African Violets and Gesneriads:I know it's not an African Violet, but here's Ruby

PlantMomto3 Nevada, MO(Zone 6a) Dec 04, 2005

Streptocarpus Ruby

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Allison_FL Dunedin, FL(Zone 10b) Dec 04, 2005

Oh she is Beautiful ! I have Christmas Monrning that is a nice red. SThis forum is for all AV's Gessies , cousins family lol
Thanks for sharing . Allison

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rose318 in Houston, TX(Zone 9a) Dec 04, 2005

Gorgeous Strep.
Patti

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MsCritterkeeper The Heart of Texas, TX(Zone 8b) Dec 05, 2005

Very Pretty. Love the color!

Hope you share your secrets for growing them with us. I've killed both of the ones I bought. I just can't make em happy.

MsC

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PlantMomto3 Nevada, MO(Zone 6a) Dec 05, 2005

MsC,

I, too, have tortured and ultimately killed close to 20 streps before I figured out what I was doing wrong. I think my biggest mistake was believing that their culture was identical to that of violets. What I found is that I cannot place the plants as close to the lights as the violets. Before this revelation, the leaves would turn brown, curl up and die. Because I thought this problem was a result of too little water, I then proceeded to drown them. Since I love these plants, I researched and researched their cultural requirements. I found that many people grow these plants in the windowsill with great success, which probably explains their intolerance to the lighting setup I had. In addition, I did drown these plants. They require less water than violets. I let mine get pretty dry, but do not wait until the leaves droop.

One invaluable source of information was Dibley's website-- www.dibleys.com. He also has a book devoted to streps and hybridizes amazing plants. I wish he shipped here!

I now have about 25 plants successfully growing right now and am having fun propagating these. It is very rewarding. Since I feel comfortable propagating them, I'm going to place an order with Belisle's (sp?) this spring. She has an amazing variety of strep cuttings available.

Good luck.

This message was edited Dec 5, 2005 2:31 PM

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MsCritterkeeper The Heart of Texas, TX(Zone 8b) Dec 05, 2005

Thank you so much for the info onn them. I love them too nad have heard so many AV people rave about them bought a beautiful one and promptly killed it. I have no idea why because it was on a wick system from the grower and I did nothing else to it.I did not have it under the same lights as my AV's I had it to the side of them in good light but not hot. I picked that plant up one day to admire it and the next few days it just rolled over & died.lol Guess I have the kiss of death??

Anyway, I have some strep seeds I plan to try as soon as I get my nerve up and hope to at least get a few to try to have survive.
I'm hopeful I find a way like I did with the AV's...I used to kill them too but so far my collection just keeps getting bigger since I switched over to wicking them & SW pots.

Thanks again for the info and wish me luck.

MsC