I got a small Iochroma a few months ago from a seller on ebay & for the last few days I have seen the start of blooms. This morning they were opening & I had to share. It is such a lovely color! I wonder how much more the flowers will open. I have been keeping it on the kitchen window sill where it can catch whatever feeble sun we get, and it seems to be happy. I think I am hooked.
Donna
A great color. They will put out massive clumps of flowers at the end of the branches when they are more mature. I remember you were looking for some. Did you get any other colors?
boohoo, no, and I am still lusting over the plum & the coral, but have only seen them at Kartuz.
I did buy some Acnistus seeds from an ebay seller & they are just coming up now, but the blooms are supposed to be light blue.
I first discovered the buds a few days ago & upon closer inspection saw that the plant was covered in aphid & some other strange hard-shelled bug about the size of a pinhead & round! I still cannot figure out how they got here, unless the eggs were on the plant and it got warm enough to hatch them, because my soil was sterile.
Oh well, a little soapy water took care of that & now I know to watch them. I had heard they were bug magnets, I just was not expecting them so soon. LOL
Donna
I sure hope they really don't turn out to be bug magnets..I just got a bunch...I'll watch them real close. thanks for the heads up. Pretty color on that one of your's. I do believe I got that color...No way to know for sure till they bloom. What I oroered and what I got ...who knows.
LOL, where did you get yours from?
The name on mine is "Iochroma Fuchsiodes Cyaneum, Royal Blue"
I believe the name of the nursery in Kartuz Nursery. He's in Cal. His shipping was really good this time packing great. He can get some really nice plants. cinnabor
Cinnabor, were they tiny plants, or nice sized?
kathy
Boy Donna that sure is pretty, hope to see more pictures of it. Do the blooms open more or is what you see what you get? I don't see those down my way but I havent' been looking that hard ........guess I better start.
8o)
Dee
I bought some Iochromas but I wasn't impressed with them. The blooms are small sort of clustered.
Ooooh...drool, drool, droool. Beautiful! This is one I've been eyeing. I don't have a plant but I did get some seeds from a trade. Donna how did you start your seeds?
:) Donna
Hi Donna,
I was not sure either, so I used a germination chart to look up Acnistus & found out to plant them 1/16" in well drained soil and keep at 55-65 degrees. Germination was supposed to take 21-42 days, but mine popped up in about a week. There are still new ones popping up each day, I planted several. I just put a ziplock bag on top until they sprouted.
Hope that helps, The instructions that the ebay seller sent with mine looked like they had been cut out of a magazine, lol, and Gerris & I both ordered them & we both had different instructions! LOL Which explains why I felt the need to look them up. I think my instructions said to use bottom heat of 75 degrees or something. Would have cooked them right up.
Hope that helps.
Donna
I think so. I thought I had read somewhere that someone said to prick a hole at one end. I kind of thought this would be hard to do since they are so small. Also did you soak them first before planting?
:) Donna
This message was edited Feb 20, 2005 9:26 PM
hmm, I did not any pretreatment and I just checked the T&M germination chart again & it does not say to do that.
I don't think I would, because as you say, the seeds are very small.
Donna
I bought one from Kartuz last year and my iochroma was healthy, but pretty small (2.5 inches high?)
Very healthy, and hard to come by, so I felt it was worth it.
I, of course, promptly killed it by drowning. Brug family was still foreign to me...I kept reading "they like a lot of water...yada yada yada."..and boy, did I oblige.
Did I consider dranage? No.......
Now that I am older, and wiser LOL I would like to try this one again. I especially like the blue, maybe because it is similar, yet different from brugs/daturas.
Good luck with these...please keep us posted with pics & info.
Thanks
Jackie
The plants I recieved were on the small side all ranging from 2"-5". The smaller ones being the new color ones that he is over powered with orders he's just trying to keep up. I would have prefered if he had held off on sending me the tiny ones...but I will see if they hold on.If not I think he will make good on them as I did call him to let him know that they were to tiny. I'll take picture's as they develope. cinnabor
Jackie....I have 5 Iochs ( different colors) wintering under a hid. They are getting pretty big and a little 'leggy' and will need some trimming. I can try to root them for you...if you are interested?? No guarantees they'll take though. I've only rooted them in the summer months before but I guess it would be worth a try. The alternative will be for me to toss the cuts in the trash. LMK and I'll see what I can do for you.
Renee, I tried several times to root a few cuttings but I couldn't get them to root. I don't know if all of mine have made it or not. They're hidden in the back of so many other plants. LOL
I had trouble also the first few times. Then I used the plastic bag method in 2003 and they all rooted. I bet if you try in the spring it would help also. .
Update, the flowers are a little longer, but have not really opened up any more. But to be fair, this is only about a 6 inch plant. LOL
Maybe with maturity it will get bigger blossoms.
I doubt it. They are small. But they will bloom en masse and that makes up for it! Well kind of! LOL
Joseph, you have mail.
Donna, I agree with Kell, your blooms won't get any bigger.
This message was edited Feb 21, 2005 7:20 PM
Renee....
I would be very interested, but I don't want to put you through any trouble!
No, please don't toss them. I cry when I have to discard anything that was once alive.
( I cry at dog food commercials and grocery store openings, too.)
I really am fond of this plant, love the shape and the little tube-like flowers,
must be part of the brug disease that has gripped me so firmly.
