Well I am sure that this is my fault, but I let my Hisako Chirata go too long without water and the edges have all turned brown. Is there anything that I can do to help it? The new growth looks great but can I help the older leaves in any way?
Jesse
you sure it did not get too much water ? As they love to be dry. It may need more humdity and less water Get lt out of the heavy soil off of it and pot it in light soil. But it does like small tight pots.Pan pots are good. There's and excellent thread/link in second sticky how to grow Chiritas. THIS OnE IS MY favorite.
Trim all leaves that are damaged even take some off trim dead parts off and set them lik AV leaves to grow plants. I grew dozens of these real fast easy to do.
Well actually I just assumed it was too little water because it looked dry. But it could have been too much also. I have never had one of these before so I just assumed it was too wet. Now, can I trim the bad part off the leaves? And can I cut some of the leaves off into pieces and make little chirata babies? Wow. I had not idea. I love this thing and I want it to do good. I can see the new grow that is already coming out on the top and it looks great. So what would you do if you were me?
Jesse
Get lt out of the heavy soil off of it and pot it in light soil. But it does like small tight pots.Pan pots are good.Trim all leaves that are damaged even take some off trim dead parts off and set them lik AV leaves to grow plants. I grew dozens of these real fast easy to do.
how to grow Chiritas)
http://www.maavs.org/html/growing_cheritas.htm
Thanks for the link Allison. I read it and I am really happy that I can grow them from leaves. I will trim the bad parts off of the leaves so they will look better. But do you take a whole leaf to grow babies, since each of the leaves are so big?
Jesse
Well I took whole leaves off when my plant was your size. And I took a couple baby leaves 3-4 inches off few weeks ago to grow more babies. I took about a dozen leaves off of mine to share and to grow babies . I gave many good size babies of her away. She was very easy for me to progate and grow.
Now most of my leaves are larger than my hand going up my arm and wider so these I would not use to progate. I just got mine as a small baby last Fall and I grew many, many plants of her ! Many Dg Peeps have her ! Mine always has some flower. When I had room under light it had more flowers.
Do you take the leaves off of the top or underneath? I hate to ask so many questions but I want to do it right.
Jesse
Keep your new growth on. And take some of your damaged leaves off but trim an damged parts off.
I was reading about strep on the VB site. Rob says you can trim the browned edges from the strep and it won't hurt the plant. I'll bet you can carefully trip the browned edges from your Chirata and help her look a little better.
Yes that's what I told Jesse trim off all damge parts of the plant. But also take care of the reason of why the Chirita is doing this. Most likely over watered or not enough humidity. The leaves also progate new wonderful plants easy and quick and my plants grew even nicer when I removed leaves in-order to grow plants to share !
Oh forgot about the Strep's I know your needing help with your Chirita my favorite one !
Rob also says about Streps Ease of growing : Since they grow multicrowned , there's no need to remove suckers. Have a discolored leaf or the plant is too big?-just trim it to any shape or size you want with scissors. Great for people with not a lot of room too no long leaves lol !
With Streps these discolored leaves can be caused by " Browned or Yellowed " leaf tips or margins. This can be caused by many kinds of stress , but the most common causes are infrequent or improper repotting and /or lack of grooming. Sometimes that leaf is yellow simply beacasue it's old and should be removed ! These symptoms may also appear if the strep is very rootbound.Streps are very fast , vigorous growers, and need to be (divided and ) repotted into fresh soil at least every 6 months. When very rootbound ( especially) in very old soil ), center growth may show these symptoms-in extrems cases, it can be mistaken for a mite infestation ...>>>>>
>>>But now your Chirita is totaly different so don't get them confused . Your Chirita will enjoy being root bound, and Happy if you re-pot once a year or even every 2-3 years ! And when re-potting recommened to remove bottom leaves. They like Humidity which most likely why their tips are browing or if you have over watered at one time or again just like Rob says about the Streps the leaves might be old.
