Streptocarpus seedling progress

Here are some updated shots of my Keyring babies.

and another. (us mom's and our brag books! showing off our children!)

You are going to have tons to plants. Isn't it fun to hang out with all your plants. I just spent the last hour caring for my babies.

WOW Your a MOM with green arms :))

Fancy.

way cool!! You are going to have tons. Congrats!!!

Well, everyone will get one of Key's grandchildren! you can see there are plenty to go around, even when they are big, and if I put one in each room of my house there will still be plenty to spare!

Same with my AV seedlings. Teacup and Fantasy's for all!

I hope to be able to do the same with Hib. schizo. I tried a different hormone on them.

Oh, Kenton I forgot to tell you, Lorry found me a source, so your generous Hib. offer isn't needed. I think Bob wants it though.

Thanks. (More for me, haha!)
Kenton

Yes, Kenton, but you are so sweet to have offered! Muchas Gracias mi Amigo!

De nada.

Those babies from seeds are adorable. Keyring and Begoinia how large do you let them get before they go into their own pots ?

I have no idea, I suppose I'll move them to pots when they start touching the lid of the container. Keyring tell me what to do....

Generally I hear it recommended that they be potted individually as soon as they are large enough to handle. (In other words, mine can definitely be potted individually.) If you set them up on wicks or are good at watering, and you have small pots, this is probably good advice.

Since I am not very good at watering, I keep them in compots (3-4 plants per pot) for much longer, although I do pot them up a size regularly.

Another 8 days and this is how they look.

I'm officially a convert to the "repot every 2 weeks" method. This is a comparison between today and the last repot date which was 17 days ago. I'll be potting them up again today.

That's amazing

Sure is amazing Keyring ! Do they seem to grow much faster from seed than rooting be leaf ?

I find that sinningia and streps bloom faster from seed - however the first flowering will be small.

Here's an article showing some seedlings of the same age: http://www.greenculturesg.com/articles/sep05/gcs030905c.htm

I have lots of seedlings that look like the middle pic, so I should start messing with them more ;-)

Fancy. Growing warp speed. Nice job, Keyring.

Sure is Ditto Kenton :)) Exciting !

updated photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/ki/sets/72057594048086790/

Three weeks since I potted them into the current pots.

wow - they look fantastic Keyring! Good Job!

holy cow Key, they look mahvelous! What are you feeding?

key..just sensational...thanks for your experience and inspiration to all of us

WOW they grew super fast ! Amazing Keyring !

so far so good.

The only fertilizer is 2-3 slow release balls per pot. I think I have 17-17-17 strength, which I think is too strong. I have what looks like fertilizer burn on a couple of leaves.

Overfertilization scares me now. I had been slowly killing my beloved Caricas and all the while wondered what on earth could be deficient in them! Now I don't fertilize until the plants ask for it!
Kenton

Hi all - I found this link and wasn't sure if anyone had seen it yet? http://www.dibleys.com/strep.htm

Hi Kenton! I also prefer to underfertilize everything. This is a habit I have from growing orchids and from my tendency to underwater everything.

Healthy established AVs can be fertilized regularly though, and some plants that have a massive growth spurt in spring can be flooded with fert without a problem. Also, plants that like to stay wet all the time are less prone to fertilizer burn than those that like to go dry between waterings - fertilizer+dry roots = fert burn.

Another precaution to take is to flush the pots regularly with plain water. Sensitive plants should be flushed with a lower ph water for effective leaching. An alternative is to simply repot the plants (new potting mix, even if the pot size stays the same) every 6 months.

Excellent link from Dibleys! Interesting to note that they recommend a high potash fertilizer (that's a high K in NPK). I'm going to dig around for some - I think I have some somewhere.

excellent advice keyring ! Anita great link pretty sure it's in the gessie sticky and lots of great others ones . Check them out :))

Yes fertilizer high in high potash is good for Strep's.

Potassium
" Always on the move" is probaly the best way to describe this nutrient's status in a plant. Its exact function isn't known ; but if it is missing the plant's reaction can be easlily predicted. It has been credited with making plant more resistant to diseases, causing the plants to be able to withstand cooler temperatures than normal, and aiding plant roots by improving their ability to abosorbe other plant nutreients from the soil.

I'm going to order some of Dibley's tablets for Streptocarpus plants that they use and sell !

I forgot to point out that fertilizer strength plays the critical role in fertilizer burn. It's obviousl but still....

For eg, the VF-11 that a lot of people here seem to like has NPK of 0.15-0.85-0.55 - no wonder it won't cause fertilizer burn. In comparison, I dilute fertilizer that has numbers at around 20-20-20 or 10-30-30 - I start with those because some of my plants actually need that at full strength and its cheaper for me to just have a few NPK ratios and not various strengths of the same (e.g., doesn't make sense for me to have a bottle of 20-20-20 as well as a 4-4-4).

So true

well I have my first buds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14 weeks since sowing!

This is one planted 2 to a 2.25" square pot.

another one - single plant in a 2" round pot.

and one more in a 2" round.

I was getting ready to pot them up tonight, but now I guess I won't! I'd rather see the flowers first and start culling the ones I don't like.

NO WAY!!! I guess I better pot mine up now. they are getting big enough to move up to thumb pots.