I have found the coolest place on the internet for violets. It is violetshowcase.com. They see starter plants and rooted leaves for 2.50 each. I bought 5 different violet plants and a chirita. Here is a picture of them set up in my kitchen window. It is a south facing window and I hope it will give them enough light till I can get a light stand. Wish me luck as I begin my adventure with gesneriads.
I sure do wish you luck. Seems begonia lovers like gesneriads and vice versa. Violetshowcase is very good for supplies also.
Looks Like You Are Well On Your Way To A Housefull : ) **Warning** They Are Very Addictive...LOL..But Ohh...What a Wonderful Addiction To Have : )Good Luck To You!
Alright Begoniadude! Way to go! You will love these Gessie plants! And, like Cedarnest said .... you will become addicted. There are a lot of enablers on this forum too! I know .... they all made me start collecting these plants. :)
Now, about light stands! You can buy those real expensive jobs for @$500, maybe more or you can do like I did and go to Wal-Mart or Target and buy those black iron shelves - I found them in the hardware department at Wal-Mart - 4 shelf stands were $29.99. I got a couple at target that were on sale for $15.99. Then I just bought the lights in the lighting department in Wal-Mart (near the hardware area where they sell light bulbs). My husband just used some thin wire to wire the lights on for me. I took someone else's idea and put some old floor tiles on the shelves which makes it sturdier for the reservoir pots. It works great. Here's a pic of one of my stands:
Welcome to the AV/Gessie Forum! You will love it here! And ... I bet in another month your plants will have doubled or maybe even tripled in numbers!
I went to walmart and they did not have one for under 50.00 .. I want to set this up also....
Susan
Great little tikes you have there.
Wonderful looking plants.
Susan
Susan: Did you check in the hardware department? I just went to their website and this is the one I bought 2 of at the beginning of this year for $29.99 in store! I guess maybe they have raised their prices! A LOT!
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4433074
If you have a Target near you, check there too. NEVER mind ... I just checked their website and they have the identical one as walmart but on line it's $69.99!
Here's a heavy duty shelf like ones a lady in our local AV club uses. She buys the lights like I got from Wal-Mart (@$8.97) and wires them to the underneath of the four shelves. I used to find those PVC shelves that one shelf snapped down into another so you could make them taller .... wonder why no one carries those anymore? Here's one from K-Mart for $29.99 .... they might carry them in the stores. http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_005W785720110001P?vName=Tools+%26+Outdoors&keyword=shelving
And one from Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100010588&N=10000003+525793+90401&marketID=90401&locStoreNum=8125
Well I went down stair to the forbidden zone...LOL I just dont go on that side of the basement... I remembered a shelving and yup still there... Told hubby I was not spending 60 bucks a pop for them at walmart so I was taking those... They hold nothing but junk so now I am claming them... They are heavier then the others and there is also a smaller one there...I think that one is 3 tier.. Will check it out... Now ladies if you dont hear from me in a day or two you all know the monters on that side of the basement got me ... call Ghostbusters please...LOL
Susan
LOL Susan .... and I am really launging out loud! Too cute! What a find! Wish we had a basement for me to go searching through! My hubby has junk in the garage and the second garage out back that I call the shed. It actually has a garage door but it's never been used for cars ... just lawn mowers and lawn equipment and a LOT of junk ... but no shelving for me to use. There are some old steel shelves out there piled high with stuff that I can't even get to because of the other junk in front of them! My hubby is a pack rat .... saves boxes that electronic's come in. I believe he still has the cardboard boxes that his stereo equipment came in when he was in the Navy 34 years ago!! Of course that garage/shed has a lot of my stuff too! I have those rubbermaid containers stacked ten to twelve feet high ... full of Christmas decorations. And, I have pots and potting soil and gardening such like that out there too. Even if I could get to those steel shelves, I wouldn't bring them in ... they are very rusty! Hey .... wait a minute, I've got spray paint!
LOL Mine are not rusty or I dont think they are...Have not gotten up the courage to go down and start taking crap off.. He went golfing ...I'm going junk hunting...
We have a very large basement with two finished rooms that were the boys and one still lives there..LOL I just dont use the basement ...
Ok taking a deep breath and going down ...LOL I can't lift the things...LOL
Susan
Well the Chirita is headed downhill fast. It lost two more leaves today. It looks kind of like damp off. Are they usually so fragile?
begoniadude - I see you are wicking your plants which is great as long as the soil mix is very light and porous. Chiritas especially as they can take more dryness as a general rule than violets. What are you using for your mix? Get the chirita off the reservoir and let it dry some now. Maybe it can be saved.
I had two huge Chirita leaves from C. Aiko that I decided to wick and put on the reservoir pots .... bad choice. They were staying too wet. I took them off the reservoir pots today. One has little baby "ears" showing so I hope I can save them!
I took it off the wick and we will see if drying it out will help. Thanks folks.
Keep us posted!
I found my light stand and will be ordering it in October. What a deal!
http://indoorgardensupplies.com/economy-stand-es4p-silver-frame-white-trays-p-624.html
Nice Begoniadude! I wish I had a table I could sit one like that on! And, it comes with the lights too!
Very nice! Good price for that too!
