Going on another Field Trip! the SFO AVSA meeting!

Tomorrow is the San Francisco AVSA meeting, so I'm packing my snacks and hopping in my beetle and takin' my self to the 'City'. Their first meeting of the year is at 9:30 tomorrow morning so I'll get out of here pretty early. Hoping to meet some new friends and see some nice violets. Of course I'll have my camera with me!

If the weather holds, I'll stroll over to Strybing Arboretum and take some more photos and perhaps even run into my begonia guru at the greenhouses. Could be a super day! I'll report back in the evening, but of course I'll have to be stopping at nurseries along the way if I can!

Wows this your first meeting ? Have a fun day !

Yes, I'm a virgin! hee hee (ok, sorry if that wasn't appropriate in this forum, don't want to offend anyone)

How Exciting ! I can't wait to hear about it :))

LOL Lali. I am so jealous. What a perfect day!! I hope it doesn't rain. Which nurseries are on the way?

can't wait to hear about it

Sounds great! Take pictures for us!

Well, my first local AVS chapter meeting was a smashing success! I met new friends and came home with lots of tips and plants.

The meeting opened with their usual business of reading the minutes etc and then went on to a demonstration;
'Rejuvenating a violet'
Madeline brought in three violets that she proceeded to 'rejunenata'.
The first was a species, s. velutina (AVSA photo here http://www.avsa.org/Photographs/S.velutinaLrg.jpg#http://../Photographs/S.velutinaLrg.jpg#)
(sorry for the blurry photos, I normally try to take better shots, but a combo of things, she was moving, I had my camera set on the wrong setting)

First, Madeline removed all the outer, older leaves. (I nearly fainted until I found out that I was going to get some of these leaves to take home)
Then she removed old roots and soil, she gently 'scratched' the 'neck' with her finger, stating that it would encourage roots to form along the neck, and then repotted it, using fresh soil.

Next, she did the same with 'His Promise', (photos to follow)
Two tips I learned, 1) use a chopstick to push through the bottom of the pot to pop the plant out of the pot, gently of course.
2) Use one of those tiny pink spoons from Baskin & Robbins ice cream stores that they give you sample tastes of ice cream with to repot mini's into their tiny pots. Use it to scoop small amounts of soil.

And lastly she repotted 'Little Axel' in the same method. There was one that needed a sucker to be removed, but it was a bit too small to do that day, she said wait until it gets a bit bigger to stand on it's own.

Leaves of all three were passed around!

Here's a 'not so good' shot of His Promise

And here's Little Axel's before shot

During

Oh my their all beautiful :))
I must have His Promise. I've always wanted that plant !

During also, oh yea, one other 'tip' use an older removed leaf (fuzzy side) as a 'brush' to clean the soil off the little plant once potted up.

oh my so many pretties I have always wanted His Promise

Another 'during' photo, where Madeline used a spray bottle with water to wet the soil after being repotted

Final product is the 'rejuvenated' Little Axe.

Ali, I'll send you the leaves with the others (mon or tues). When you get babies, send one back.

That's neat how she sprays the soil after. Never seen this done.

Then there was the plant sale! Oh my goodness. Did I have fun! Plantlets in baggies were $1. Each baggie had up to 6 babies. Here's a list of what I bought and received leaves of. (Thanks Ali for the FC info on them)

S. velutina (S 11) 1958 (B. Burtt) Single small medium violet/darker eye, some white tips. Five per peduncle, floriferous. Black-green, round to heart-shaped, may cup up or down, thin, hairy, velvety, pronounced veining, serrated/red-purple back. Single crown, may sucker. Standard. Saintpaulia species

His Promise (N. Blansit) Double white/yellow overlay. Medium green, plain, glossy. Small standard

Rob's Sarsparilla (8462) 05/23/1996 (R. Robinson) Semidouble copper-pink sticktite pansy/red-brown frilled edge, some green. Dark green, glossy, wavy, serrated. Semiminiature

Little Axel (Anthaflore) sgl white, with blue-purple patches Semiminiature (User Database)

Park Avenue Blue (9181) 02/03/2003 (Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses/Sorano) Single-semidouble white pansy/dark blue patches. Variegated medium green and cream, quilted. Standard

Jazzy Jewel (7963) 10/08/1993 (S. Sorano) Semidouble pink-fuchsia sticktite large star/white frilled edge. Medium green, plain, serrated/red back. Large

Royal Rage (S. Sorano) Single lavender-blue shaded fluted star/darker blue overlay, red-purple band, white edge. Variegated dark green, cream and beige. Standard

Sapphire Ice not available, photo here http://www.avsa.org/Photographs/SapphireIceLrg.jpg#http://../Photographs/SapphireIceLrg.jpg#

Simpler Times (9193) 02/03/2003 (Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses/Sorano) Double dark blue large frilled star. Dark green, quilted, serrated. Standard

All real beauties, but that's not the best part!


