Five strep crosses

I just applied the new information Snowrose gave me and the web page she directed me to, and I crossed five streps. If even one takes, I will be thrilled.
If all take, I will be in big trouble.

LOL on the big trouble, Gloria! Would you share the address for the web page Snowrose directed you to?
Thanks!

lol...well done.....maybe?

Good going there, gloriag! If you haven't already, mark your crosses with the seed parent first and then the pollen parent next. Example: 'Cherry Pie' X 'Daniel'
I hope at least one of your crosses will be successful. So wonderful you will have your very own hybrids!

I mentioned before that streps set seed readily themselves with no help from us at all. Here is 'Blue Mars' and the resulting seed pod forming. I will mark this 'Blue Mars X self
This strep is a large hearty grower with large blossoms.

Yes, the wonderful web page is

http://www.streptocarpus-info.com/crosspollinating.html It even has an excellent diagram and photos too!

Rose, I will have to go back and make sure I marked them that way.Thanks again!

Here is the new seedpod on Blue Mars -

Thanks for posting the link, gloriag

Hi RainGazer! Thanks for starting this thread. I too love the streps. I'll post a pic of Jason which I love so much. It is just a good one.

Oooops, sorry gloriag. I was confused with the originator of this thread.

Here is 'Jason', a truly worthy strep.

Close up Jason blossom -

gloriag, sure would like seeing some of your strep photos.

Hi Snowrose! Gloria started the thread, and I'm so glad she did!

I have seeds from Cherry Pie that I'm going to be sowing soon, perhaps today if I can get everything else done. Those will be Cherry Pie x self, so I don't know what to expect from them. Do you know who the parents of Cherry Pie are? I can't find it in the registry at the Gesneriad Society.

It was so much fun watching that pod develop and mature! It was so long! I can't wait to see what grows from those seeds.

I have Jason, which is blooming now and it is gorgeous! Probably my favorite of all, really. Love that dark color! I posted a picture of it in this thread. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/710167/ I have Bristol's Blackbird, too, but it hasn't bloomed yet.

Gloria, I stumbled across that webpage yesterday. It's a wealth of information! I think I'll try crossing some of mine, too. It's a lot of fun!

Rain, yes, Jason is just simply a great strep. Love your seedlings. Nice and healthy looking. Well grown.

I don't know about the Cherry Pie parentage. You checked the register you said? Most streps aren't registered I think.

Good luck on the Cherry Pie seed sowing! My high hopes are these....seedlings from my variegated 'Iced Canadian Sunset'. Many of the seedlings are showing variegation. First I'll show a seedling pic from about 2 weeks ago. Then I'll post the mama plant.

I wanted to post a pic of the whole plant of Iced Canadian Sunset but I can't find it now to save me. Oh well, this will have to do...
I love the variegated streps and would like to add a few more to my collection.

That is a lovely, lovely plant! I've seen a picture of the whole plant before (don't remember where, could have been yours if you've posted it on here at some point) and it's spectacular! I don't have any variegated Streps now, but I'll definitely be looking to collect a few.

PS I meant to say those Strep seedlings are simply adorable! I love to watch them grow. I hope you get something really wonderful from them!

This message was edited Apr 10, 2007 12:04 PM

I just took this pic of pink 'Cassandra' in front and light lavender 'Echo' in back. They grow so nicely and bloom dependably. Excuse some of the fading flowers. Both of these plants have seedpods. I think I will leave them on to ripen and offer to anyone who would like to try growing streps from seed.

Thanks, Rain, for your good wishes on the seedlings. The same to you for sure. Maybe we will be blessed with something new and wonderful this year.

Gosh! Those are just gorgeous! I don't have any that have that many blooms! Most of mine are blooming for their first time, though, so hopefully they'll start putting out more blooms as they mature. They need to be repotted, too, so that would probably help them along...

The seeds I got from Keyring produced quite a few babies, and several will be blooming soon. I'll be sure to post pictures when they do. Thank you for your good wishes toward my seedlings, as well! These are my first ever Streps from seeds, and even if nothing amazing should appear, I'll still be proud as punch of them! LOL

Rain, The plants of Echo and Cassandra are more mature in 4" pots now. Echo is a multiflora so it produces smaller blossoms but more of them vs. streps (grandiflora) like Jason that produce larger but fewer blossoms. I am so excited to see your seedlings in bloom! If I can get mine to blooming size, I will be so thrilled and proud as well.

Snowrose - what medium did you use for sowing the variegated seed? I'm debating between standard mix and a supersphag type thing....

Keyring, all I used was long fibered sphagnum chopped in a food processor. No fungal problems at all. The moss grew nicely, too ;0)

Hmm, thanks. I'm using LFS for more of my seeds recently - I guess I will for these too.

Thanks for the link to that website! I printed out the info, but doubt if I will ever get good enough at these plants to try cross pollinating. It will come in handy to refer back to "just in case" I ever decide to give it a try! :)


Lin

Great going Gloria! Have any pictures of your streps??

Snowrose your plants are beautiful.

Where do you get the long fibered sphagnum moss? Keep in mind, there are NO decent nurseries around here. Lowe's, Home Depot, and a couple annual/perennial nurseries are it. I'm happy enough with what I've been using, but am always up for trying something new.

I order from calwesttropical.com - best quality I've found so far.

Thanks for the link! What is a good amount to start with? 1/4 lb or a full lb, to try it out, do you think?

Hey, they've got clear plastic pots, too! I've been looking for those! Yay!

Depends on how much you'll use ;)

It's good for rooting cuttings as well (all my begonias), and I'm growing a bunch of mini (not micro) sinns in it too. Snowrose said she's sowing seed on chopped sphag. It comes dry so it stores easily. Rinse a few times before using, and I recommend wearing gloves for the rinsing.

If you're just using it for gessies, you probably won't go through all that much.

I think I'll start with 1/4 lb. I'll get a few clear pots, too, but they're out of the 4 inch pots, so when those come back in stock, if I like the moss I could always order more then. Neat site! Thanks for sharing it!