The first seeds have germinated... and the winner is... (drumroll please!) Jan's Strep Daniel x self!
All of the gessie seeds that were shared with me were planted in a community greenhouse seed starter, divided into five sections. Starter is half seed starter mix (sifted) and half ground perlite. I sterilized this, then moistend it. Divided the area into five equal sections, and sowed half of all my gift seeds into each section. Directly on to top of mix, then misted lightly. Sowing occurred the evening of 04/25/07. Bright light, dome on all the time, soil kept evenly moist and warm (approx. 74 degrees).
The selection are: Keyring's Episcia mix, Keyring's Chirita tamiana, Keyring's Sinningia Purple Crest x self, Jan's Strep Daniel x self, and Jan's Mini-sinn Rio das Pedras x self.
Anxiously await... look in the dome every morning and evening... (patience, patience...) Got up this morning for my usual peer into the dome... I SEE GREEN!!! I SEE LITTLE SPROUTS! 1, 2.... no... 3, 4.... I HAVE FOUR NEW BABIES OF JAN'S DANIEL SO FAR!!!!! WHOOOPEEEEE!!!!
Now what do I do???? :-)
Photos will be forthcoming. I'm waiting on a new digital camera to come in. I have a camera phone, but I don't know how good the quality will be. I'll give it a try when hubby wakes up... (he worked last night)
Karen
P.S. Thank you Ki and Jan for sharing with me, so that I can have this experience to share!
Shared seed update
LOL Karen.That was fast.Your going to have lots of babies coming up.
So far, there are probably a dozen Daniel seedling up, and 3-4 Purple Crest. Camera on phone doesn't do justice, and I'm still waiting on my new dig Canon to come in. (I want to hurt and maim the DHL courier who has held my new camera hostage for four days now... Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!)
Now seeing the first seedling in Keyring's Chirita tamiana today. Finally got my new Canon in... been learning about it and playing with it. I will take some photos this weekend and post my new "babies".
congrats! part of what you're seeing is the time difference between old and new seed. Old seed generally takes longer to sprout - although it varies somewhat depending on the type of plant as well.
I'm just so tickled they are sprouting! I wasn't sure I was going to be successful at this.
Finally! I have gotten some photos of my little Gessie-Dome as my hubby labeled it! Here is the entire bio-dome/incubator...
Here it is open...
This is Ki's Chirita tamiana...
This message was edited May 20, 2007 1:17 PM
This is Jan's Strep 'Daniel'...
This is Ki's Sinn 'Purple Crest'...
And this photo is of 'Purple Crest' (left) and 'Daniel' (right), after I turn the dome around.
Looking good :)
Watch that green gunk on the surface and scrape it off if it spreads too much. It can suffocate the seedlings. They say that the spray they sell for athlete's foot controls it and is safe to use on seedlings, but I've found that scraping it off usually works okay.
In a week or so, you can start to stimulate the roots a bit - take a toothpick and jostle the root area.
I start feeding (very weak) when there are at least 2 pairs of leaves - usually I wait til there are 3 pairs.
I was wondering about the "green gunk" as you call it, and what to do about it, if anything. It is mostly on the perlite particles. How on earth do you scrape it off???
Latest update on the gessie seed biodome.
Overall photo... oddly (to me anyway), Jan's mini-sinn 'Rio das Pedras' never sprouted. It's on the right...
Jan's strep 'Daniel'...
Keyring's Sinningia 'Purple Crest'...
Keyring's Chirita tamiana...
And finally, Keyring's episcia mix...
They're coming along!
WildRose......I love that propagating dome......do you remember where you ordered that???
thanks,
gail
I bought it at Lowe's. It's a seed starting dome that comes with 24 peat pellets. I bought two of them, and I don't think I paid but $3-something for each one.
Karen
I was going to ask the exact question that Gail did! I am heading to the big city (Boise, Idaho) this weekend and I'm going to see if I can find some of those propagating domes. Keyring generously shared some of her "Fuzz" seeds with me and I want to try and do them justice!
WRose I love all your little plants, please keep updating with new photos as they grow.
~Brenda
edited for spelling, guess I was more tired than I thought last night.
This message was edited Jun 15, 2007 7:53 AM
Karen, your seedlings look wonderful!! Isn't it fun to sow them and watch them come up? Streps are usually pretty fast, which is great for the impatient little kid in me. :o) Please keep us updated on how they grow.