This message was edited Jan 29, 2006 12:25 PM

The best part was just at the end of the sale, (really just a card table with a dozen baggies and a few plantlets of Faded Denim (which i had already)
Madeline brings out two plants, one is a Chimera! Victorian Parasol, no one else wanted it, so I bought it for the bargain price of $5.

Of course, (my bad) I dropped it on it’s head when I was leaving since my hands were full with my water bottle, my note pad, camera, 8 ziplock baggies full of babies, my purse, all the flyers and booklets they gave me and the chimera. I was opening the door and ker-splat, right on it’s little head. LUCKY for me, it only bent one leaf, knocked only one bloom stem off and one adult leaf came off. Whew! What an idiot!

Anyway, here's her photo, with the broken and bruised flower laid on top. I think the second wave of flowers might be darker like the photos I found online.

Laurie were the babies planted in pots or just in baggies. Sounds like a great meeting ! Were there a lot of people ? Are they getting ready for a show ?
You got terrific selection of Av;s there !

Wow...sounds like a blast! I am glad you had such a great time!

Oh my goodness I can't beleive you got that big beautiful Chimera for $5.00 WOW Hope it suckers , you can send it my way. lol
Victorian Parasol (8000) 10/08/1993 (S. Sorano) Semidouble chimera dark purple frilled star/white stripe, light purple overlay. Medium green, plain, ruffled. Standard

Just in baggies, in fact, here's a shot of Jazy jewel babies. all 6 babies for $1! they're tiny, but strong.

It was a fun meeting. I was the youngest there. Most ladies, (ages I'm guessing from late 40's to mid 80's) and two mid aged men. Everyone was so nice. There were about 13 of us (including myself) Very open and kind group!

No, no show that I'm aware of, but maybe.

WOW great babies !
I was the youngest when I went to meetings also .
Our group started in 1955 and they have show/sale every Feb. and sale in May for Mom's Day and Sale in the fall.
Your new group sounds really nice ! I'm happy you had a great time ! I bet they all loved you :))

Here's all the babies after I potted them up. Wish I had some smaller pots, but I don't - need to put that order in. What was fun, was seeing all the babies and then looking at my 300 + leaves that I have down and thinking of all the repotting I'm going to be doing!

Ali, Madeline told me to email her before the next meeting to let her know if I am able to make it, she had more chimera for me! WOW!

Great babies Lautie ! I was the youngest when I went to the meering also. Happy you liked it. I bet they loved you !

Simply stunning Laurie :) I hope they all grow for ya!

Oh they were huggin on me and took me under their wing like a little chick! (I believe I was the only one under 50-55?)


OK some other tips I got on leaf cuttings (which I had read, but for some reason it didn't sink into the ol' rock hard noggin!)

Here is a shot of s. velutina leaves with 3" or more long petioles. I was told to turn the leaf sideways, and make the angle cut so that the cut surface was facing UP toward the sun. Leaf gathers light facing upward, and produces energy for roots and plantlets. the 45º angle surface facing up allows for a shorter time for mouse ears to pop up. Make the petiole 1" or less. After you make the cut, set the leaves out for about an hour to 'heal' over - The reason for this is IF you put it into the soil right away, you increase the pathogens that can find their way through the petiole and the moisture in the soil/vermiculite or what ever potting meduim might actually wick away the moisture in the petiole if it is dryer or too dry.

Here's how to salvage a leaf when you break off the whole petiole by mistake like I did (after I dropped her on her head - doh!). (this is Victorian Parasol, which I know wont come true to the original chimera, but the curious cat in me wants to know what color it will be)

Remove little wedge sections of the lower portion of the leaf. this makes a 'stem'.

Best place for 2 inch pots.I buy 500 at a time and will be ordering soon again ! And you will need them . I get 3-6 babies most time with each leaf !
I love their 3, and 4 inch pots. And their pan pots. ( Bulb Pans) for Epasicas, trailers, Streps and more !

PLASTIC POTS
2 inch round, white, sturdy, made to last.

$.07 each $6.75 per 100 $33.00 per 500 $64.00 per 1000

http://www.secretgardenrareplants.com/catalog.cfm?category_id=16

Here's a sample of a noid that I did a few weeks ago in the same method. I root in 100% perlite, so you can see how the roots are growing and stuck to it.

