Snow sent me some strep seeds.........I got so excited (and still am)..........they finally got big enough today to start separating and getting their own solo pots. This is by far the most tedious work I have done. This job makes separating baby avs from their mothers seem like a piece of cake!!!! (LOL)
Please show and tell us what have been some of your more challenging days......................we don't give up..............just keep trudging along with one more plant.............
Here is the group I am working on now.............solo cup with drainage, a wick in each one and then put the bottom 1/3 of the solo pot with perlite.................then some mix on top and one little separated baby gets its own home..........with more mix around the little plant.
and now they each have a home on a wet acrylic blanket piece in a tray............how did I know what to do????????????? I copied a picture that Snowrose posted of her babies.............
Wow, I see that is a lot of work. They look so healthy and grew from seed, wow. I'm sure you will think all this hard work paid off when you see the beautiful blooms. What is the name of the strep? (Are they all the same?)
I need to go back through my dmails and find out who the mother is...............she was a magnificent looking strep.........but i can't remember what Snow said.........................she indicated that i would get all shades of the mother..................
Gail...can you stick half a leaf? If you cut off a half a leaf will the half attached to the plant survive?
I don't know if this counts But I have been trying to grow leaves in a Terrarium and started this in May the end the one of the leaves is called Frozen in time and I am pretty happy about it. It has taken a long time
Threegardners you can cut half a leaf off of a strep and not hurt it at all. One of the many pluses about the streps!! They say you could reduce the leaves to nothing but a couple of inches and it will still bloom!!
Nice work Dimmer!
~Brenda
Gail how long did it take from when you planted the seeds until they got this big? I'm going to try my hand at it soon and just wanted to know what kind of time frame to expect.
It was a lot of work to separate out all the babies I had on the leaf halves because I did it when they were so small but this separating that you did takes the cake!!
~Brenda
Hey Kim,
Good Job.. I have the one you sent me still alive... WOW that is great for me...LOL I hope it gets like yours...
Hugs,
Susan
good going Kim..................glad you have one alive Susan....................once you succeed you are addicted to growing..................
Brenda........I can't remember because I didn't mark the date (just typical of me........losing names, not putting dates, etc.........trying to get better)
Here is a picture of strep seeds i wanted more than anything in the world.........they were sent to me..............and came from a variegated strep............a friend picked them up to 'ooh and ahh) and dropped the whole container on the floor.......I picked it up and shoveled it back in...........looks like I am going to get some plants...............these were planted about a month ago...........
here are just a few pics of strep leaves growing in all mediums (LOL) and in every container that i can find a dome for.......................to keep the humidity high until the babies can be hardened off...............slowly.............
can you see a couple of babies in there...........they are there............
i am still getting babies from this split leaf with the vein out................always wanting to do something different...........the straight vermiculite slowed this one down...........but she is going to make it..........
Which is the best way....putting the leaf like an AV or cutting it all up sideways? I have one leaf I am dying to experiment with.....
I have strep leaves planted everywhere and with every plant I can get under the dome (LOL)
can you find the little strep still attached to her mama leaf?????????
Please answer this question for me about AVs. When you start a plant from a leaf do you remove the originial leaf after there are small babies? I have several and didn't know if I left that leaf on or not. Thanks. Elaine
Threegardeners...........I wouldn't mess around with a new little plant taking leaves off.......they may not have a sturdy petiole to the leaf yet...............
Using one leaf about 3 or 4" of it or the whole leaf that size..........and sticking it like an av will most likely produce one good solid big strep.................when you cut across the leaf you get more growing points so you get more babies............but that is a little harder than doing it just like you would an av leaf.................
When the one baby starts to get big, cut the mother leaf back to about 2" so that all the energy goes into the baby and not a giant mother leaf..........
Thanks Gail...I'll be patient and wait for more leaves....
I only started growing avs back in January and here I am acting like I know what I am doing...........everything I have learned has come from someone here on DG..........i certainly don't know anyone locally who grows avs and streps................
Kamikid: Sometimes the mother leaf dies and the babies just keep growing..........other times the mother leaf stays so strong and healthy that I separate the mother leaf first by gently pulling her away from the babies so I can use her again in another solo pot to make babies........believe me..........you should know whether the mama leaf stayed with the babies because she will be either half dead or so strong you can use her again for more babies...............
