Basement babies have moved uptown!

DH went out shopping with me yesterday and then helped me get this new plant stand set up in the spare bedroom I'm using for a hobby room. He's a wonderful enabler, LOL! I think he's been enjoying seeing the expressions on people's faces at holiday gatherings when he trots out his latest estimate of just how many AVs are in the house.... and his estimate is generally low. Not that he needs to know that. ;-)

Anyway, this is a 6 shelf wire rack that I got at Sam's Club, 48 inches wide and 18 inches deep. I bought 6 double tube T-8 florescent fixtures for it, two of which are turned off in this picture. The bottom shelf gets two light fixtures, and the other shelves just get one each for now, on the assumption that the bright light from the south facing window will make up the difference. The blind will probably stay drawn during the day to filter the sunlight a bit.

I'm sure those 2 empty shelves will fill up fast, but I'm just loving having all this additional space for my AVs! I spent a while this evening cataloging which varieties I had leaves down for, and how they were coming along. As I suspected, there are still a few minis I need to put leaves down for, plus I want to put down some leaves from my standards.

Edited to add a link to the previous thread on my "basement babies," http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/562567/

This message was edited Jan 1, 2006 4:48 AM

On the previous thread, I posted a picture of some teeny ears poking up from a tiny leaf of 'Child's Play.' This photo shows how they've grown (in just 11 days!), and I included my well-manicured thumb (LOL!) for scale.

The many ears in that pot of 'Cambridge Missy' are getting bigger too! Due to repotting challenges, I ended up with many extra leaves of this one... I gave some away and put down the rest, so I actually have 9 leaves that have started popping up a zillion ears.... looks like I'll have some repotting ahead of me! :-)

Edited to add that my 2 double-leaf pots of 'Madeleine' (another girl leaf mini) have started putting up ears at a similar rate!

This message was edited Jan 1, 2006 4:54 AM

I'm still very excited about these babies of 'Rob's Outer Orbit'. I've got 3 leaves, and I see 5 sets of ears so far -- 1 to keep, a spare, and at least 3 more to share! One will go to my Secret Easter buddy, of course. Yes, I know this is like counting chickens before they hatch.... but I'm so excited about all these little plantlets that are starting to come along!

Here's 'Silly Girl', starting to bloom for me for the first time since I got her from Rob!

And this is exciting -- Here's a plantlet of 'Silly Girl', from a leaf I started in May, that's about to bloom for the first time! It generally takes me nearly a year to get a blooming plant from a leaf, so this one has cooperated particularly well... and perhaps I'm getting the hang of this!

I got several suckers from 'Rob's Snake Charmer' and 'Rob's Smarty Pants' and potted them up... they're so cute! Both of the mother plants were from danak, and now they're about to bloom for me! How exciting!

I love the fresh, bright green of the leaves on 'Irish Flirt', so I had to show off this tiny plantlet...

Critter:
GREAT plant stand! And good growing on those babies!!
Your stand is almost exactly like mine. But if you are like me....before long, one will be so full that the only solution is...TO GET ANOTHER! I have TWO stands now. =0) But since I had to throw out so many violets, my hoyas have a new home and occupy one of the stands.
Thanks for sharing!
Bets

Wow Critter...those are looking great. Keep us posted with new pics on a regular basis.

Great stand critter ! Happy babies in their new home ! All your babies look great. Silly Girl she is just awesome both of them :)) Super Pretty !
Thanks for sharing, Allison

Thanks! I've been having such fun playing with them....

I posted "before the lights" and "after the lights" photos of 'Grape Slush' on the previous thread, but I had to show you what it looks like now, blooming oh the kitchen counter! (I edited out some clutter on the counter that I wasn't paying attention to when I took the photo -- I love my "Paint Shop Pro" program!)

oh, and the blooms on this one are an inch and a half across -- it's a BIG plant!

This message was edited Jan 1, 2006 3:55 PM

Here's a better shot of 'Kingwood Blue', next to it... I can't believe the size of these blooms! The largest are a full 2 1/2 inches across, and fully double to boot!

WOW it's beautiful ! I can't wait to have one !

Looking good critter :)
mine is an enabler too LOL..he is going to build me some new stands tomorrow :) and the extra spare bedroom is getting disassembled and I am putting stands in there too...*hopefully also this weekend!*
He always teases me about them but is very supportive of my HABIT!

Everything looks wonderful.Great pictures.

Your stand looks great--nice, neat and very well organized.

"neat and very well organized."

Well, we'll see how long that lasts, LOL! Actually, using the trays and flats for bottom watering helps me keep them organized, and the different shelf heights dictate to some extent where the minis and standards end up.... I try to keep the top of the plant at least 6 inches from the light... I know Allison has said more like 8 or 10 inches, but that didn't work with this stand, and 6 to 8 inches seems to be working out fine (I was using the shorter spacing to the lights when they were downstairs also).

add grape slush and silly girl and kingwood blue and Rob's smarty pants to my wishlist :)
all I can say is WoW

This message was edited Jan 2, 2006 9:29 AM

This message was edited Jan 2, 2006 9:30 AM

critter, I have that same shelf unit from Sam's but haven't added lights as yet (although they are sitting in the plant room). How far apart do you have your shelves? Also, did you hang the light with chains? I am just so afraid of doing this wrong, that I was thrilled when I saw your picture.