Excellent ! And she is going to give you more Chimeras WOW :))
DID you join the club ?

Sounds like you had a good time. : ) Thanks for sharing!

I do like that but never straight perilite.I have done Strep's in straight perilte and my light soiless mix both fount no difference.

Next in the meeting, all members (and I signed up and paid dues, so I'm one now) get a 'Project Plant', it's a mystery leaf and the first member to get flowers wins a prize. Winner gets $5, second $4 and so on. so it's a fun contest among members. (I don't think I'll win, but never will say 'no' to a leaf! he he he)

Here's the interesting thing about the project plant. It's already rooted and in a 1/2 styrofoam cup with holes in it. This is called the 'Texas Style' or 'Texas Method' of potting up violets. I had no idea what that meant, so I raised my hand and asked ( I probably drove them nuts, as I did this through the whole meeting - all the while snapping photos)

Texas style is a method (here's the cliff notes) of potting a violet with perlite in the bottom of the pot, holes spaced about 1" apart all around the bottom 1/2 " of the pot. See the holes?

The mixture is perlite and vermiculite in the cup. Nothing else. Here are some links (which are already added to the sticky master page, but not uploaded yet) if you are interested in this method.

Potting Violets in the ‘Texas Method or Texas Style’

http://www.avsa.org/AVMFiles/GrowingShowPlants.pdf (this is a PDF file, AVSA file on Texas Style Potting, you will need Adobe Acrobat to view this)
http://violetreflections.com/newsletter/newsletter17/main.htm (Violet Reflection’s newsletter on Texas Style)

(regarding the leaf above) Fred, the president, says, the perlite creates the environment the roots really want in their natural environment (air around the roots) but the vermiculite holds the moisture better so you don't have to water as much. Mix the two for a optimum rooting environment.

Ali, you know me, the chronic over-waterer, I found that I was killing (via drowning) too many, even the leaves you sent were struggling in my mix, so I lightened up the mix now by A LOT! and I start the rooting in the perlite tray. (I get roots in about 2 weeks) once I see 1/2" roots, I repot into the lighter mix and put under the close lights. So far, at least for the rooting part, this is working for me. I'm not drowning them anymore. But I have different environment and so far it works, I think come summertime, I'll have to change because it will be too hot to use only perlite, it will dry out too fast.

I also go by the 'pick up the pot' watering method now. Since every violet is in different soil (bluebirds, Ali's, mine, super-markets, HD etc) I lift it up, if it is light, it gets water, if heavy, no water. I also use a water meter if I'm not sure. i'm doing so much better now with this. Less compost! he he he

WOW The texas potting I have seen for plants is they put holes all around the bottom edge up a bit around the side bottom I should say. They put perilite or perilite and vermiculite mixture in the bottom of pot about and inch then soil-less mix. When they water the the holes suck in the water. It's a great method if I could get someone to put holes in thousands of pots :))
OK will you know what the name of the leaf will be. and how long do you keep it in the pot the way it comes without soil ?
I can get full blooms on a plant many times in 3-4 months.
Kept warm, close to light, 12-16 hours a day light , I water either with Eleanor's VF-11 or African violet, orplant food with no Urea with first number the highest !

Yes my soil-less mix is one part pro-mix or MG something like , and at least 3 parts perlite. I do not cover if you cover and try to water you will get too much moisture. I was very worried the first time I saw your leaves and they were covered with all the water/moisture. I knew they were gonners. They only need little drops of water at a time.the number one reason AV's die is from over watering :((

No one gets to know the leaf name until it blooms. it's a big surprise. I don't know what to do with it. I better email one of the them to find out.

I'll be doing good to not kill it! let alone get it to bloom.
I really want to go to the next meeting in Feb. But it's on the 25th, the day before I am supposed to leave for Miami for the big begonia bash! (and my b-day) so I can't say for sure if I can make it. It's a 3.5 hour drive round trip, plus a 3 hour meeting - which means get up at 5am. I'm always running around like a headless chicken just before a trip. (have to get DH all set up with dinners, animal feeding schedules, prepare dog food - I cook all their food, sports schedules and so on) and of course it always takes longer than you think. So - IF I plan ahead well and get all caught up before the 25th - I can treat myself to the drive down there. ( besides, I always love going into the 'city' as we call it)

yea, I only used that dome for a few days, then took it off. Only lost one or two of the leaves so far. (Funny Bunny? or something) and one other.
I soon realized the error of my ways.