Just for the record, my ioch from Kartuz was buried with full military honors, while my son whistled Taps.
I don't have much to trade, as I am a newbie, maybe I can offer postage?? Or one of my cats? LOL
By the way, are there any seed sources for these?
Jackie
This message was edited Feb 22, 2005 3:19 PM
I just talked to Renee. She is cold in Wisconsin today and her plants are growing like crazy. I think everyone in the midwest is praying for spring to come early. Jackie, you crack me up. I'd love to have had a movie of that. LOL!
Today I started moving brug babies to the greenhouse. OMG, it is hot out there. They will probably go into shock. Our outside temp is 43 right now, but the sun will be going down before long and things will cool down. I'm so anxious to have something to do out there and to be able to get fresh air each day other than taking out the trash. Tomorrow morning I will transplant more babies and maybe start some of my other flower seeds. Can you tell I'm getting excited about spring? LOL!
Good luck, Shirley. I know you're so ready for Spring. LOL
Shirley,
I'm sorry that I didn't take a video of it either! (More stuff to blackmail the boys with when they're older, not unlike the tub shot I posted earlier!)
I'll bet the sunshine and fresh air felt good. I can't wait myself...we're headed back down to 15 degrees as a high tomorrow.
No worries though, with my new friends posting their adventures here, I feel warm and toasty!
Jackie
That is way to cold. We had forties today and I enjoyed getting out in the greenhouse with some of my plants. Every day now, I will be either taking more out or planting different kinds of seeds. It won't be long and it will be plum full. I love it that way, even tho watering is a problem. LOL!
You know, what stinks is we had such a tease a few weeks ago, 60 degrees...can you imagine?
Goofy Buffalonians were out in shorts!
But Brugie, I'm glad for you! I can almost smell Spring. here in the snow capital of the world!!
I'm just happy that my dormant beauties are starting to put out new leaves....I'm so excited I could bust!
I checked on them today, and watered them a bit too.....they look very much alive.
They still think it's 55 degrees..I'm getting very tricky, you know, making them believe that the outside is still 55 degrees.
Either way, I guess they know what's around the corner!
Jackie
Mudpie, the blooms won't get much bigger, but will put on quit a show as it grows. Here is a picture of my blue Iochroma from last spring, which is only 1 1/2 feet tall but puts out a lot of blooms.
Cindy
Very pretty Cindy, a lovely shade!
Thanks for the info, it seems like these do not hesitate to bloom, regardless of size. I realllllly like that. LOL
Donna
I'm confused (big surprise) is a lochroma a datura, brug, other?? I think I know it's not a brug, but the pink one surely looks like a brug...
Hi Sherry,
I have seen listed on some sites that it is a relative of the Brug. No idea of accuracy of that though.
Jackie.....I'll get them started for you today. No....Please don't worry about trading anything. I'm happy to do it for you. Besides...I've got so mamy plants right now that I'm seriously wondering where I'll put them....That is....If It Ever Warms Up-LOL
No Guarantee I'll be successful though. It's so cold up here right now and I've only rooted them in the warm months. I could only find one pic from last summer. Sorry. Must have something to do with poor organization-huh? (smile)
Sherrry....I think I read somewhere...that both the brugs and iochromas are related to the common garden tomato. Not that I'd try that kind of cross-LOL
Renee ~ That is so generous of you, and of course, I wish you all the luck in the world with rooting them! **wink**
I'll bet you're freezin' poor thing, cause we're still pretty cold here today.
Your photo is beautiful,, I just love the way iochromas look, and yours is just wonderful.
Thank you very much, and I will at least reimburse you for postage when it's time.
Jackie
Renee, when I started in brugs, back when I was a normal person (what ever normal is, ha!), I was told that brugs were similar to tomatoes and the products local tomato gardners use might be what work well with my brugs. With exception of cucumbers, Sweet 100s and a few herbs and onions (none of which requires anything but sun/water, I've never used fert or insect stuff on any of them), so I really had no idea what tomato growers use and when I investigated, I found that the likenesses in tomatoes and brugs is apparently skin deep in my area. Tomatoes must have full sun, regular watering, but not nearly as much as brugs, and since they are edible, growers do not use some of the products that can be used with brugs. But, I purchased tomato success kits for my son/hubby for Father's Day and after the tomatoes were history, I tried one of the used kits/boxes for brug seedlings and it was so successful that I'll be doing the same with selected brug seedlings this year. So, I suppose fert that is good for tomatoes will also work with brugs......your photos are beautiful, and you live in the magic zone 5a, I'm green with envy, lol!!
Donna, I ran across pictures of my Iochroma. This is what a flower head looks like. They are very small but plentiful.
Lovely, Kell. That is the exact one I have. The flowers are still there, just starting to fade to a soft purple, and a few more have sprung out along the trunk. I surely do like these. Thanks for sharing your pic, it is a beaut!
I do not detect a fragrance, do you?
Donna
UPDATE,
just wanted to let you all know that the 2 flowers that I posted at the top of this thread on Feb 20th, just fell off. They were on the bottom of the pot this morning. There are several other blossoms now, but I thought it amazing that these stayed on so long. And they still look good even laying there, not wrinkled up or anything. So the blooms really have staying power!
Any plant that holds onto its flowers for 2 weeks is a keeper in my book. LOL
Donna
