Episcia ID help needed, please

This is my first episcia. I just couldn't resist how beautiful it was, but no tag...
-T

foliage is sorta glittery, or shimmery...

That is episcia Pink Smoke.

Goldleaf-
that was super quick...does that mean it is "common"?...she told me it was a special one, lol...

I bought two and they were $16.99 each...they have tons of pups and I figured if it was special, I could trade the pups, but if it is common, she was just trying to make a sale, lol....

either way, I like it, thought...should I move it to a terrarium?...it would have to be a fish tank, lol...this one is large.

No, it's not common. Still fairly new on the market. You didn't over pay by any means. That type really likes high humidity like all episcias but even more so to grow well. It would thrive in a lighted fish tank.

I had it last year and sold some stolons on DG Marketplace. Gail's growing it beautifully. She'll weigh in on it tomorrow.

Thank you very much...I was really hoping to be joking...I like it in the hanging basket. It was on a pedestal at the nursery, but not in a terrarium...although it was all house in a large conservatory.

maybe I should at least move it to the bathroom for daily shower mist...

It's beautiful and I'm sure it was grown in a humid greenhouse. The extra nice bonus with Pink Smoke is that it's gets pink blossoms. You'll like it twice as much as you do now.

oh, yes! I saw those blooms on some of the other ones...just gorgeous. I didn't pick those, though,because these two I bought, had better form, and more pups..

Thank you so much for your super quick ID!
-Taylor

You're welcome...good choice.

one more tiny question :0)

Is it doing a sport thingy on the left middle of the picture where two leaves are a different color?

I had read that pink smoke was a sport of pink dreams, so wondering if pink smoke is sporting itself, now,too...

Today I am going to move my pink smoke out of this glass container which lives under a dome.......Every stolon has found some soil to root in..........I want her to stay flat and keep growing......so I have to find another container where she can flourish..............

I don't think she will grow and stay pretty unless she is in a dome with some air coming in..........a partial dome..............she is much more needy of humidity than other episcias......

I started with 3 stolons and now I even took a stolon and started her again in the front where there was space.........

I would never try to grow this one in a basket..........her needs are too different from other episcias....
I can't get a good picture inside the house on this one...............

Good luck..........

hey seedpicker;
i would love to try one of your pups, i can buy itr from you or do a trade, if your looking for anything special, let me know.i would like to try it in an open container
mrsbonnie

Yes!...very hard to take a picture of!...I must have taken almost my entire photo card of 33 pictures, just to get the two mediocre shots that I posted!, lol...

Well rats...guess it would look better under glass, than dead...but sure like the look of the hanging basket...and that is how it was displayed at the nursery...just cascading down over that pedestal...so pretty.

our shower is decent sized and has a skylight over it, so pretty bright and sunny(did that to keep the potential mold minimal), and orchids do well in there...

I still might at least try one hanging basket in there :0(

I have glass that would work for "her", but she'd have to get a major haircut...

of course Bonnie!

I've enjoyed trading with you. I'm sure you'll have something I want, lol...have you started any of the peach sinningia leaves?...are they taking? *hint, hint

If not, I can always be tempted with the micro minis...I am trying to assemble a tiny fairy garden in a tiny aquarium, and have several of those sinningias growing nicely in dollhouse pots ;0)...so sweet!
-T

Seed picker. I live in the DFW area too and am wondering where you found this plant. I am always looking for a new lace to visit.

My Pink Smoke sports fairly often, I just pick them off.

Mine lives in a large bubble bowl, too.

Bdude-
Plants and Planters off hwy 75 and Arapaho.

They have half a dozen of these left, in bloom.

They always have a very nice selection of houseplants, particulary AVs, episcias, and lots of tropicals and succulents in their conservatory section...

Only complaint is that frequently things are missing tags from the growers...but, it is not P & P's fault...Shelley said they just come in that way from the growers...

Celene-pix please? :0)

I have been meaning to go by there. You are right, it is a great place. I love just walking through their greenhouse. So many different things to look at.

ok, went thrift store shopping yesterday for a container...found this huge one with very thick glass for only $10, which I still thought was kinda high for a thrift store, lol...but bought it, anyway.

will THIS make my episcia happy? :0)

I'd fill that narrow bottom with some rocks before you add soil, so the plant can live in the widest part of the dome. This has medium sized leaves, and will want to spread out, so the wider portion of the bowl would be best. I've never used a container this shape, I wonder how it'll affect watering. I would definitely put some charcoal in those bottom rocks.

I repotted mine in a bulb pan that drains. I put about 2" of perlite and then a very light soil.........I want to see if she will completely drape over the sides in time next February to hide the bulb pan and be blooming for our show and sale.????????

I still keep the dome over the top............

ok, now wait a minute!!!, LOL!!

you are telling me to take mine out of its green pot that it is beautifully cascading over, and put in glass,.. while at the same time you are taking yours out of glass, and potting in a green pot so it will cascade, LOL...

huh???,lol...

I did that because the plants were too big..........they had completely outgrown the glass container I kept under a dome and they just kept finding soil on the sides to grow again................now that it is nice and flat and big.........I want to see if I can make it nice enough to enter in our show next year......

