spring is here.... sort of

freezing rain today, but I'm noticing that some of the things that went dormant this winter are coming back. Many of them usually don't, but this winter I turned the lights down to 3 hrs/day and the room temp down to 50/60 ish for 2 weeks twice while I took trips out of town.

I just thought I would post - it's so tempting to throw out dead-looking pots, but if you're growing tuberous or rhizomatous gesneriads (or self-seeding ones) it's best to wait.

yah, that's dead foliage and a tiny new growth sprouting out of a mini sinningia tuber (that is invisible).

another sinningia.... It seems that if I cut off the old growth, the tubers sometimes don't sprout. I have better re-sprouting rates if I leave the dead stuff on... which is ugly, but.....

and a kohleria. I think this is a new addition that I haven't seen bloom yet, so I'm hoping I can grow it out well this year.

and this is Diastema vexans which is dying back after flowering and setting seed. It's scattering seed all over the place, and on top of that it's rhizomatous. No wonder they say this can get weedy in a greenhouse!

all right. I'm done. Ugly photos but hopefully you'll think of this next time you look at an empty pot of soil and stop for a second before you throw it out.

Awesome photo's Key Thanks for sharing !
I know Epsicas and Alsobias don't have tuberous or rhizomatous but we have never had one die 100 percent . Yes they looked dead but with just the tinest water and warth up came a little baby ! Before long being a great big plant again !
One cygnet got so tired after we took 35 babies stolons off of her died back to a bone no foliage. I stuck her on our deck outside. Hubby hung her under the trees in the morning sun shade garden . Before long she was full of lush foliage and flowering !
Happy Growing !
70's damp,cool and rainey in for stormy Weather.

Not real pretty photo's but I understand what you mean Key! .... Sometimes they are just "sleeping". Hey, I don't look so good when I'm asleep either, and my sweet DH hasn't thrown me out yet! :)

Sometimes plants are just like people, needing much rest before jumping up and getting prettied up for show! LOL.


Thank you for posting your photo's Key .... Hope for a Beautiful Spring!

Cools photo's Ki, Does the fewer light hours and cool temps.wake them up?

Diastema vexans has a very pretty flower on it.

Keyring--Do they die back like that even inside?

Diane

fewer light hours and cooler temps and/or dry pots actually put them to sleep.

Most do not die back inside, but at the same time most of these have a growth cycle. They put out leaves, then flowers, then seed pods, then die back. Then some take a breath, while others nap or hibernate, and then they start the cycle all over again. A cool period may send more into a nap than if the temps were consistently warm.

If its rhizomatous, the dying back time is when they really grow the rhizomes, so cutting them back is not a good idea. Some of the sinningias (tuberous) definitely do better if they get a break from time to time.

And with the rhizomatous ones, it's also possible to keep a pot constantly blooming by taking cuttings and sticking them in the pot. After a while, you always have some in bloom even while other growths are dying back....

Great information as always, Key. Thank you.

well, I'm rather unhappy about losing an hour today, and it'll feel like Monday morning is worse than usual tomorrow....

but anyway, spring really is here. My plants are kicking it up a notch.

Here's an update on the Sinn in the second photo up above. A month ago, it only had two new tiny tiny leaves (see how you can't even see the sides of the pot in the old photo).

and Columnea Lava Flow is finally budding. This one is tricky under lights - I think it would prefer a windowsill where there is some fluctuation in temp.

wow,what a difference in the sinn.That grew so fast.
Columnea Lava Flow, what a nice name.Can't wait to see the flowers when they open.I hope you saved some of the seeds from the diastema vexans.
What kind of fertilizer do you use on gessies keyring?
Happy spring to you:)

funny you should ask about the diastema seeds. I realized today that I had tried to pollinate it with a Phinaea. Or maybe it was something else. And maybe these seeds are not from the flowers I tried to pollinate. Who knows? But anyway, I sowed some of them and I guess I'll find out.

For fertilizer, I use what I have when I remember. I try to hit the succulents with a low nitrogen, and some orchids with high P when they need it, and seedlings with a high N (but very low concentration). I don't have a feeding program for the gesneriads so they just get some overflow from the others. Some pots have 2-4 Nutricote (7-7-7) slow release pellets in them. That way, they have some food even if I forget to fertilize, but the slow release is weak enough that they won't burn if I remember to fertilize. Yes, hedging my bets.

I sowed about 10 different seeds today. A couple are just to test germination on old seeds. Some are crosses from the GHA seed fund. A couple are some species seeds that were sent to me in trade. I'm so extremely out of space that I'm not squeezing seed pots inbetween shelves ;-)

Isn't it exciting to see a little green popping up? I almost threw away my first set of leaves I was trying to propagate from 'Annabelle'.....they didn't look that hot and I was thinking of giving up when I decided to pull a leaf out of the vermiculite...............guess what.....there were roots everywhere. I jumped up and down for joy and saved all six in their little solo cups sitting in a tad bit of water in plastic container.....ran in and mixed up weak solution of fertilizer for the babies who will be coming soon.