i ordered me a african violet from ebay
one on left is from ebay named kings treasure,and she sent me 6 free leaves2 of each (,b man;s delia) ( tommie lou)(o'scarlet o hara
and these are from cedar creek violets
back left is ( kentuckey baby sister) one on top right was a free plant named ( christmas holly) a nematanthus.
in front on right is (kentuckey blue bonnet) the one if front on left is kentuckey baby bells
there real health and not a leaf broken
Starfly, I am soooo happy for you. I didn't even know that Cedar Creek sold the av plants. They are one of my favorite suppliers of av leaves and their prices on leaves beats any other supplier I know of.
Yeah for you and thanks for letting us know about the plants from Cedar Creek.
gail
Nice plants!
That Nematanthus has me intrigued- Never heard of theChristmas Holly one
Wonder what color the blooms will be?
I just remembered my nematanthus is outside on the porch and it is going to be 36 tonight...........running to find it.........it is just like yours, Eunice........
Just looked up the N Christmas Holly. Lyndon Lyon says it's a profuse bloomer!
They had some cool ones I would really like on the site!
One that's on my wish/gotta have list is Codonatanthus Vista.
is the nematanthus easy to grow
gessiegail
do you have a picture of yours,this is my first one of these
hope i don't kill it.
can't wait ti see king treasure in bloom
i have order from cedar creek before
and there really fast getting them to you
I am embarrassed to tell you I ran outside frantically to grab mine and it is not the same kind of plant (LOL)!!!!!!!!
One is a codanthus 'Paula' and the other is a variegated (starts with an l) lipstick plant.
I have 3 on the gro light stand i grew from seed. There are called nemathanthus 'yellow australis'. They are still babies but the leaves do look just like yours. Let me see if i can find my camera.......just a sec
When I put the memory card in, there were a couple of more pics so i will share them with you, also.
Isn't it amazing what gro lights and fertilizer do for these little fellows? This Samantha is a tiny little thing trying to get some healthy leaves without rotting and she is blooming at the same time.
I picked up this baby starter plant last summer of 'Petticoats n blue' at the Hill Country African Violet nursery. She is really a pretty plant with her very variegated voliage and blooms. I took this pic the other night and tonight she is literally covered in blooms.
Gail- your Codonatanthus is so cute!
ANd where did you get your shelves with the grates? Great humidity trays!
Hi Diane,
These perma nest trays and grids i can't live without. I literally wick every single plant under gro lights. I order the permanest trays 10 at a time from Park Seed because you get a better deal when you order 10 at a time. Normally Park offers them for 6.50 each (they last a life time really). If you order 10 they are sold at 49.95 plus shipping. 11x22"
You can also order them from Violetshowcase but he has to charge a little more.......although I did notice the other day that he is now offering the a grid (which normally sells for 4.00) and the tray for 13.??
Some people just go buy the grid (it is what you see at Lowes or anywhere that covers fluorescent lighting and then either have it cut or cut it yourself. I am not very nifty with tools (LOL) so I just order the trays from Parks and the grids from Violetshowcase. (violetshowcase has an online catalog that open as Adobe pdf??????) You will where you can download the catalog. He has wonderful supplies!!
LOL I showed the pic to my husband and he said -That's what covers the lights on flourescents. I told him- no it can't be because it fits too perfectly in the base. Thanks a lot Gail! Now I have to eat crow and tell him he was ~r~i~g~h~t. Ugh that was hard to write!LOL
This message was edited Dec 3, 2007 10:54 PM
On the shelves I bought this weekend I put it together with the middle shelvs upside down. With the idea of putting gravel for humidity in the indention of what would have the the bottom of the shelf. Would be a more stable place to put pots with that stuff on it huh! I can admit he was right to get him to cut the stuff for me!LOL
If you keep your trays with water and fertilizer full all the time, you don't need any more humdity even in Lubbock. (I wouldn't think anyway) All that open water under the plants adds greatly to the humdity.
My last set of 14 grids I ordered he didn't cut perfectly and they tend to sag in the middle of the tray.......bummer!! But they still work fine.