I never said anything wrong about cascading........it is just that it is hard work to keep them domed when they do start cascading.......I will have to find ways to keep it domed all the time no matter how much the stolons cascade over the sides...........

Didn't mean to interfere with whatever you want to do with yours....I just want mine domed .........

oh, don't take it that way, it just seemed funny :0)

I'm wondering if I keep that moss always wet, though if that will always give it humidity through the evaporation. What do you think?

You are right. These get big...wish I could find a glass container large enough to just hang the hanging basket in, lol...
-T

You can keep them smaller by removing the stolons(and propagating them for others of course LOL). It really makes a difference what area you live in.Here,in the summer,it is so humid they don't seem to need domes,but in the winter when we have to heat our homes, they do need extra humidity,especially those with light green and pink foliage.Each one seems to have a different 'personality'.
Lynn

T--I think your moss theory may have some merit.
This is Episcia Pink Panther which I resurrected and have babied for months now--It grows in a baggie, in spite of the fact my humidity never drops below 50%. This is the 2nd bloom for this very small plant, and it lingered < 2 days. I'm wondering if this is worth continued effort.

good point...I've been wondering that, myself...:0)

well I know I can keep it looking great in the greenhouse during that half of the year, but the other half it is taken down, and If I wanted to make the room to put up a large aquarium, I'd probably rather have fish in it, lol...

So far it is still looking nice, and I think the soaked moss might actually be working. I didn't do that intentionally(I had just bought that hanging basket and wanted to plant it) , but I think it may be a happy accident :0)

As for a baggie, have you checked the thrift stores in your area for inexpensive glassware? I went the other day and picked up a half dozen of different glass containers that I intend to use for the pups. Many of them are small pretty apothecary jars with lids

Maybe you'd think it worth more the effort if it looked pretty in a pretty glass apothecary or decorative glass container?

This one is small but perfect size for a pup...only $1.50 at the thrift store. I don't mind keeping them in glass when they are small, but just don't have space for huge glass containers :0)

How odd...Pink Panther is one of the ones that survived days of snow in my basement last winter, right next to the light stands and everything...it sprouted from what looked like a brown, crusty dead plant.

I believe it's supposed to be pretty hardy as episcias go--that's why I wonder if I should continue to nurse this one.

Jan, Go for it. I think you will be rewarded with a lovely plant with longer lasting blooms as it grows.Have you ever tried just grouping it with other plants on top of a grid with water beneath.You probably wouldn't even need to bag it.

It has no choice but to be grouped--LOL---we all live in the same room with 50% humidity, and yet, it has started to fail with each trial out of the bag. I looked at the marker this afternoon--the date on it is 1/07! At least it has a new bloom coming. Don't worry, I can't throw away anything.

Give it some fresh repotting soil............everything needs to be repotted every 3 or 4 months at the most...........

Jan,
I have an awful time trying to throw any plant away!! I may have to start LOL. Unless I buy more plant stands and lights ^_^. I only restarted growing Gessies in February and I have so many starts of AVS,Episcia,Streps,Sinns,Nemanathus,Aeschyananthus (SP),Chirita,Kohleria and others.I have purchased quite a few,but I have even more due to the generousity of DGers.I put down a leaf of everything I get as soon as I can so I will have plants to share.

You'll have lots to share and trade! That's a good thing.

I'm the same way...in fact, that is what kinda tipped the scale when I considered buying this episcia...

I thought, ok only $16.99, but there has to be a dozen pups on each one, so that is really just less than $2 a plant, lol...and that will make lots of trades and gifts :0)

I am not a tosser, either...I hold on to the very bitter end :0)

I am a tosser..............calling them "Pitcherama Days" where the trash can gets full...............if I don't think it is nice enough to send to someone and I don't want it................to the trash it goes........at least once a month........the joy to me is in propagating.........it is a passion with me........not the end result.

Seedpicker,
For that really tall container,may I suggest you go to the hardware store and pick up a battery filler,about $1.50.They are long like a turkey baster,but much thinner and it's easier to direct the water where you want it to go.
Lynn

Thanks, Lynn

good tip!
:0)

Ok, I wanted to update:

this episcia is doing great! In fact there are some bloom buds forming. I truly believe the moss is helping. It has been two weeks now, and they still look as good as the day I bought them, and they are not covered...only indoors, in a moss-lined pot, hanging in an east-facing window, with the blinds turned half-way.

I still have the glass for the pups and to use for containers to give away, but I'm so pleased I can keep the originals in the hanging baskets, like I wanted to.

just thought I'd share. the moss seems to be working :0)

I went by Plants and Planters this weekend. What a wonderful place. I did notice the episcias you talked about but they are really too large for my plant stand. They sure were beautiful though. I did find a plant I have been looking for for so long. It is a Jewel Orchid. They are so different and beautiful. I have been looking for one for over 5 years and was thrilled to see they had them. They had about twenty of them. My wife who doesn't usually like my plant passion even commented that it was quite fetching.