I finally got the nerve to do a strep leaf the right way. I mean cutting the rib out of the center and rooting the 2 sides. I was afraid it wouldn't work but it did :). Before that I have only rooted them like AVs, sticking the end in soil. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Now I can buy the wad of strep leaves I saw here and on Ebay if they ever become available again. That will be so great to finally be able to afford some different kinds! Happy days!!!
Ok, I know this is basic, but I was just so happy that it worked :).
Rooting strep the right way... SuCcEsSfUlLy!!!
Exactly how did you do it? I've tried, and had no success.
I whipped out my handy dandy pocket knife, threw the leaf on some cardboard, hacked it into 3 parts, threw the center out, used the knife to cut a dent in the barely moist soil in a plastic sandwich box, patted the leaf with a little soil around it so it would stand upright, prayed and waited. It is in a shady spot in a southeast window so it gets indirect light all morning plus, and it worked. Ha le lu ja :)
it does work sometimes, but like any other rooting some just rot, just another way to root leaves. I have done several different ways, whatever does well for you.
mrsbonnie
...and all this time I have been doing it the wrong way;)
Aw. Me too. I like to stick a leaf in a pot like an african violet leaf, but some people sell leaf cuttings, like a couple inches, not the whole leaf. I had read about cutting the center vein out and rooting the lengths and I guess if someone sells you half a leaf, this is what you have to do, so I finally tried it. I am still new at this so please forgive me if I said something stupid :).
my response was VERY tongue in cheek---I sent many many strep leaves to the greenhouse in the sky before I was able to root them ^_^ It is my understanding you get more babies by removing the vein--and kudos to you for trying it-- I never have--too chicken! It is my opinion tho-- that the more you desire a particular variety--the more likely that leaf will be one that rots--so now I do it the stress free way-- stick them and if they grow-- cool-- if not--compost. It amazes me the number that have grown since I changed my approach.
Yes, you can get more babies if you cut out the middle vein and put the pieces down. Of course, then you have to figure out what to do with all those babies, LOL!
Pat M.
Oh, that's true, lol. That may be a problem if I ever get a lot of streps, but so far, I have 4 plants (one is dying) and some leaf cuttings that are starting to grow leaves!! :), because whenever I get a leaf in hand, I poke it in dirt.
I think that is so true, if you are really scared you'll lose it, you almost guarantee that you will. I guess I should count my blessings because I was scared I'd kill all 4 plants, but 3 have settled in, just not the one. I am still not sure if it will completely die or recover. I am leaning toward it not recovering. Don't you know that I don't have a start of it? Oh well. I saw some bugs in the roots (and rot), and some mold on the leaves of the bagged one. I keep treating the symptoms as they appear, but....
If it has bugs,rot and mold,are you sure you want to keep it ? Which one is it? Maybe one of us has it.
I never thought of it like that. Good point. It is Stonewashed. It is the little bug you might see in a rotting bulb.
Stonewashed is not one I have,sorry.I would knock it out of that pot and rinse the roots and bugs away and put it in fresh mix.If the roots are eaten,try rooting the top in damp soil under a dome.
Don't have that one either. I have Happy Trails, Spin Art and few others.
Pat M.
ou may be seeing fungus gnat larvae-- i would do what Lynn suggested--but also add a little powdered neem to your next watering--the kind that comes from the health food store: 1/4 teas/gallon water
There may have been fungus gnats as I seem to have them even thought I don't overwater, I've used neem oil twice, and safer spray once and now I've placed sundew plants on my shelves :). And fly paper. The insect I saw was more like a fat aphid but gray and juicy looking. The rest of the plant died. It will be okay. I want to get a fluorescent grow stand for gessies and the seller of Stonewashed said he'd try to replace it when I order next spring. Sounds good to me, as he had more pretty plants and it gives me time to get a better setup or at least decide if I can grow them at all :). The other streps seem happy enough in southeast window, alongside begonias, so far.
I have a Pinguicula to help with the gnats^_^ They are apparently attracted to the peat in the soil--the powdered neem solution does help keep them backed off tho
What a cool picture Tommie!!
That is a beautiful ping. I have one, but it is new, and it has thinner leaves than that beauty. Um, does yours produce offsets? I noticed an offset with mine so I was interested in increasing the number of plants eating bugs on my shelves, lol. Good plants. It looks like yours if working overtime at catching the evil little nose diving goobers. The one I have is new and still recovering it's sticky. I have 2 sundews and a ping :). I really love all plants. In the other room, I have a venus flytrap and 2 pitcher plants, but they should be outside, so I am trying to give them a dormancy.
Yes it does offset--but I know so little about them i am afraid to divide it. I tried one inside last year-- and killed it--not sure if it iwas my environment or the vendor i bought it from-- never had a plant live that came from that seller. This one is just outside the kitchen door in the Gh-- it is about 10° cooler than where my gessies are. It bloomed all summer and is blooming now, just have to remember to catch rain water for it as ours is really alkaline. I would love to get more varieties and saw the ebay seller this one came from has several listed---hmmmm maybe in the spring!! I am with you-- I love all plants--unfortunately I always seem to have more than I have room for!