So you just wick your pots with that and don't have to water?! I could live with that if that's the case!
ok gail tell me about this wicking the plants the way you have it set up.
i don't have time to water when mine needs it,im at hospital so much, i water some of my streps to much and they rotted
i had to throw out so many, sound like your set up is what i need.,need pictures please
Eunice
Hi All;
The only bad thing about wicking with a central watering tray, is when one gets sick, they all get sick. I use to wick that way, but then decided to do indivual wicking with small 8 oz. deli containers.I put holes in the lids & wick that way.It really works great.good luck.
mrsbonnie
Great Plants, Starfly! They all look so healthy! I must try Cedar Creek in spring!
I found this when googling Nematanthus 'Christmas Holly' - it looks like a little holly plant in a way, very pretty!
http://www.gesneriads.ca/nematan4.htm
I am headed to the doctor but will post when I get back. Snowrose is the one who taught me the value of wicking. Also, the man at Hill Country African Violet nursery in Boerne must have 200 wicking out of the same reservoir.
I use a miticide twice a year just for safety...............easy to do............just spray the plants with AVid .............may not even need to do it as a preventative. All the professional use the grids for watering as far as I know. At the local and state conventions everyone uses a little perlite in the bottom of each wicked plant. (I just learned that so you don't ever over water)
I even wick all my streps.
But, as I pot up all new plants, I am going to add a little perlite in the bottom of each container..................
be back at noon with lots of pictures......
mrsbonnie
when you wick do you leave water all the time in the little container with the string in the water
I add to the reservoirs of water as they need it. The perma nest tray holds about one gallon in which I have added some fertilizer to the gallon.
I have some pictures to show the wicking. Remember I didn't know this until I came to DG.
I buy the string # 18 for size solo to 21/2 inch pots and #36 for 3" and up pots.
This is a #36 string that I put down the hole on one side and bring it up and across on the other side (to be sure the water gets evenly distributed) and use a sharp knife to knick the side and hold the string so it stays in place.
Here is a solo cup I use for potting up new babies. i don't cut a niche on the side.
When they are first planted up I don't wick them even though they have a wick in them.
These are new babies and they don't get put on the grid yet. At this stage I put a dome on them for only a couple of days. I also use a little squirt bottle or eye dropper to water them. They have to get strong enough yet to go on a grid wicking full time.
These are leaves growing and I water them from below . I think a lot of people wick their leaves but i don't until I separate the babies from the mama leaf.
The only plants I wick individually are those which are too big and take up too much space on a grid.
I also use these containers to wick for all my chiritas.
This picture is just to show you how large the standards get. i wouldn't be able to put more than 2 or 3 on a grid in a perma nest tray.
These brand new strep plantlets have wicks but they don't get to go on a grid yet, either. I need to be able to control the amount of moisture they get at this stage.
Here are baby streps getting large enough to sit on the grid and wick away from the water below which has fertilizer in the water.
Here are some regular streps being wicked until they get so big they, too, will need an individual reservoir of their own
a few more streps being wicked with the number 36 string (unless it is a really small pot)
These are mid size standards and I can still get 6 on a grid.
Here are some small african violets on the grid but not big enough to put in to a 3" pot yet.
Diane and Eunice,
I hope I haven't totally confused you all.
Starfly you certainly got yourself a nice selection of new plants! Little beauties. Are nematanthus also the plants we commonly call Gold Fish plants??
I bought a big Gold Fish plant in full bloom about a year ago and have never gotten it to bloom again. They were such beautiful orange little fishies swimming all over that plant and I want to see them again. Someday maybe, the plant is beautiful and I love the leaves but I want those flowers! LOL
Fabulous tutorial on the wicking Gail! Love all the pictures. That is a great idea to take the string across the pot so the water is evenly distributed. And your plants are just awesome as usual. I haven't set up a system like this yet but someday I will.
In the picture that says they are mid sized violets is that your new Iceberg violet in the back row in the middle? Love it!!
~Brenda
thanks , this is my first nematanthus, so i don't know much about it, been reading and asking questions today,
Eunice,
If you couldn't see the string white on white......others couldn't either.
Here is a new one to see
Brenda, I need to get up the courage and take some leaves off of 'iceberg'. I did on the other plants but I love her so much I need to get some leaves going for all of us!
thanks gail
