Hi I'm new to this forum, and this question may have been asked a thousand times; so please bear with me. Is it normal for a large Chirita - Keiko (I think) to weep water from the edges of the leaves. The plant looks incredibly healthy; it is getting great light from three T-8 tubes and some sun. In the morning, when I look at the plant, the outer most edges have droplets of water on them. It is not at all sticky. There are no insects present. What causes this phenomenon? Thanks in advance.
Chirita Weeps Water - Why?
I have had this happen on occasion but not on chiritas. Here is a link that talks about this phenomenon. I would recommend you let your chiritas dry out a little.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg071015015400.html
Thank you Snowrose. That was a fascinating discussion and answered all my questions. I think I will change the potting mix as well. They are planted in a soil/compost based potting mix produced locally here in VT. I need to lighten up the mix with perlite or something like it. I normally use soil less mixes, but this was something different I thought I would try.
Oh Snow .... Thank you for that link .... very informative!
since the thread is about chiritas, I have a couple of questions. In choosing leaves to propagate on a chirita, what do you do in choosing a leaf when they are all big leaves on a more mature plant??
Question number two is...............I bought an av plant at the sale where it appears to me that someone got it too wet getting ready for the sale (and being afraid that it would dry out before someone purchases it)...........the entire outer set of leaves is now looking not too good.....it appears that they are going to have to all come off.
Is it possible to use leaves this big and root them??
The picture I am showing you is when I got it.....the outer leaves don't look this good now....I have to make a decision before I pull off the outer circle of leaves....they aren't too damaged yet, but if I wait too long they may just have to go into the trash can.......
thanks
So now we know this process is called "guttation" and not all plants have the ability to shed excess water in this way. I'm glad you asked this question, Hoya_24, as it is an interesting phenomenon.
http://www.thm.btinternet.co.uk/bio/8/8kguttation.html
I had the same question in my mind about what to do to propagate my Chirita, because the leaves are huge - from the stem to the leaf tip, some of the leaves were about 7 inches long and 3 inches across. I simply cut the leaf in half, throwing out the stem half and planted the half circle part of the leaf that was left over. I pushed it into a sterile medium, and new plants emerged from the plant veins sort of like on a streptocarpus. It may not be the propper way to do it, but it worked for me.
This message was edited May 16, 2007 2:28 PM
Hard to explain about the chirita leaves for propagating. I'll just say now that the large leaves can be cut into sections and put down to root. I will try to do one with step by step instructions and pics.
The av that was too wet, has it just gone floppy on you? Is it just the outer leaves? If so, remove them. Set the plant on some paper towels to soak up the excess water so the plant can dry some.
In general also when grooming a plant, usually those outer leaves that need to be removed are easy to spot as they may be tired looking and lighter in color.
You instincts were right, hoya, about prop'ing your chirita. You could have used the stem end also. How many chiritas do you have? Do you have a favorite?
thanks for the help.....will do that with my big av......
and thanks about the sectioning of big chirita leaves.
I will wait on the chiritas until we get further instructions....thank you Snowrose!!!
Snowrose, I only have two ... keiko and tamiana (may be spelled wrong) they are hold overs from my AV / Streptocarpus days. I can't quite bear to get rid of them. I gave up on gesneriads, because they were just too much work for me. I had a couple of dozen Streps which were all in flower and required twice daily attention to keep looking like I wanted them to. Now I've moved on and 75% of my plants are now Hoyas. I attached a photo of some of my Streps before I got rid of them.
Hoya, you just gave me the very best idea!!! You can't know how thrilled I am to see that grate over the perma-nest trays......I had credit at Park Seed and I used it to order 8 more permanest trays just because I love them.........now I have a good way to have a reservoir of water to wick plants..............YEAH FOR HOYA
Gessiegail, I love permanest trays as well; I use them for everything. I think for the money, they are the ruggedest trays available. I put the plastic eggcrate on top of them and poured water into the Permanest to add humidity to the air. I bought the eggcrate and trays here: http://www.indoorgardensupplies.com/ They would be a super way to wick water to plants. That is what is so great about Dave's Garden - so many ways to learn from others.
gee, you even told me where to buy the eggcrates....I am going to take very similar av (like all minis) and put on a tray wicked as that gives me more space on the gro-light shelves.....thanks again...
I can't imagine my life without DG!!!!! It is the best way to learn ..............better than anywhere I have ever been to learn...We don't need extra humidity as I am only 15 miles from the coast....
I am to blame for the big av outer leaves....in the past, every time I pot up pots and wet them with warm water, I always use paper towels quadrupled to soak up the extra water.................when i did that at your suggestion, Snowrose, I had to do it twice to soak up all that water...never seen a plant that wet in my life!!! Thanks for reminding me of what I should have remembered.