Little Fuzz

Ok RainGazer and VA_Wild_Rose..... I planted my Sinningia Leucotricha aka FUZZ seeds from Keyring yesterday. I planted them in a salad container with some moist light AV potting soil and some hydroton clay balls around the edges to help keep it evenly moist. I hope anyway as I'm new to those and finding different uses for them. I misted lightly and shut the lid.

I put them on top of my refrigerator for the added warmth and I put my OTT light over them. It is one of those lights to replicate true sunshine (to help with SAD during the long winters) and I started a bunch of AV leaves under it this past winter and it worked good. So that's my set up.

And even though the seeds looked more like some dust in that great little tissue paper envelope Keyring made I managed to save some of them so I can try this again if this time is a flop for me.

Did anyone else get some of these seeds? Please post your set up here and lets see how we all do. I've never planted a gessie from seed so I'm a complete newbie at this and just having some fun and hoping for beginners luck!

So here are some pictures of the process, it looks more like I made a pie LOL

~Brenda

Next picture.....

And an overall view of the whole thing from a step back....

Now I want to see yours Rain and Rose! I know they will be more professional looking than this. LOL

~Brenda

Very cool, Brenda! It does look like a Pie ... I guess you could tell folks you are baking a Sinningia Leuco Pie, that would make for a lot of questions!

I'm new at most Gessie's except AV's and I recently planted some Strep seeds that I got from another DG'er. They are slow, but one container is sprouting teeny little Streps!

Hope you will keep us updated on your little Sinningia seeds and post pic's as they sprout and grow!

Looks great to me too! I will post my photos as soon as I set them up.

Thanks for sharing!

Karen

That looks great, Brenda! I love the decorative effect of the pellets. ;o) It really does look like a pie, especially in the thumbnail. It's cute! That was a clever idea to use them that way, too.

I'm afraid you may be disappointed in mine if you're looking for professional appearance. Unless a take home container from Cracker Barrel counts as professional... LOL Please excuse my horrible handwriting. In my infinite wisdom, I forgot to actually *write* on the label before I stuck it to the container. It was quite tedious writing on the edge of that very thin plastic without poking through it. And I accidentally cracked the bottom of it, so it's wrapped in clear plastic wrap to keep it from dripping. :oP It's sitting on the top shelf of my light stand where it's less likely to be bumped in to, but I can still keep an eye on it.

I meant to ask Ki how long it takes these to germinate, on average. My Strep seeds came up in under two weeks, so hopefully these will be pretty quick, too.

Not much to see, yet, but I'm watching closely... LOL

I moistened the mix before I sprinkled the seeds. Honestly, I can't remember if I misted it or not...hmmm... I saved about a third of the seeds, just in case. I like to have a back up in case I mess something up. ;o)

Mine were sown two days before yours, Brenda. I'm anxious to see how long they take to germinate for each of us, and if it's on a pretty similar timeframe, or if it differs widely. Your outside weather is running about 40 degrees cooler than ours, I think. I'm basing that on you saying it didn't get out of the 50s a day or two ago, and it was upper 90s here. Wonder if that will affect these seeds?

Alright, Karen, it's your turn! :o)

Guess I better get busy.... I'll try to sterilize my mix tonight, so I can get them started.

Both of yours looks great though!

Are you SURE that is not a chocolate smothered pecan pie? LOL.

I honestly do not recall how fast leuco seed sprouts, but generally sinningias are quite fast for me - perhaps just a tad longer than fresh strep seeds.

I feel that I have been gone from DG so long............this looks like a fun thread!!!!!
Lin, i think I took my strep pod off too soon.....it looked brown and starting to dry up..........well, it is still in the envelope limp as can be............is that a bad sign that I took the pod off too soon........

Hi ladies... well, due to yet another crisis in my life, it will be the weekend before I can get my set-up started. Sorry! I will post photos as soon as I have it done. I will be anxiously watching for your results!

Karen

I just posted pictures on the wrong thread!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was supposed to be here...........whatever am I doing??? dunno!!!

VA Wild Rose, I hope nothing serious is going on.....

I'll post something to give detail to it all in time... but yes, it's serious, and it's a very trying time right now. Dave's Garden has been a huge blessing, escape, and help to me during some very difficult months.

Know that I am hangin' in there...

Karen

We will al be thinking of you....so sorry, Karen...

Thank you....

Ladies... my unforseen circumstances kept me home from work today, but in the end, it was a wasted day off... well, almost! The only way I have to relieve stress these days is with my plants, so I have taken advantage of the time at home, and have been enjoying tending to my "garden".

I just sterilized my mix, and I am waiting for it to cool. I will be using a mix of one part vermiculite, one part perlite, and two parts peat. I too, will be using a to-go salad container.

I will post this evening, with photos, when I am done.

Karen

OK gals... the seeds are sown! I set it up just as described above, except I also added a very thin layer of vermiculite on top of the mix. Used distilled water to moisten, sprinkled seeds on top, and misted with distilled water. On my bright windowsill with the other biodome. Also sowed the remaining Sinn. 'Rio das Pedras' seed I had from Jan, the exact same way... I will add that to the "Shared Seed Update".

Open dome...

Close-up...

And the closed dome...

And now, the wait begins!!! Good luck ladies!!!

