I misunderstood the directions and covered the soil with both perlite and heavy vermiculite..........gave up and just hadn't thrown them away yet.................strain your eyes hard and see the babies from the seed that Snowrose sent.............I am beside myself............that I messed up so badly and they are still sprouting!!!!!!!!!!!!
I see them!!!!!!
this is just waaaaaaaaaaaay too much excitement for me...............thanks 3gardeners
Awesome Gail, it's so exciting when these seeds sprout!! Your going to have streps coming out your ears now! :0))
~Brenda
I am in total disbelief, Brenda..............i messed up everything when I planted...........I stripped the vein out of 'Spiritual Corridor' and the leaves are looking good.........put them in straight vermiculite as that has seemed to be the only thing that works for me..............you ought to see a picture of this strep .................I hope I have lots of babies because she is a beauty..........it is easier for you to look up Spiritual Corridor than it is for me to find the picture in my own unorganized pictures.........
How are yours coming with the vein out and planted........I remember your post..............
I went and took some pictures of my babies, they are growing so fast!!!
I'll be interested to see how fast your seedlings grow :))))
~Brenda
Another angle....
~Brenda
Can someone lend me their glasses? :) hee hee .... Great Growin as usual Miss Gail! I planted some Strep Daniel X Self seeds that I got from Jannich and they started to sprout (a light mix of perlite & soil) .... only a couple showing their teeny green heads - sure are slow! And, I'm not very patient! It looks like there aren't as many as when they first began to sprout ... I'm hoping the couple still showing don't disappear too! It's my first try at Strep seeds or any Gessie seeds for that matter! I have grown a lot of plants/flowers from seed in my day but these babies are really taking their time! I sowed some in straight LFS and that group never did anything. I'm not giving up! I just need to get the planting medium/soil/perlite/LFS whatever correct, I guess. I should try your method of putting vermiculite and perlite on top of the soil! I need a step by step tutorial.
Ooooh Brenda, look at all those babies! What cuties! Ok .... tell us what planting mix you used!
hee hee ... I tried that splitting the leaf down the middle and removing the vein .... it didn't work either ... nada, zilch, nothing! Leaves just shriveled up and disappeared/died!
Brenda, I am sooooooooooooooooo jealous that yours are looking great...........have no idea if mine will make it in straight vermiculite................
Lin, I did what I was told on the seeds except that I didn't need to add any perlite on the top and I needed the fine crushed vermiculite which I did not have..............I think SnowRose may have added a little spaghnum moss on the top , too.............not sure..........
I will go take a picture of my leaves in vermiculite of 'Spiritual Corridor"
if this method doesn't work, then I will go back to what Brenda used ................
this is what she looked like when i bought her........spiritual corridor..........now look how big she is...........in a short time even with me taking leaves from her all the time..............
i will show her now in the next picture
she is not this color............she is dark purple with dark yellow and black centers.........
I am sooo jealous! I have great luck with AV's and Chirita's ... a couple of Episcia's are doing pretty good, but Strep's .... I am having no luck! Do you wick your Strep's? I have everything else wicked, should I repot them with wicks too?
I'm leaving this weekend to go visit my sister in North Georgia for 8 days ... maybe I better do it before I leave or they will probably be dead when I get back on August 6th. Hubby doesn't have time to water everything. I am leaving him instructions to turn the hose on out on the back decks and make sure everything out there is watered while I'm gone. Everything else is on it's own. I'm leaving the lights off on my plant stands inside ... that's what I did when we were gone for a week in early June and everything survived fine. I will water all of my house plants indoors and the ones on the front porch and the ones in the Florida room before I leave so hopefully they will survive my absense. This week we've had some cooler temp's ... mid-high 80's instead of the mid to high 90's of the past couple of weeks. I sure hope these 80 degree temps hang around awhile longer ....
Gail ... she is Beautiful! ..... and Huge! I'm beginning to think I don't want to get to involved with Strep's - I'm short on space as it is and it looks like they need a lot of space!
Yes, but they don't need lights, Lin..................they just like it cool..............cooler than episcias or avs..........I am close to giving up on standard avs...............only 3 look gorgeous and the rest one could take it or leave it..........I can't seem to get the wicking right..........either too wet or too dry............
Yes, i do wick my streps and they love it..........i use a very light soil-less mix with tons of perlite in it.............even lighter than my avs..............I use those Volkman white reservoirs...............your husband can simply stick his finger in your streps and if they aren't moist, water them from the top.........they love it!!!!!!!!!!