Streps and Chirtias are some of my favorite plants to grow . Now if I just had more room ! So I have porgated many to share !
Have fun Jesse you have one of the greatest Chirita plants ...getting it going and it will bloom all the time for you. I think you will enjoy growing babies from it too !
Oh PS Jesse I trimmed some of my older leaves on my Chirita ( This is the only Chirita I have that has every done this too and it's foliage is so different than the other thinner type plants ) but after awhile sometimes they just don't look right on your perfect plant with all the other pretty leaves forming a exotic lushish plant ! So I then take them off. The plant looks better ! This plant I love the most aweseom plant to grow !
Sorry about budding in on your Chirita thread Jesse but another thing wonderful about Strep's and Rob recommends :))
**** Don't be afraid to remover old leaves, especially if they've already produced a number of blooms stalks. Also remove leaves that seem to be " competing" for the same space, or "getting in each other's way ". Remember also, that leaves can be trimmered with virtually no effect on blooming-we've had pots of " stubble" in heavy bloom ! *****
I think this is so cool ! Also with Streps you need new leaf growth as each leaf will only bloom so many times...Not like Chiritas or African violets !
But their all so fun to gorw ! Don't you think ?
Sorry, Allison. I misunderstood. I thought you ment to take off the whole leafe ; not just the brown part.
Well Jesse asked me up top what I'd would do with this plant if I was her..
~ So what would you do if you were me?
Jesse ~>>
And I said : " Get lt out of the heavy soil off of it ,and pot it in light soil. But it does like small tight pots.Pan pots are good.Trim all leaves that are damaged , even take some off trim dead parts off and set them like AV leaves to grow plants. I grew dozens of these real fast easy to do.
And then I gave her different facts about growing Chiritas as she never had one before and this one is my baby :)) I love it. When I got mine and took pictures so many DG Peeps said they'd enjoy one ! So I grew plants to my amazement the leaves rooted real fast and I was able to send lot's of nice size plants to Peeps !
Yes you can always trim the brown part of these leaves. But if the leaf is looking out of balanceof the nice rosette this plant forms I take the leaf off.The mature foliage are thick and hard even bumpy nice scalloped edges and point at end. So after so much trimming it just does not look uniform . If the leaf is in good enough condition I set it down to progate. This plant progates very well.
I lost track but I sent out anywhere from 6-12 good size babies and I just got my plant small last Fall 2005 !
If grown properly this can be the most fascinating Chirita. It's my favorite !
Plus when trans-planting it is recommended to remove the bottom row of leaves.
the foliage on this plant is so unique that if you start chopping the leaf up too much ) ^^ not like a Strep so different) it is going to ruin the look of the plant. New growth will grow and fill in so fast with proper care also. Chiritas alsobloom from the crowns like AV's Streps bloom from the leaf axils and once a Strep leaf gets old it no longer blooms.
Though you most Gesneriads like African violets, there is a big difference in growing and grooming Streptocarpus plant and Chirita plants. And there are also a lot of ways they are the same :))
They both like to be on the dry side, and they both like cool weather are a couple ways they are the same !
April, Bob, Amy, Kim, Lorry oh my goodness I'd have to look up to see who else got good size plants from me ! How are all these plants doing ? Anyone getting flowers ? Are your plants growing healthy for you !
Jesse, I read on another gessie forum that some of the 'pro's' use pinking shears to trim the edges and it is acceptable for show plants too.
it may bust out a bloom for you. Mine all did. when I was visiting Ali and going to the ABS convention, mine didn't get as much water as they would have liked so they all protested by wilting and then sending up flowers!
I wonder why pinking shears make such a difference. Thanks for telling me. I will have to try that because now I'm curious.
Jesse
Well, I did like y'all suggested and took some of the older leaves off and trimmed the rest and Hisako is looking so much better. Here is a photo of him tonight.
Jesse
I think they use the pinking shears because it mimics the jagged edge. I guess that's the theory. But I suspect it would eventually turn brown. Let us know how they do.