Karen

Karen, whatever it is you're going through, I hope it all works out for you very soon. If there's anything we can do to help, let us know. :o) Big hugs to you...

They're up!!! That's just 6 days!! Yaaayyy!!! I can barely see them, they're so tiny and I have to look across the pot, not down at it to see them at all. Here are a couple pictures.

There are two in that last picture that you can see well, and in both pictures you can see several fuzzy greenish dots. All those are seedlings! I tried to get a wider shot in this one. There seems to be quite a few coming up already, and if they're like Strep seeds, more will continue to germinate over the next several days.

Brenda, yours were sown 2 days after mine, so maybe late tomorrow or the next morning you'll start seeing them. I want pictures! LOL

And here I thought I was being silly when I got home from 3 days down in the city and before I even unloaded the car I climbed up on a stool to look at my Fuzz / pecan pie :)) box on top of the fridge!! LOL

I'll have my eyes peeled now!


Rose I know what you mean about the plants being a stress reliever, I'm glad you have them to help you through....

~Brenda

Wow!!! That's incredible that they are already up. Yay!!!! I know how I felt looking at the gessie dome from "Shared Seed Update"... every morning and evening... peering in through the condensation on the sides! LOL!

I'm happy for you Rain, and thank you...

Today, things went from bad to worse, and I don't know what to do... I know an explanation would be helpful... I just have to sort it out in my head first. Please, just keep me in your prayers, and know that all of you do so much just being here... in my happy place!

Karen

LOL Brenda, I think we all know what it's like to rush in the door and check on our plants first thing. Besides, there's that whole "watched pot never boils" thing, and you weren't there to watch it, so who knows what could have happened! ;o) Give 'em a peek this morning, just to see! LOL

Karen, of course I'll keep you in my prayers, and you visit your happy place as much as possible. :o) I sure hope things get better for you very soon. More big hugs to you. :o)

I looked first thing this morning : )) and nothing yet but I'm sure it will be soon. The vast difference in our temps could slow mine down by a week or so I guess but I'll keep looking on a daily basis now!
~Brenda

I'm anxious to hear if maybe yours are up today, Brenda. It's been two days since mine peeked through, so I hope you see some happy seedling faces this morning! :o) I'm sure your weather could slow them down a bit, but they're probably nice and warm on top of the fridge, so hopefully they haven't noticed.

Still no little Fuzz popping it's head up. I even got out my husbands reading glasses so I could look real close! :0) At this rate Rose is going to pass me right up! :)

~Brenda

Well pooh! I sure was hoping they'd poke through today. Maybe tomorrow! They'll be along soon, I'm sure. Are they still plenty moist? Don't let them dry out. :o)

do you have light on top of the fridge? they need light to germinate....

(sorry I'm not too chatty - too little online time this week....)

Yep, they have the nice OTT light on them and I just gave them a light misting tonight. They had not dried out but I figured just a light mist wouldn't hurt them. We shall see what tomorrow holds!

~Brenda

Well it's tomorrow and still no green fuzz heads for me! I'm patient, well not really, :0) but I will be in this case, surely they will come up for me in the next week or so!
~Brenda

Oooohhh Brenda! I can't stand it! LOL I guess weather really does make a difference.

Here's a picture of mine this morning. I can't remember when it is that I'm supposed to start jostling them with a toothpick, so I'll have to go find one of the places Ki has given that info. It's still too soon, I think.

wow!!!!!!!!!!! Rain!!!! You and jannich win the prize for these babies this morning!!!

I certainly hope it is the weather and not user error! But I wouldn't be surprised at the latter. :0) My DH installed a real 24 inch grow light above the fridge yesterday. It was too a good a space to waste! So now maybe I'll see some action!
~Brenda

I can't imagine you did anything wrong, Brenda. Just make sure they're moist. I know there's a fine line between too wet so that they rot and just moist enough, but the lid of mine is covered in condensation.

Congratulations on the grow light!! That's a good idea.... ;o)

I've had the condensation that looks like yours since yesterday when the real grow light went in so maybe it needed the added warmth! With the OTT light the condensation was just real light around the edges. So lets see if late is better than never with getting the real light set up!

Added bonus to all of this is that my the top of my fridge is clean and dust free now! :)) I wouldn't climb up there for just dust but with different babies now trying to grow I have to keep it clean for them! LOL

~Brenda

good reason to clean the top of the fridge to me!!!!

Maybe that would be a good trade off...I'll clean off the top of the fridge if my husband will put up a grow light for me. :o) Always thinkin'... LOL

I'm sure you'll see their little green faces smiling at you soon. I don't think there are extremely strict seed-starting rules. We all do the best we can with what we have and, fortunately, it works most of the time. :o)

lol...I had hubby put a grow light over the fridge last summer...had him replace the bathroom fluorescent with grow lights too....I hang a couple orchids in there, and keep the two hibiscus trees, and the oleander in there over the winter. Opened up a lot of new window space for me.

Still nothing..... I'm now going to go with the old proverb that a watched pot never boils and I'm not looking again until Thursday!! LOL I leave for a four day trip that day so then I'll have to wait again, then if I have nothing I'm going to figure that the lack of real grow lights in the beginning messed mine up. I know, I'm getting ahead of myself. I shall just see what Thursday holds.... :))

~Brenda