*****minis and trailers are so easy and standard avs are hard to me...............
This message was edited Jul 25, 2007 10:58 PM
Isn't that funny ... I have great luck with most standards and the only mini's I've had good luck with are the ones you sent me! I'm just learning with the Episcia's and so far so good. My Chirita's are all doing great ... I have them wicked too. I need to try and get it straight as to which ones like it cool. I was thinking it was the Chirita's and Episcia's? Maybe that's my problem with Strep's ... maybe they need cooler temps and I don't know how to give them that!
AV's I have on light stands. Chirita's are on the top of the stand and I put them in an East Facing Window every day. Episcia's I put in an East Facing Window every day too. Strep's I have on the top of another stand (no lights) in a South Facing Window that is bright light but no sun. Maybe they should be right under the air conditioner vent. They are in the coolest room in the house, the guest bedroom which is on the East side of the house. Maybe if I can keep them alive they will perk up in the winter time!
When you say you use a soil-less mix what exactly do you mean? I keep hearing that term and to me soil-less would be with absolutely no soil. I use Schultz AV potting soil with lots of perlite. I recently had to repot a few AV's with more perlite in the soil. I usually go by the color of the mix ... more white than brown! I don't use vermiculite anymore ... still have one bag not opened and another half full. Wonder if I should begin using that in with the soil/perlite mix? I think I've got my AV's and Chirita's right ... they are all looking pretty good and blooming nicely. But, the jury's still out on the proper care of the Episcia's and Streps.
Lin, "soil" means dirt like you'd have outside in your garden. Soil-less mix means potting mix, made from ingredients such as peat moss, coconut fiber, bark fines, vermiculite, perlite, etc.
Wow, great results with all your propagating, ladies!! :-)
Thanks Critter .... I needed a clarification on that! Although, I do use potting mix when I plant stuff outside in the ground too .... our "dirt" here in this part of Florida is all sand with maybe some crushed shell at times. I don't like planting stuff in the bagged top soil so I usually use a good grade of potting soil for my garden plants. And, for anything grown as house plants I mix a good grade of potting soil with perlite.
To me it is just confusing when all the bagged stuff you buy says potting "soil" and everyone talks about using soil less which I took to mean less soil or no soil .... LOL. Hey .... I can confuse myself at times - not hard to do at all!
Schultz av potting mix mixed with perlite almost 1/2and 1/2 works for everything inside the house................inlcuding the gesneriad family, Lin.....................
I see them really I do. I can't see worth a darn but I looked real hard and see those babies.
That's exactly what I use Gail! Shultz AV mix and lots of perlite.
hee hee ..... I was teasing about not seeing those babies! I do have poor eyesight and wear contact lenses for distance .... can't drive without them, and I have to wear reading glasses over the contact's to read teeny print! But, Gail's little babies are visible .... just barely, but they are there! Can't wait to see photo's as they grow. I know they will do well for Gail cause she is a pro!
Lin I used a lightened up AV soil when I put those strep leaves down. It is barely lightened up with some perlite. Don't know how it worked but I'm happy!:))))
I had not found DG yet when I put them down but had found some of the same sights that are on the stickies by searching around myself. So this was the result...
I noticed just last night that the leaves I put down in perlite are sending up a couple of babies. I made such a mess out of those that I am amazed anything came up at all. There isn't much up but I did pull all the leaves up 2 or 3 weeks ago to see if they had roots (they did) so that didn't help as I didn't get them all reburied well. It is such an ugly mess with the perlite all green from over watering and not having drain holes that I won't even take pictures of it. LOL I put them down on the 17th of June so a week or two faster in getting babies up than my original ones in the soil less mix.
~Brenda
This message was edited Jul 26, 2007 1:30 PM
Brenda .... you must have perfect conditions for those babies! I will try again, some time .... and try to do it better! It is so neat seeing those sprouts showing their little heads!
Brenda, I forgot to put the holes in mine.............both of them...........so I took one of those lighters you light candles with (the long ones) and burned big holes in the bottom of the plastic (LOL)...............now I have holes in the bottom.............to drain........
Woohoo,way to go Gail.
Good morning Gail...
How long ago did you put your strep seeds down? I'm thinking that I made the same mistake with my Sinn. Leucotricha seeds, by putting the thin layer of vermiculite down. Haven't given up on them yet... but I haven't seen one single sprout, and Amy and Brenda had sprouts in one week and about three weeks.
Thanks... Karen
I hate to tell you but i didn't mark a date...........but I know it has been almost a month............don't give up..............mine don't look any different today that that picture I showed yu at the top.................just hanging in there...........