Yes I'm very interested to find out how they do. If I find a pair of pinking shears when I'm out next time I'll pick up a pair unless they are too expensive.
Jesse
Jesse your plant looks perfect ! Healthy beautiful. This plant does love growing under light but will also do well in natural keep turning it. It will bloom both ways but more buds and flowers if kept under lights. When mine fills up with buds all around the plant crown then I LIKE PUTTING IT INTO NATURAL LIGHT TO ENJoy tje many beautiful flowers ! sorry about the caps my keyboard is old and crazy. lol
Also they like to be dry thought I have read wicked they can get large. Mine are wicked coiled well in bottom of pot coming up to the top , 3 or 4 wicks in the one pot as mine has grown a lot. But I just still pour water into the saucer when it is dry .
You have that link from Stickys how to grow Chiritas ? It's very good link !
(how to grow Chiritas)
http://www.maavs.org/html/growing_cheritas.htm
They are fun to grow and all have pretty flowers !
Do any of you have this one to trade?
I had ordered one from Lauray of Salisbury, and she said that it didn't cooperate for propagation.
Nan which one ? Chirita sinensis 'Hisako' ?
This one is the easiet to progate by leaf I gave many good size plants away to people on DG's .
Yes, the C. sinensis 'Hisako', Allison.
I don't know what happened, she didn't tell...she just said the plantlets had started to grow then 'they didn't cooperate'?! lol!
(Could mean just about anything, I guess!)
She probably just doesn't have your 'touch'!
Would you have a leaf to trade? I have a few named AV's at home that I could trade with you....but would have to get that list (it's a short one!) when I get home.
Nan,
I just put several leaves down off of this one. Hopefully I will have babies soon. You are more than welcome to a baby. Just remind me when the times come. In fact, I will go label one of the pots with your name.
Jesse
Nan the leaves on mine are two large bigger than my hand and arm. lol But it grew another nice size new leaves off side not to the same shape I wanted so I put them down a couple weeks ago their doing great ! I just got my baby plant last Fall and grew so many good size plants ! I gave them all away for shipping.
Not sure how long these will take leaves went down a couple weeks ago. But I can give you one when large enough.
Nan
Is she a Vendor ? Lauray of Salisbury ? You must for good fast nice progation I learned use a healthy leaf, not old and not baby but teanager ! If not they can take for ever to get a healthy baby or maybe you get root tiny baby and nothing else. Or they may rot.
I just put mine down a couple days ago so Allison's will probably make babies faster than mine. But rest assured that people on here are working to get everyone on here what they want. You may have to wait a while but most people usually wind up with what they want.
Jesse
Isn't this so true Jesse :))
PS When I saw this plant on the Gesneriad Reference Web ~ I wanted it so bad. I was so happy to be able to buy one from Bluebird's . But I don't see them selling it anymore ? Jesse were there not many at the Nursery when you went ?
There were some there when I went last time. I have to go soon since I'm completely out of pots. Where is the cheapest place to buy the smaller ones? They only have the 2.5 and the 4 and up and I need some smaller ones sometime. But as far as the chirita goes, she had them when I was there last and that was on April 19. Surely she has not sold them all. The next time I go I will check. I have been wanting Aussie Alice for so long for DH, and if they would had it, I would have bought it. But I don't think they had it last time or I sure would have gotten it.
Oh, Libbie emailed me back with the answer to my question. One of my espiscias was not marked so I took a photo and emailed it to her and she emailed me back with the name. The blue ones name is Butter Blue. So I emailed the photo of the espiscia and i'm waiting for a response from that. Libbie seemed really nice.
Allison, do you use the regular pots if they are under 2.5 and then use the azalea pots on up? That is mostly what you sent me. I need little pots bad so i'm going to order some soon and I want the best deal. BTW, all the plants that you sent me are doing great except for Fantasy Halo. I tried so hard to get that little thing to hang on, but it would not put roots down. My mix is just about like yours so I know it was not that. I watered her just like the others and put her on a wick too. I even gave her Optimara AV food. I don't know what happened to her but she didn't make it. Maybe next time I get one I'll be able to keep it alive. Sorry that she didn't make it but all of the others did. I'm reorganizing everything right now but I'll post some pictures soon.
