Just wonder If a Kohlerias is not doing well can you maybe take the tip off and try and grow it in water or should you just stick it in dirt?
To Start a Kohlerias
Hi there Kim,You can root the tips,just stick it in soil and put it in a bag.
Forgot to tell you,you can root as big a piece as you want from a kohleria,just cut it and take the last 2 leaves off and put it in soil and bag.Don't throw away the leaves,root them ^_^
This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 6:33 PM
Do you sick the leaves in water or just in dirt? Thanks Jan
Just dirt.There really just weeds someplace and will grow anywhere ^_^
Very Pretty Plant ok I have put some in dirt and I was trying a tip in water to see what will happen. I have been making all kinds of new plants I have to stop now this will be very difficult when I move with all the plants I sure hope it is warm My sister is yelling at me LOL What are we going to do when we move all the plants Kim . Hope I have allot of cars with 4 doors
Jan,
I have a Kohleria question.Susan sent me a couple of dormant ones.One was in a pot of dirt and the other loose.I have been giving them only a tiny bit of water,like you would a dormant Sinn.They have not sprouted,but the 'worms' are still firm and healthy looking.I dug down in the pots to check it out.Should I be watering more freely?
Lynn
How can you tell if a Kohleria is going dormant?
Usually new growth stops and the top growth starts dying back.
Really . . . what do you do with it then? Sorry if this has been discussed somewhere already . . . ^_^
From what I know,as they start going dormant you let them get dry in between waterings until the tops die.You can then dig up the rhizhomes and divide them in smaller pieces if you want to.They are also very easy to root from tip cuttings.What I'm not sure of is how long to let them rest and how to water them when you first start them.
I know Jannich,Tommie and Susan all grow them,so maybe one of them who knows more will come along and help.
Hmm . . . maybe that's what my recent unexplained issue is with a few kohleria I have . . . as luck would have it, I hadn't gotten around to tossing yet, so will hopefully be able to do something with them when I get home from work tonite! ^_^
I hope so ^_^ As long as they have "worms" in the soil they are still very much alive.
Unlike some gesneriads that definately have a dormant period, Koleria shouldn't go dormant unless they dry out too often. The rhizomes are ready to sprout again right away. But if you just have rooted cuttings that have not yet developed a rhizome, you will lose the kohleria unless you are successful with tip cuttings. tish
LOL Kim,Rent a U-Haul truck for a couple of hours and roll your plant stands right up the ramp.
Hi Lynn, The pot with rhizomes in it,I usually moisten the soil a little bit and put the whole pot in a baggie.When you see new growth,take it out.of the bag.With the loose rhizome you can put that in a baggie with moist vermiculite and hang it from your plant stand.When it sprouts pot it up.I've never had a kohleria go dormant.
Lynn,I forgot I have a pot of rhizomes that's on the plantstand without a baggie,I water it just like the other plants when there on the dry side.It's just now putting up growth.
Jan,
Thank you so much! I have read things in my old books and on the web,but there is no better source of info. than those of you who grow them.My big pot has lots of worms and I have one little one in a solo cup.I think all I need to do is water them more.They were dormant when I received them,but the rhizomes are still very firm and healthy looking.
Lynn ^_^.
Tish,
I have read that they shoudn't go dormant if they are happy,but I have also read that some need a resting period.It's very confusing sometimes.I know mini Sinns. don't usually go dormant either,but if they do for some reason (like too much dryness) they can also be started over.Thank you for your help.
Lynn
I read there are only a couple of the species Kohleria go dormant that is maybe where you read it also. What is confusing to me is so many plants look alike, such as Kohleria and Smithianthia and one goes dormant and the other doesn't. When I see a plant going, I check the name to be sure and then reshelf it in the " going/gone dormant area" so they get reduced watering...
My biggest problem with the new growth from the rhyzomes being weak and scrawny and not wanted to heft up..I end up taking cuttings from them and then they will root and grow a stronger plant. But light might be more of an issue, I recently found out they should be a lot closer to the light than I've been putting them. The next ones I start I'm going to try that and see if its better.
Another problem is loving too many plants too much and it is hard to keep up with all their special needs...which means I'm not growing show plants, ha! That reminds me, I need to do some potting this week.
I went to Flordia where Dr Bill Price had come from Canada to give a workshop. He had a lot of pictures and I've love to see his plant rooms! He starts his plants in 4 or 6" bulb pans. Puts the rhizomes all around the pot like a clock and another row toward the center - think he said about eight.. That would make quite a show, all of that blooming! He's my second sourse that said Kohleria should never go dormant, if they do he said it was the grower or the growing conditions. So that says I'm my own problem...I already knew that.
Take care . tish
LOL,tish,none of us are perfect.When you love to grow all kinds of things indoors and out it's hard to find time to do basic plant care,much less keep everything in 'show' condition.I guess we all try to do what works for us.
^_^ Lynn
I found this very interesting.
http://www.gesneriads.ca/genkohle.htm
Hi there,When you see new growth from the rhizomes try putting them as close to the lights as you can get them.If they get the right light the stems will be strong.Too far away from the lights makes weak stems.Just my 2 cents worth.^_^
ummm, thats a interesting article Lynn.I have grown a Koelikeria from seed and it grew fine for about a year in a small terrerium,then all of a sudden it died.I didn't read about it till after I threw the plant away that it has a domant period dormant and grew from rhizomes.
This is the start of mine Turtle-Chi Ninja Girl gave me some rhizomes and that was in Feb of this year and look at it now
Dimmer
They look great Kim! Did you keep them moist from the start?
Jan,
Years ago when I used to grow I threw things out any time they looked dead,except Sinns.Who knows what I threw away!
Lynn
they just grow and grow
i dont have many if i even have one,sometimes ill find them coming up in my baby trays
JIM
Dr Bill Price said some tubers go dormant and don't want to come back and need "shocked"...he soaks them with a lot of water and puts them right up close to a lot of light and it often brings subborn ones back to growth. I've got a bright eyes sinn that never came back .. its an inch across, pretty mature, and I don't want to toss it cause I've read where people have thrown them out into the compost pile just to have them start growing a couple years later! imagine that!
I love those double begonia that the blooms look like roses.. grown from tubers, but I can never get the tubers to come back out of dormancy!
Thanks for the site for the Kohleria article.
I've read about Koelikeria in older gessie books but I've never seen them for sale anywhere. So where did you get seeds Jan? And can you post a pic yet of the plant?
tish