I always manage to make room. Squish, stack, pile, lol. I took one of the offsets and so far it is living, but this is all new so it won't count until it shows some growth. I was outside in the rain collecting gallons, both for the carnivorous and the bromeliads, lol. But I thought it was going to freeze so I had to get it while it was wet.
I always find room too--we just enlarged the Gh and I had visions of a space just for seeds and cutting propagation--HAH-- maybe when I put every thing back out in the spring;)
No, it would take half an acre GH to have plenty of room for a while. And I think i would eventually fill one up that big, lol. I heat the house with wood (mostly) and wish I could heat a greenhouse at the same time. I worry about heat loss/power outages so I cram all my plants into the house with me..... I will probably have a gh again someday. For now, pretty windows is good :)
My gh is actually an addition to our house-- i heat it by using fans to circulate air from our woodstove into the GH--We just enlarged it-- half is a utility room for washer/dryer freezer--when we did the construction the walls were bumped out a little over 2' to accomodate 55gal barrels of water as a passive heat source-this actually has given me a 2' wide bench that is 24' long on one side, 12' on the other. The utility room is roofed with tin and insulated, the Gh fiberglass, Wast wall is solid and insulated south and west walls are 6mil plastic. Last year we lost power after the icestorm for 13 days-- we heated the Gh with buckets of coals from the stove-- stinky-- but I didn't lose a plant. We have a generator now--told DH it wil run mostly at night if necessary to keep my fans going. Yesterday morning-- the temp was 18° when I got up and I overslept so fire mostly gone-- house was in the 53° range and GH was 43°. Last night I used a small electric heater as a supplement and it only got down to 45 in the coldest part-- it was 8° when i got up this morning. Here is a photo of the West side--forgive the construction mess--still working on that.
This is a photo of the south side looking east-- east 1/2 is utility room--the floor of the utility room is about 18" above the ground -- step down 2 steps into gh portion
Using the coals was a great idea. I lost some because we had to really kick the heat up when we lost the use of fans. I wish we had a generator. Just to be able to cool the fridge would have been great. I don't mind the construction mess. We built our home (and still are) so I know all about it, lol. We have a poured concrete floor where our woodstove is and I got him to install me 4 big windows in the same room for plants. I can let the water fall on the floor. Yay. So far I have kept the temp in there above 65 even though this morning my fire was out coldl. I don't know what our low temp was but it was blowing snow and water barrels outside are frozen up pretty well. You have alot more available light. I was trying to figure out how to get a lean to on our house. I'll have to crawl through a window to get into it, and my hubs my kill me for suggesting it, lol. Maybe not. I think he knows this isn't a passing fancy.
We had no choice-- the woodstove is at the north end of the cabin--no way enough heat would go that far without help. We are still paying for the generator ^_^ but as far back in the woods as we live it is possible to get stranded for days. My GH is right off the kitchen-- we really needed the utility room-- our cabin before the addition = 620sq feet--we get another 220 from the GH/utility room--(not counting the space where the barrels sit).This cabin was only used for hunting (and previous owners extramarital projects) when we bought it--the only semi finshed room was the bedroom(go figure) so we are still finishing it up on the inside-- next project--Kitchen--I won't know how to act when I have hot water to the sink-- right now I carry it in buckets from the bathtub. Eventually too I would like to locate the stove more centrally--or better yet get an outdoor woodburning furnace and put ducts into the Gh. I actually had a lean-to Gh one time thru a window-- no kidding-- we heated it the same way-- to get inside I had to roll up the plastic on the outside and crawl in--LOL-was younger, leaner and a lot more flexible then.
That sounds so familiar. When we bought our place, it had a trailer and no water of any kind. We finally got water to our property 5 years ago, so I know about hauling buckets. We even had to haul flushing water, lol. We ended up hooking the waterlines up to a huge container, so then we could flush. Simple pleasures. Flush... Flush.... Flush..... But when you haul every drop, you really learn to appreciate how valuable it is. After so many kids, we decided to build a house. It was a good decision, now if only I can sneak more growing space out somewhere :). You sound like a resourceful person. Do you at least have a well?
I wish-- we get our water from a spring--fill lower storage tanks then pump to upper tank where it gravity feeds into the house. The upside-- we still have water if the power is out-- the downside-- it can dry up in late summer. Last summer was wet enough so water wasn't an issue-- the summer before we had about 2 weeks supply left then it rained enough to get it going again. A friend of mine just got an estimate for a well at her place-- right at $50,000. we are about 200' higher in elevation. So don't forsee one in our future. It sure wouldn't increase our property value by that hughe amount. We are just now discussing guttering and rainwater collection for the garden next year-- I have some big stock tanks i grow waterlilies in-- they water my plants in a pinch during drought-- but a garden will require more water than I am willing to share out of those.
Around here, a lot of people have cisterns to collect rain water. A pond is also a good way to have gardening water available. Build it bigger than you think you'll need. during a drought, my pond gets pretty low and I'm not even using water (but have some koi in it). We are hillbillies, too, lol :) Hi, nice to meet you!
wow, talk about roughing it.i give you girls credit,we just take so much for granted.
mrsbonnie