Thanks all... I will keep posting updates. It has been fun and very rewarding to start them from those LITTLE TINY SEEDS! I was like a child at Christmas when I saw the first sprouts! LOL!
bmedel and RainGazer, we will need to do a thread on our shared Sinn. Leucotricha seeds from Keyring. We can call the thread "Little Fuzz"... ha! ha! RainGazer, I think you said you sowed your seeds first, so take photos! I hope to get mine started next week. Somebody here shared the idea of the clear plastic carry-out salad containers... (where is it??? Hhmmmm... There it is!) http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=3560811 This is my plan for the Sinn. Leuc. seeds.
I just sowed mine yesterday, so nothing yet. LOL I'll admit I did look at them this morning, but was just checkin' in, not expecting anything, of course. ;o)
That's how I started mine, in a container like in that link. I took a picture, naturally, and will post it a bit later. My son is on the good computer, so I've gotta use the dumpy one, and I can't get the pics off my camera on this one. :oP Wanna start the "Little Fuzz" thread now, and post our "freshly sown" pics or wait til somebody has some green showing? I think it will be interesting to compare all our methods and see how our results differ. :o)
Oh I agree! Go ahead and start the thread now, and show us a photo of your "biodome" at the start. We can all do the same. It will be interesting to see if different methods bring different results, such as longer or shorter germination, etc.
I think this is really cool! And Keyring does this stuff all the time! Thanks Key, for letting us take part too!
I just got one of those salad containers yesterday, except mine has a black bottom. I'm working outside today but I hope to plant my little Fuzz's tomorrow. I'll take pictures and then start waiting patiently, HA!
I've never grown anything like this from seed, just outside stuff so it will be a first for me! You all make it look fairly easy, you just sprinkle the seeds a top some moist light AV type soil and mist, right? It will be fun to try it! I'll look for the Little Fuzz thread when I get mine done.
~Brenda
I started my first Strep seeds and micro Sinningia seeds in the containers with black bottoms. I prewet the potting mix and just sprinkle the seeds on top. Sometimes I mist, sometimes I don't. It depends on whether or not I can find the spray bottle. LOL I keep them pretty moist, too; not sitting in water, but pretty moist, nonetheless. You'll do fine! :o)
Brenda.....at the present time, i use the Bio-Domes from Park Seed............then I use the perma nest trays with clear plastic lids.....also, I use the wonderful mini greenhouses from violetshowcase for .85 each and are wonderful ......
We have a Lowes nearby ....I am going to check and see what Karen has....
I just got a couple of the bio domes to use for some bigger things. I'm going to be checking out those perma nest trays because they look great and I am definitely going to buying some of those mini green houses after seeing yours! What would I do without all the great ideas I've seen on your stands? :)) I'd have to have fewer plants thats for sure and who wants to do that?
~Brenda
Hi!
just popping in . I'm travelling right now so I'm not online as much.
Good to see yours are coming along. Not sure why the Rio seeds didn't sprout - I treat mine the same as the others.
I sow seeds quite frequently, but only because they are care free for 2-6 months afterwards. I am a lazy sower.
I sow them in ziplock bags in moist sterlized mix, and stick the bags on the grow shelf.
I'll look in on them in 2-4 weeks. If there is green, I squish the pot to get some air into the roots.
When they have at least a couple of leaves, I look for a week that I think won't be too busy. That week, I'll give it some very weak fertilizer and start opening the bag. From the bag, they go into a plastic sweater box, so the humidity is still high, but not as high as the bag.
The timing of all this depends on how busy I am, and how much other plant stuff I'm doing. It's rare that I give them the "every 2 weeks" treatment - potting up or jostling the roots.
Hi... I re-sowed the remaining Sinn. 'Rio das Pedras' seed that jannich sent me tonight. I used a carry-out salad container this time. My mix is two parts peat, one part perlite, and one part vermiculite, sterilized. Moistened with distilled water, added a very thin layer of straight vermiculite on top of the mix. Sprinkled the seed on top, and lightly misted with distilled water again.
Here's the open dome...
This message was edited Jun 19, 2007 7:29 PM
A close-up...
And the closed dome. Now my wait begins... again. Also started Keyring's Sinningia Leucotricha seeds the same way. That can be seen on the thread "Little Fuzz".
Karen
Look how big some of my other varieties are getting!
This is Jan's Strep 'Daniel'...
This is Key's Sinn. 'Purple Crest'...
Key's Chirita tamiana...
I have been jostling the roots as recommended by Keyring, and all of a sudden, in the past week, they have really taken off!
And this is Keyring's episcia mix... the one focused in on is over one inch tall!!!
Key, how much longer before transplanting them... especially the bigger ones???
Karen
How much fun to grow from seed......keep us posted....