At first i was scared to death to start pulling away baby plantlets.....but you can see each crown so clearly and know where to separate.......maybe I am not supposed to be doing this, but I put the root system under gentle water to try to be able to see the roots and crowns better................so I can separate easier..........
Just catching up on a few threads. Nice babies!You have been busy Gail.Don't ya just love it
Yes i do love it very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so glad to see you hopping around DG..............
My most challenging thing is watering. I just don't keep up with it like I should. I'm slowly improving, but I really wanted to cry the other day when I discovered a pot of Strep seedlings that I had missed watering. Some of them were crispy. :o( I watered them and most have perked back up, but the leaf tips are still brown. Streps are tough, though, and they'll be fine, but I just want to kick myself when I do something stupid like that.
I know what you mean Rain...but sometimes it can't be helped no matter how diligent we are. I know myself, I have little pots of cuttings sitting around big pots...the layered effect, you know, and sometimes I just miss the little guys.
My Hibiscus tree....all that space around the trunk? I stick little pots of cuttings...even have a few tucked in the y of the branches.....sometimes they get overlooked.....
My biggest problem is overwatering................i tend to nurture my plants too much!!!!!!!!!!!
A little 'benign neglect' would be beneficial to mine!!!!!!!!!!! (LOL).................I think I have to fertilize every single time I add water............whether it is the reservoir below or just watering...................
When I watered all my plants outside (not the front porch ones) this afternoon......I carried my silly little gallon pot..........so that I first water with the hose and then pour the gallon of fertilizer in.............poor babies............they wish I would just water them and leave 'em alone
Ok now no body laugh and I will show my first attempt at growing from a leaf... I also would like to know how much I should cut the leaf of this coleus? I really like this one and I did not have it but when we went to get dinner one night I just took a cutting of the plant outside the place :-( Thanks for any help... I also must admit I am amazed that the little ones are even still green.. I am not sure when to water or not to water but I am trying thanks to Gail and I will get the hang of this yet..LOL I also have the very long Chirita you sent me Gail and it is alive... I am also going to try my hand at one in a glass bowl, Thanks to Kim....
Susan
Here is the coleus. Is she not beautiful?
SUsan
Susan.................there are several that look good......really good............keep them watered..............if you have dead plant material........get rid of it quickly.........that is where I get my bugs!!!!!!!!! when I don't keep the dead stuff removed....................(I still do it all the time)
I am real impressed..............and aren't coleus fun..........they root so easily and are so pretty....................good going !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gail,
I have another box also so all is not lost :-) Ok so is one of them dead that is brown in the picture? If so let me know and I will remove it tonight... I love the Coleus but it is really big and I am wondering if it will root well this size? I hate to say this but I have never root coleus this way always used water.. After talking with you I am trying to learn to root by diffrent ways... :-) I also took/have cutting of a Hibiscus I am rooting or trying and also another one but can't think of its name now...LOL Brain dead again... :-)
Oh and Gail here is a picture of the blooms of the cutting I sent... They are very pretty and bloom for me every year.. :-)
Susan
see.................we have our challenging days and then...........on days like today, I just look around and go..............'that's right.........this is worth the hard work'.................took a few pics while ago........love new blooms...............
this is the first time Sinningia 'Mackenzie' has had a double bloom...........
**********edited to say............susan..........what a beauty of a bloom on that begonia.......mine are rooting in water.........meaning so i will have even more...........
coleus roots in a week with a little humidity........we don't need covers .......our days are still in the 90's.....bummer
I have a hard time with hibiscus cuttings unless I have bottom heat............do what someone else said......put them on a heating pad (LOL)
This message was edited Oct 7, 2007 8:58 PM
She is pretty .. Nice going.. :-) Yes good days bad days... Just like life I think.. :-)
Susan
love these little purple doubles
even a double light purple..................
I will never quit growing this un named baby...........
a little fantasy bloom..............I am positive she has a name but her tag didn't make it to the tray with her!!!!
Lin............look what your chirita 'Stardust' did today..........opened up big time
Chirita Senensis threw this bloom up today
one of my two favorite purple Russian avs
Buckeye Candy Kisses .............
