Hi All;
I thought i would post some pictures of all the new leaves i have put down. I decided to experment with different mediums. so i will show you how they are doing so far. here is on flat put down useing peat pellets.
new leaves
this one is in dirty moss
this is stright pearlite
in growing in all the different mediums, i can say so far the best is either stright peat uncovered, or dirty moss uncovered. I use to use stright pearlite on everything & covered & found they rotted real quick.
bonnie
What is dirty moss?
it's a mix of pearlite, & spag. moss.the moss keeps the mixture damp
Thank you-- I am tempted to try AV's again--leaves would be the best way for me to go-- if I can get them to grow. I will probably wait til spring and then give it a shot.
Whoo Hoo Bonnie,your going to have a lot of strep babies.
I did a experiment with leaves too.I did half perlite/vermiculite,straight perlite.water, and some in a baggie with soil like a lady told me she does it.So far the perlite/vermiculite is the fastest to root.
If I send you leaves, Hillbilly Gran, and you throw them away, I might do something drastic............I thought you wanted to try based on your dmail.
Wow! Great job, Bonnie! What a great looking nursery! Some of you gals are such professionals, I should take lessons! Well ... actually I need lessons in patience! LOL.
I tried AV leaves in straight perlite one time, domed them and they all rotted! I have found it is just waaay too humid here to root that way. I have some luck in a mixture of perlite/vermiculite with no dome and also have been successful with a mix of potting soil and lots of perlite, no dome. My problem is, I lose interest and then forget about them and they end up dying before they even have a chance to get to any size! I think I have just way too many different plants. I keep saying maybe if I concentrated on just one family of plants instead of so many different ones I'd be able to have the blooming beauties that you all do!
I NEVER EVER NEVER throw plants away gessiegail! Whatever did I say to give you that idea? I thought we were talking strep leaves in the d-mail. I am dying to be successful with those. What I was referring to in the above post was african violet leaves. I have not grown african violets at all for several years and am wanting to try some of those again-- from leaves--but was going to wait until spring before I BUY any to try. While I appreciate your generous offer of leaves, be they strep or av, it really isn't necessary for you to send any, especially if you think I would be so ungrateful as to throw them out.
Tommie
Oh, Tommie...........................you don't know me...................I was teasing...............sorry about that.................and I will get them out to you.
I can't get over how many strep leaves Bonnie has down! That is amazing........Question, Bonnie. Do you stick holes in the bottom of a permanest tray for drainage?
Now you are making me wonder if I want to copy you with perlite and spaghnum moss?????????
Hey Gail :No there are no holes in the trays.I spray them almost every day to be sure they don/t dry up. I use that wonderful mist & pour that heidi got for me, it's perfect for the trays of leaves, as to pour water into the trays would be way to wet.
bonnie
In the spring I hope your going to sell some of your babies on the marketplace.LOL. ^_^
I hope you keep us posted on how they do. The first strep leaf I ever tried to put down was Echo. Two years ago I went to Travis with our violet club and seen some of his streps blooming, he only had a few and I bought one of each. They were my first ones. He had only the stock plant of echo so he said I could have a leaf. Well I put it down just like my violet leaves, put the cut stem end down into a clear plastic deli container with moist violet mix soil. It rooted and I got 3 plants from it. I couldnt get any other strep leaves to root. I've tried all kinds of ways, even visited Kathy Spissman and SHE showed me how she does it and I've just had no luck. Well not no...cause for every 10 I might get one and then I have a hard time keeping those little ones alive. So I'd pretty much given up on rooting them and then I seen some kohleria cuttings started in the moss, so I thought HEY! Out of 4 different variety leaves only one is still viable and has a tiny root (and I shouldn't have disturbed it to look, but I just had to!). I have a friend she just put pieces of leaves, any leaves, streps, violets, other gessies in a big pot of soil and they grew plants! Just couldn't believe it. I'm great with violet leaves most of the time, but streps, almost no kind of luck - or skill... at all! tish
I think I am not bad at growing strep leaves and I lose about 4 out of tray and sometimes more. I feel lucky if I can get 10 and lose only 1 or 2.............that doesn't bother me.
I always dome the babies when I plant them up in tiny solo cups as streps have such shallow roots. I don't think most people realize that they have to use some containers for a long time with streps.
