry completely out. If/when I do that, I've found that if some of that old peat mix is around the roots, after I water it appears that the plant is well-watered, but the peat mix around the roots is still bone dry, so I end up losing the plant. My own mix is very easy to rehydrate, so by getting off all the peat I can, I don't have to worry about that.
Different strokes for different folks...........that is what life is...........I love the peat around David Thompson's plant and only wash the outer edges off when I repot them. I am sure there are a zillion ways to do something.
It is true that I don't mess to much with the root system...........
But..........if it is okay with you, please don't be using my name to make a point.........thanks, Rain........
The newcomers stay confused enough as it is..............because we each have a different opinion on how to accomplish the same thing...........that is............grow nice beautiful plants.
Changing the subject, I never would have believed that strep leaf cuttings could stay this long in the fridge..........it has to have been a month and they weren't even in the dehydrator pan. I was going to get the rest of Susan's leaves to finish putting them in solo cup in perlite (just an experiement) when I saw this bag up with the milk..........
Other than trimming the edges, the main parts of the cutting are just as crisp as they can be.
I'm sorry Gail, I won't do that anymore. You refer to other people all the time who you think are very good growers and tell how they do things. I thought that was a way of sharing the information you had heard from other people you trusted to know what they were doing. I know you grow beautiful plants, so I just wanted to share what I had heard from you. :o)
Uh oh...........I was snippy...........sorry about that..............
I thought you were making it a point to say that it doesn't hurt the root system to be scraped clean from all old soil. (remember KimsKreations?) She was the funniest..............she would scrub the roots under the kitchen sink until she had killed every plant she had.
I remember that. Poor Kim. She was trying so hard!
That's why I said you didn't agree with how much washing I did of the roots. I know you rinse them, but we had talked about how I try to get all the old stuff off while you just rinse them.
And I know you well enough to know when you mean to be snippy and when you don't. ;o) You know I love ya, Gail! ^_^
same here.......I think I am on overload growing too many plants. I forgot that avs multiply at three times the rate of streps!!!!
But what do I do? Order more leaves so I can really be in a horrible mood. I think I am going to work on dividing leaf pots of avs and sticking some more strep leaves.................then..................
I am going to call right now and make an appointment for a pedicure and manicure. They have this chair for a pedicure where it gives you a message while you are sitting there........it goes up and down your back. I always fall asleep..........dead asleep while I am sitting there. (LOL)
All they'd have to let me do is sit in that chair! LOL I could live without the pedicure if they'd just give me the time in the chair! Sounds wonderful!
I found out they have the regular flu shot at Walgreen's in Aransas Pass and I just made an appointment for that wonderful chair...........see you all later!!!
wow, i got a flu shot yesterday ay my doctors office & sure enough i got sick as a dog last night, i don't understand it, same thing last year, yet they say it's a dead virus,i sure will not get the other shot.
mrsbonnie
Bonnie,
If you are allergic or sensitive to eggs you can get pretty sick.
im sorry to hear that bonnie. hope you feel better soon
I will not remember this entirely correctly but asked my pharmacist last year about getting sick from the shot and he said it cannot be related I think because it takes several days for the virus to activate in your body. My MIL also got sick and this is why I asked. He said it was coincidence if I remember correctly though obviously an allergy to eggs or whatever they use in the shot would also cause problems.
