Dividing Strep

Early this spring (early March) I bought two strep plants. They are very healthy and beautiful and have been blooming the entire spring. I noticed they are getting very crowded with severly crowns in each pot. I potted up to a 5 inch pot this morning. (I bought them in 4 inch pots). I was curious about their care and so went on Violet Barn sight. Rob suggests dividing the crowns. He has a wonderful picture tutorial about the process; but I was wondering if any of you have acturally divided a strep and how the process went for you. Were you sucessful and would you recomment it.

Here is a picture of the two plants in question. Hopefully you can see how many new leaves there are in the center.

This is the other strep. It is more crowded that the first. While I was checking this plant during repotting, I noticed there are no new blossom stems. I haven't fertilized since I got them. That might be the problem. Could over crowding of the crowns also be a problem?

This message was edited May 26, 2006 7:54 AM

I like keeping mine together and full. A leaf will only bloom so many times . I like to take a leaf that is not going to bloom anymore and cut it and use it for progating.I do trans-plant mine to new pots/soil every 4-6 months. I have seen people bring in Streps at local group three times the size of yours in a 2.50-3 inch pot .Unbelievable gorgous.
I use pan pots for my larger Streps, and babies/smaller plants are in 2-2.50 inch pots.
The thing is you have to have new leaf growth to have blooms. The leaves get old they won't bloom anymore.
If you want to divide them you can take the plant from the pot and, with a very sharp thin knife cut away any recognizable clumps of leaves along the same root. Theses can be potted up, but the side with the wound should be left clear of soil . Leaving the wound exposed to air. Dust the wound with hormone powder and fill the depression with perlite. After a couple weeks, scoop out the perlite and fill with soil-less mix. . This procedure will prevent fungal disease.
Streps have shallow roots so pot them up close to the top of pots.
There are a lot of web sights and links to the best information in our second sticky.

PS you take your plant in two you will have half the amount of flowers :((

One thing wonderful about Streps there is a lot of great information about them ! Not like some Gesneriads .
Dibleys the best growers of Streps have all information needed on their sight links in sticky.
They did say " Q. Can I split a streptocarpus?

A. Yes, if it has several distinct crowns. The best time to do it is in the spring. Personally, I think that it’s better to take leaf cuttings. They are a safer and easier method of multiplying your plants as you will still have an undamaged original plant if anything goes wrong. Once the leaf cuttings have become established you can then discard the old plant.

http://www.dibleys.com/faq.htm

I did read the Dibleys site. There are at least 3 crowns in both of the plants. The new leaves are becoming so crowded that they are not able to grow but they are twisting every which way to find light.

I guess you'll have to do surgery.
I guess mine never get like this as I'm always putting leaves down , and sharing leaves with someone.
I do have several crowns on soome of mine but with my leaf trimming it has not become a problem.

I'll let you know when and if I decide to do what ever it is I decide to do. Right now I'm repotting everything. I used some soil that wasn't light enough and had problems with wet feet. Everyone is doing fine. Caught it in time.

I was surprised when I repotte the little guys you sent a month ago. The root systems filled the pots again. They are really growing fast.

Wow Nanna that's super !