Hello All.
I know very little about gesneriads but do appreciate them. About a week ago I received this gorgeous Streptocarpus from Logee's. Would someone please tell me what the tall spikes are that are amongst the flowers? Are they seed pods?
Thank you.
Erick
And here is a close up of the "spikes".
Yep Erick. Seed pods!
Erick WOW beautiful plant ! Do you know it's name . What size pot did it come in. ? Great place to order from I see :))
Thanks for sharing !
Yes, that is a beautiful plant! Thanks for sharing.
Jesse
I want one just like it :)) Putting it on my wish list :))
Thank you all very much for the kind comments and for answering my question. The variety is 'Midnight Flame'. It came in a 2.5" pot. It was a huge, healthy plants with lots of buds (and seed pods). I am thrilled! I have always been pleased with Logee's.
How will I know when the seed pods are ripe? Would it be worth planting them to see what I get?
Erick
the pods will start to twist (strepto carpus means that), and the seam that runs along the pod will become more obvious.... and then it will split and turn brown and spill seeds all over the place.... So the trick is to harvest at some point before then.....
Strep are fun to propagate from seed because they can bloom in 4 months!
welcome and good growing.
Midnight Flame ! Love it :)) Did it take you long to get after ordering. They have good service ?
Is your plant in a 2.5 inch pot this is the size it came or have you had it a long time and it has grown ?
Reason I ask is I am trying to find places that sell nice size plants !
Thanks, Allison
Thank you, Keyring, for the most helpful advice. Now I'm even more interested in streptocarpus'!
Allison, I only received the plant about a week ago, so it pretty much looked like it does in the picture. It was in a 2.5" pot, but could easily have been in a 4" or even 6". I potted it into the clay pot a few days ago.
In my personal experience, Logee's has always been a joy to do business with. I got my plants about two weeks after ordering them. They we all huge and healthy, as usual. I must look through each of their catalogs a hundred times!
Regards,
Erick
hey Erick,
there's a dry seed pod in the second photo of this set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ki/sets/72057594048086790/
Thank you. And bonus seed pods wow. I knew Keyring could give the best help with them :))
I have fun growing some . I might try one from Logee's ! Thanks !
PS Strep's will forgive you if you under water them but if you over water them they will die.
In our second sticky when you first come into this forum is lot's of great information and links , galeries of Streptocarpus !
Beautiful Ü
Don
Thank you, Keyring, for the great pictures. Very, very helpful.
Allison, thank you for the good advice. I have just started to read the second "sticky". So much interesting and helpful information!
Thank you Don.
As my streptocarpus was presumably "open pollinated" by whatever others were on the benches at Logee's, is it reasonable to assume that my seedlings from the seedpods could be very different from the mother?
Erick
yes Erick. You may get all sortsy of different flowers. You lucky thing!
Hi Erick,
What a lovely streptocarpus! I just recently went to a talk at the RI Flower show in Feb on these plants and have gotten a few since then. I wanted to warn you about one thing mentioned in the lecture. The lecturer specifically warned against growing them in clay pots as the roots will stick too tightly to the porus clay. These plants grow in step ravines in the wild and they hold tightly to the sides of rocks. While good in nature and necessary for their survival, it would not be good if your roots stuck too firmly to the terra cotta that you couldn't remove the plant without damaging it. Other things mentioned during the talk: don't get water on the leaves or spots will develop, remove spent flowers not allowing them to collect on the leaves, sterilize your cutting tools using a flame, the plants like to be in a small, shallow container not liking a deep or too big of a pot, look for a pot that is squatter than normal, plants like bright light but not direct sun, water when the soil is completely dry, don't overwater or the plants will die quickly (sensitive to overwatering).
The Dibley's web site and other streptocarpus links mentioned in the FAQ links for this forum give a lot of good information for their care. The Dibley's web site shows the stouter pots these plants like.
I started looking for these plants at local nurseries. Check where the african violets are located and you may find some more plants. They are addicting!
Sue
It could either be open pollinated, or a strep with a tendency to spontaneously self-pollinate.
If selfed, you would likely get a bunch of very similar plants, or a range of flowers inheriting traits from the grandparents. You would call these ('Midnight Flame' x self).
If open pollinated, it might have a completely different type of flower as the dad, or, it could have a clone of 'Midnight Flame' as the dad..... so, you might not really be able to tell what you've got.
So to be safe, each of those pods would be ('Midnight Flame' x ?) - and they all could have a different dad.
If you grow out about a dozen seedlings from each pod, you'll have a pretty good idea of what kind of seedling possibilities you've got there.
Thank you Spider07!
Sue, wow - what a treasure trove of interesting and helpful information! How kind of you to share it. Your enthusiam is contagious!
Thank you very much, Keyring, for the mini-lesson on breeding streptocarpus' and identifying them. I am planning to grow out a dozen seedlings from two of the pods and will share the results with everyone.
This is another great Dave's forum! Thank you all.
Erick