Oops. I got off topic but at least it was on my own thread. LOL
Jesse
Jesse
Ok this is in our first sticky plus I gave you it several times so if you lose it just got to our sticky and it says
Secret Garden Rare Plants (Plastic Pots – all sizes, from thumb to 6” pan pots) They have larger Pan Pots too mater fact I need to get an 8 inch for a trailer.
Two inch pots I use by the hindreds !
http://www.secretgardenrareplants.com/catalog.cfm?category_id=16
Don't worry about a dying plants everyone gets them. Except it has the prettiest fantasy flowers ! Oh well everyone loses them If I have ones not growing well I throw them out !
Thanks Allison. I have it sitting on my desk, almost completely dead and just hated to throw it out. But I guess I'll do that because it is not going to come back alive. Do you refer to the 1" pots as thumb pots? I never thought I'd need anything smaller than the 2.5" ones but then I had to repot a tiny mini and the 2.5 is just too big. So I think I'll be ordering some soon.
I'm letting some of my plants grow out now. I have at least 100 leaves down right now and have run out of room. So I need to deal with what I have right now. When it comes time for us to share again, I'll have plenty of leaves to share since mine are really growing out. Thanks again.
Jesse
Can someone tell me how to tell if you have a chimera or not? What if I have a striped colored AV. How do I know if it is a real chimera?
Jesse
This is beautiful!
Thanks, both of you, I'll be so happy with one of these!
And I'll also be more than happy to trade something. I'll get that list of named AV's that I have....didn't get to it last night as I have a childcare dilemma (still unsolved) since yesterday was the last day of school, and our summer sitter recently passed away.
Yes, Allison, Lauray of Salisbury is a vendor of gesneriads in general.
She comes highly recommeded by a nice man who frequents GW and is a collector of gesneriads.
I swear, Allison...you should be employed by one of these AV/gesneriad vendors as a leaf propagator.....you could propagate at home and send to them!
Don't know if any of them do such a thing as employ others to propagate off-site, but they should, with you!
Jesse....I'm still due to send you that bloodleaf banana but I haven't un-potted that big beast yet.....I've got to get to it, though, as I've promised an offset to another DG'er, too. Sorry I'm so slow.....
Also, Jesse...sorry for hijacking your thread, but this is one I've wanted since I saw the beautiful photos, had it ordered and thought I 'was set'.....so....when I noticed you discussing it I decided to jump in!
Well don't worry Nan. It is okay with me. And you will be getting one of these either from Allison or me. I think it is so fun to share my plants with other ppl.
Jesse
Yes please don't worry your busy with summer kids ! I will give you a plant no need for trade as I have too many plants to care for or room for.
Allison
Thank you ladies, you're so kind.
Looking forward to owning this beauty!
I will find a way to reciprocateÜ
Nan ! A few days ago I tran's planted Mom and babies out of cups full of roots into new pots new soil. I like doing this to babies when they are growing good but still need Mom but a tran-splanting and new soil gives them a jump !
There are two plants in each pot. I like to keep thses with Mom until their leaves are about as large as Mom's. This gives them a good healthy start and you will be getting a good size healthy baby !
This is one of my favorite Chiritas !
I do this with Strep babies too and keep them with Mom helps them grow healthy and strong. I also do it with Av's that have been down a long time , some may separate them but I have better long term success giving them a fresh home to grow in and keeping them with Mom longer !
Just like a Miniature likes re-potting ever 4 months , and plants get root bound and tired in the same old soil they've used for months, I feel these babies enjoy a nice clean pot and soil too !
I will keep you up-dated as soon as one is the size I like to ship to you ! These babies are so cute !