HiLilypad;
I have had my share of troubles with mostly strep leaves,i either get quite a few or none. but that was when i did them in stright pearlite with a dome. i think without a dome is probably better, not so much humidity as long as you don't forget to keep them mosit.i check mine daily.the moss keeps the leaves pretty green i noticed as it keeps the mositure in. so far so good.the moss seems to have less rot out of all of them.by the way i am going to a av show this week end, anyone looking for something in particular? let me know
mrsbonnie
I am thinking that maybe the naturally acidic pH of the moss may help with rot?
could be,i'm just glad they have not already rotted as some do so quickly.
mrsbonnie
what ratio of moss to perliite do you use? 50/50?
i bet she doesn't use much...................that moss is soooooooo moisture retentive.........
for the dirty moss, i use 1/2 pear;lite & 1/2 spag moss.
bonnie
wow..........I was wrong wrong wrong................can't imagine. I tried one time growing streps in spag. moss...........what a mess. I couldn't get the roots out of the moss and never did it again..................that might not happen with babies???????
Kathy Spissman uses those tall domes on her trays with the vents that can be opened. She said she can't get those with the vents anymore though. She thinks the rooting leaves and babies like that extra air space. It works well for her. tish
Park Seed still carries them and they also carry The Whopper. I just ordered two of the Whopper with the vents...............The whoppers are great for lopping the tops off of episcias, etc.
I need some suggestions from you all. I am going to take the mid vein out (I have done this before and I get so many babies, I have to be careful what I get 30 babies from)
I have already done it to Franken Copper Knob and Raspberry Splash
The following plants have nice big sturdy leaves on them right now. Please tell me what your favorite 5 or 6 out of these are. (you are helping me a lot since I don't always know what people like........as I like them all) I never saw a strep I didn't like. Midas was my first and I have a leaf of her down now.
Here is the list of what to choose from as I don't have space for more than 10 of these to take the mid vein out...........
1. Spooky
2. Cantebury Surprise
3. Bristol's Moon Moth
4. Russian Pink
5. Space Dust
6. Hot Ticket
7. Happy Snappy
8. Guideline
9. Cape Essence
10. Aly's Autumn Joy
11. Sunsweet (LL)
12. Sensation
13. Bristol's Paw Print
14. Cape Baby
15. Wild Irish Rose
16. Georgette
17. Franken Jane Elisabeth
18. Iced Wine
19 Shenandoah Shiloh (very netted)
Thank you so much...............I may go to the other threads on the AV forum and ask them for help, too. I like to root them in these plastic orchid corsage boxes because they don't seal well and that allows air to circulate.
Gail - here is my suggestions: Iced Wine, Spooky, Bristol's Moon Path, Space Dust, and Wild Irish Rose.
thank you...........I love all of those you said...........and I really love Wild Irish Rose..........those are great picks and I appreciate your time..............
I don't know anything about them . . . haven't checked the strep site yet, but I really like the names!
you are bad, syrumani!
I vote Space Dust, Bristols Paw Print & Shenandoah Shiloh ^_^
I love Paw Print red and the webbing and netting on Shenandoah Shiloh...........this is really helping me................
Well, I mean . . . anything containing a type of alcohol in the name has GOT to be good . . . it is almost Halloween, so I thought Spooky and Bristol's Moon Path would be nice contributions . . . I like Star Trek, so Space Dust is very fitting . . . and, well, can't ignore the Irish ancestry . . .
This is supposed to be serious (LOL) I can't take the mid vein out of all these leaves or I won't have any room for streps and other plants to grow!
You posted a list, and asked for opinions . . . you didn't say what criteria to use! ^_^
Hey............did our leaves come in?????????? Nichole and I bid together on african violet leaves...............we will be inundated with leaves.........and I don't even like african violets........except to grow them......(LOL)
Yes, we have a box! Let me get the kids in bed, and I'll dmail you!
Your "poor" kids. You just crack me up like my daughter does. When she has something she really needs to do..........it is bed time for the kids! (LOL)
I feel remiss in not welcoming you to the AV forum, Trish................hang around like the rest of us did to learn. I bought my first african violet a year ago January and didn't even have a gro light stand. Now I am hooked and am learning to even stick strep leaves and so can you. I don't mess with the moss as it doesn't like me...........I am sticking to a lot of perlite 2/3 to 1/3 very light mix of soil-less mix or just perlite and vermiculite...................
gail
The pictures and talk about streps are making me crazy. I can't get one to grow! I do great wth AV's they thrive! But my poor little streps just faded and wilted away. I don't know what I do wrong. I bought them over the internet and they came healthy (though little)
and the first one died right off and the other too perished slowly. Sad...!
Hi There;
You need to get a decent size strep to work with, the little ones from ebay are barely big enough for the expeienced growers.I have a good sized plant of space dust, not blooming true you can try if you would like to.It won't need repotting for awhile as i just did that. so you can put in on your shelves with your violets & see how it does if you like.i do wick mine, but you don't have to if you would rather not. so if you want to try this send me a dmail with your add.you would have to pay shipping, it's usually 4.95 priorty mail.
mrsbonnie
