I found very affordable seeds but wonder are they difficult to germinate? Anyone had any experience? The plant is very interesting and I'm ready to do everything possible to get it growing.
Sinningia leucotricha seeds
Hey Maria,
Sorry I didn't get to your d-mail in time. There are some great growers of seed on here and have a wealth of information. I will start it out for you...right or wrong...this is what has worked for me. Take a small piece of white paper and fold it in half, put some seed in the crease and sprinkle on top of damp rooting medium by tapping the paper. (Your seed is like dust and this will help control the amount you plant.) Dome the container. Make sure it stays moist but not wet. Clear as mud? LOL
Connie
Thanks Connie, sounds very encouraging to me lol. How about the river sand -- I saw it suggested somewhere to increase the germination rate.
Don't know about increasing the germination rate with river sand. Guess you could sprinkle a few on it and "experiment" Sometimes I use jiffy mix and other times I will use a mixture of 1-1-1 vermiculite, perlite and pro-mix BX
Connie
Hi Maria;
I always sow my seed in sifted soil or jiffy pellets, i am reluctant to use anything that is chuncky as the seed is so tiny,to do so you might lose some seeds when they fall thru the cracks. like dust, i also cover.
mrsbonnie
Well, I'll probably give it a try, would be so cool to get the first fuzzy leaves, not to mention the caudex. I already have grown caudiciforms with spines and leaves (pachypodiums) but the hairy one -- something quite different!
I have some of these that have sprouted. They are the pink leuco. . I just put them in my regular mix and sprinkled them on top without covering and covering with saran wrap. They sprouted in a few weeks. That is how I pretty much sow all my gessies and they usually sprout. They usually do take a few weeks and sometimes longer but the gesses I have grown from seed are very easy, smithies, alsobia, sinn, kohleria, etc. I don't keep them under the direct part of the light. They don't actually need much light at that point but as soon as they sprout I start moving them closer to the light.
Pat in Orlando
I'm almost ready to go to Orlando to see the new babies lol. I bought 10 seeds (don't laugh at me) on e-bay but would be very surprised if they sprouted.... so far I had no luck with gessie seeds. Still have to find the right conditions for them I guess. But keep us posted Pat, the seedlings pics are so cute, let us enjoy them too.
Nobody's laughing!! It's great you are trying.I no longer grow from seed,because I just don't have the eyesight required to sow the dust-like seeds and prick out the little tiny seedlings,but it is so much fun!! Also try crossing some of your plants.You will be so thrilled with the results ^_^.
The major problem with germination,IMHO is just too wet conditions.
Lynn
Thanks for the encouragement Lynn, I think you may be right and I keep the medium too wet, just thought seeds needed extra moisture since they were on the top of the soil. And I did start looking up the information about AV pollination but couldn't find much on AV genetics, especially what combinations worked best. I wonder are there any formulas like pink+blue=? would definitely love to have as much info as possible
Here is a photo of the pink sinn. leuchtrichia babies. I forgot to mention that it is better if you don't look at them for a few weeks after you plant them. They seem to grow better that way:) The other side of the tray has a few smithiantha luai.
Did you know that if you join the Gesneriad Society (I think it is $15. a year) they have tons of seeds of all type of gessies hybrids and species for $2. a pack and you just send a stamped envelope for shipping. That is where I get mine and they have amazing and hard to find seeds.
Pat in Orlando
Here is a group you might find helpful. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AVI_Hybridising/ .
There is also a lot of information in the AVSA magazine and also the one from the Gesneriad Society.
Lynn
Thanks for the info, I tried to sigh in but something didn't go through, will try again. Oh, BTW I checked my older noid seeds and found 2 tiny sprouts! hope these ain't weeds which happens to me quite often lol.