We worked it out so the first 2 shelves would have 8 to 9 inches between the shelf and the light for leaves and minis, and that meant the next 2 shelves could have 11 to 12 inches of clearance for larger violets. That gives me 6 to 7 inches between the top of the plant and the bottom of the light above it, an amount of clearance that seems to be have worked well when the AVs were on the basement shelves. Some people put their lights 8 to 10 inches above their plants, but I was trying to maximize my shelf space so I could use all 5 shelves for plants (plus the top shelf if I hung a light from the ceiling, LOL).

I used the T-8 florescent fixtures, which have a skinnier profile, and I hung them with chains as close as possible to the shelf above (I think we used 2 links of the chain that came with the lights, looping the chain up & over one of the bars on the shelf and then attaching it to the little S-hook that you can hook through the fixture). I ended up with the lights taking up about 4 inches of the shelf height this way. I'm mentioning the lights because if you use the traditional 1 1/2 inch T-12 florescent tubes/fixtures, your lights could occupy more like 6 inches of space, and that could give you too little clearance between the lights and the top of your plants, so you might have to adjust your spacing accordingly.

So.... I'm pretty sure this is the spacing we used:
first (bottom) shelf to second shelf: 12 inches
second shelf to third shelf: 13 inches
third shelf to fourth shelf: 13 inches
fourth shelf to fifth shelf: 16 inches
fifth shelf to sixth (top) shelf: 15 inches

These measurements are from the center of one snap-on shelf support to the center of the next one.

Hope that helps and wasn't too confusing! LMK if you have questions...

Here's an update on the uptown babies!

I've been putting down more leaves and sucker cuttings... I now have 4 of the shelves mostly filled!

Has anyone else noticed their AVs putting out more suckers under lights? Maybe it's just that they're generally growing better in all ways... I don't think it's because they're stressed, as most of them look great.

LOL, I used my photo editor to erase the "hobby room" clutter in the picture!

Here's a new box filled with thumbprint pot sized cups, both leaf and sucker cuttings!

And here's another new box of leaf & sucker cuttings in larger (5 oz) plastic cups. There may be a few rooted plantlets from leaf pots in there, too.

You need to open a store. But that wouldn't be as much fun.

A smaller new box with sucker cuttings from 'Grape Slush' on the right. Behind the 'Grape Slush' leaf pot are plantlets from a leaf Dana gave me of her very ruffled standard girl leaf noid, plus sucker cuttings from 'Marion's Enchanted Trail' and 'Purple Thumbprint NoID'.

but wait... there's more!

There's more? HA. You got it bad. : )

Here are the flats I started earlier....

First flat

Lower left corner: 'Rob's Bunny Hop' (and the white one is still making it after losing mama leaf)
Lower right corner: 'Silly Girl' and 'Cloud Puff' plantlets
Center left: 'Peppermint Girl'
Center right: trailers, 'Tiger trail', 'Milky Way Trail' (tiny ears), 'Rob's Gundaroo' and 'Rob's Sticky Wicket'
Back left: includes ears on 'Irish Flirt' and ??
Back right: includes my main pot of 'Marion's Enchanted Trail' (mound of tiny leaves) and a begonia leaf from MsC that is still hanging in there.

Front of flat: 'Rob's Smarty Pants', one 'Rob's Whiz Bang' sucker, 'Rob's Snake Charmer' (darker leaves).
Behind them are half a dozen plantlets of 'Midget Gumdrop'.
Behind those... who knows?? although I think the big leaf putting up ears is 'Buckeye Boysenberry'.

OK, I remember some of these...

Front of flat, little pots from left to right: 'Ramblin' Angel', sole surviving cutting of 'Teeny Bopper', 'Smitten Kitten' plantlets, and suckers from the one I'm pretty sure is 'Sheer Romance'.

Four leaf pots of 'Cambridge Missy' are along the right side. Several varieties of trailers are along the left side, with 'Allegro Appalachian Trail' putting up ears closest to the front. Those 3 plantlets in the center are 'Winnie the Pooh', and there are more plantlets of that one elsewhere. To their right, 3 leaf pots of 'Rob's Outer Orbit' are coming along well.

That's about all I remember, except that there's a little leaf of 'Rob's Ragamuffin' putting up ears today.

I'll have fun finding homes for all these babies! :-)

You'll have to be patient with me this spring, though, because I don't think I'm going to be able to pack a dozen boxes all at once...

DH keeps saying, you're planning to trade some of these for *outside* plants, right??

right.

:-)

Everyone looks awesome :)
No ears on any of mine yet :( I am getting nervous! But I am just an expectant parent! This is the first time I have put leaves down!

Not to worry, Lorry.... your leaves have rooted, so the ears will come! And once the first one pops up, you'll see new ones peeking through every day -- such fun!!

GUESS WHAT??????????????? I have a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My first AV baby. How cool is that? You are right, Allison, it is fun. : ) Here is a picture. It is the little green speck at the bottom of the leaf. See it?

Woohoooo! Congratulations, HP!

Congratulations, HP! I never stop getting excited about seeing new babies !

Lot's of nice babies Jill !! Thanks for sharing !

If I have not said this before :) If I get NOTHING else..I have to HAVE silly girl.
Did you say you got her from Rob? Because if one doesn't show up here come spring...I am ordering her! Simply GREAT looking plant!
I love the two tone girl leaves..it reminds me of my tiny limelight

and to think i used to rattle off these names like you guys...rofl...have so much catching up to do....