It is Spring, and blooms and trades may now begin!
Whatcha got growing?
We came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1346795/#new
This message was edited Apr 13, 2014 9:38 AM
AV&G 2nd quarter 2014
Kohleria "Bogotensis" in bloom today
Very pretty gals!
Lynn
Very nice ladies!
I have much growin' and bloomin'... but also been busy.
Will try to get pics up soon.
Nichole, I have a question for you.... You recently talked on another site about using aloe along the leaf cutting edges. Is this fresh aloe straight from a plant? Or can it be aloe gel from a bottle?
Karen
Very pretty ladies. Thanks,I needed a flower fix.
Karen . . . I would have been willing to try the aloe from a bottle, but once I finally found some here, it had "other" stuff in with the aloe. I'm sure it would still work, but I went to Home Depot and found an aloe plant. I prefer straight from the source . . . although if Home Depot didn't have an aloe plant, I was going to break out the neosporin!
No blooms for me right now. Goloboi Turman finished blooming. Any I don't see buds on amyone else yet. Getting impatient to see flowers/
Hey all,
Question - in the prior thread, imadigger wrote "I've had problems with my violets this past year, and have had to re-start about twenty of them. They had very tight centers. Not sure if it is a fertilizer problem or water problem."
My AV have been all pretty tight since repotting them, but haven't had difficuly blooming with several in their first set of blooms sent up in my house since bringing them home and their store blooms. What is the problem with a tight plant? I thought this very healthy.
Stu - depending on the tightness . . . it could be something fixable such as fertilizer or too much light. If the tightness is due to mites or bugs, it's still fixable for the most part, but will take some spraying/dunking of bug stuff.
If anyone has any concerns about tight centers, go ahead and post pix. Maybe we will be able to figure out if it is normal, or due to one of the above reasons . . .
Here are some babies that are coming from the seeds I got from Gesneriad Society . . .
Here are my AV. All are unnamed. Too tight?
1,2,3: same plant, different views and exposures.
4,5: My favorite flower in two exposures....
More to follow
More plants. #3 I didn't realize was a pot in a cache pot. It nearly drowned, but caught it in enough time that it's coming back after repotting.
# 4 is a miniature.
And the last three. They are by a south facing window and under three skylights. Planted in soiless Mirical Gro type mix.
Doing good there, Stu! I wouldn't say those centers are particularly tight. Keep in mind, too, that Miracle Grow puts fertilizer in thier potting mix, perlite, etc., so if you are also adding fertilizer to the water, the excess fertilizer could cause tighter centers, if not burning of the centers.
Thanks Syrumani. I don't plan on adding fertilizer for a while. Think it's good for three months or so. After that, it's fish emulsions.
Stu,
They look great.The centers seem fine.
Lynn
What's strange is that in the second set of pictures, the second plant that has the flowers in shades of lavender (they look blue in the photo) also produces darker solid purple flowers with a slight scaloped edge on the same plant. I looked carefully and there is only one crown and one plant. The darker flowers seem to be on a specific quarter side iof the plant, so I'm guessing that some cell groupings must have reverted to a parent gene type. This was bought at a local nursery, so I don't know if the plants were from tissue culture, leaf propagation, etc. If tissue, it may explain it.
I think my problem came from fertilizing. I had the violets sitting on mats in a tray. I was adding 1/4 solution of fertilizer to a gallon of water. When I add the water to the tray, I waited until it was dry, before adding more. I think there was an accumulation of fertilizer in the mats. Now half my trays have mats, and half have grids. I stopped fertilizing for now. I'm slowly repotting the ones that have the tight centers. I've taken leaves from each, and cut back most of the larger leaves, leaving the tight centers. So far I don't see anything showing new growth. I've also quarantined all the ones with tight centers, just to make sure nothing else is going on with them.
Just got home from traveling. With everything we have going on right now I haven't had time to post much or read all the posting I missed but I did look at all the pictures what beautiful beautiful plants. My plant caregiver did a great job on taking care of my plants while I was away and did a wonderful job with the tiny little seedlings in the GH. Only hiccup was with the AV's, Her children came and helped with the house plants and they over watered the AV's (they watered the 2 part AV pots from the top) by the time she realized what happened they were showing signs' of the over watering. She did the right thing by pulling the top pots out of the lower half and set them out to dry out. I don't think I will loose any they will just take a while to get back on track.
I want to send out some leafs to a friend and now I am not sure if I should. Any ideas on that?
That's a shame Holly! If the leaves and stems are nice and turgid they should be fine to send.If they are a little weak,it might be better to try to root them first.
Eileen,I had the same problem when I was using 1/4 tsp fertilizer.I switched to 1/8 and it made a lot of difference.Never fertilize a really dry plant.Moisten it a little and feed the next day.
Lynn
Thanks Ibrabec, I have never shipped AV leaves before, any suggestions. One way I found said to wrap the stem in damp cotton balls then tin foil put the whole thing in a small plastic bag. Then staple or tape the bag to a piece of cardboard.
Holly,
I prefer to ship them with the stems unwrapped to avoid rot.Pick nice firm leaves and put them in a small plastic bag.Use a small box and pad it with newspaper,popcorn or insulation if needed.They should be fine,but if they are slightly limp when they arrive the receiver can place them in water until they firm up.If they arrive rotted they are usually done for.
I like to use a different bag for each named variety,but that's up to you.
Lynn
Thanks Lynn, I have shipped several different types of plants before but not AV leaves.
Hey Everyone :) I'm seeing some pretty pics you all are posting...NICE ::))
Connie
Hey Sis....nice to see you here!
Finally! It took a year for my seed grown Gesneria growing in leca balls to get it's first buds.Did I see it bloom? No,I forgot to put the lid back on the terrarium,flowers fell off.. ^_^
LOL Sis.Sounds like something I would do.Great plant.
Lynn
Here's what you do . . . put up a camera on your shelf to automatically take a pic every hour . . . that way, even if you miss the next one in person, you'll have the pix after!
With the national convention coming up soon, I think it's time we start posting some pix! I'm not going, but thought I'd get is restarted.
This is a Rob's Astro Zombie I got in a trade last month. I didn't have room for extra domes at the time, so I improvised!
I saw a little bit ago there was a bloom under the bag, so I opened it up . . . I figure it will take a day or two without the bag to flatten out a bit.
Lookin' good Nichole!
I guess I have to get my camera ready to take some pictures. A few violets are starting to send up flowers. They are mostly young plants. I just chaged one bulb each in each fixture. I thought maybe it was time. The leaves on all were starting to grow longer, and no blooms. Hope it gives them a wakeup call. LOL
Yay,we love pictures!
My Cajun's Lil' Tizzy's finally bloomed . . . well, 2 out of 3. I'll say the odds are that the one in the back will bloom true as well . . .
Here are pix of my Cajun's Lil' Love's, too . . . before and after disbudding . . . the one had a sucker, and I miscalculated with the sharp knife . . .
So cute Syru!
^_^
This message was edited Jul 3, 2014 7:35 AM
^_^
WOW Nicole is that a STUNNING violet! The bloom contrast along with the leaf contrast is breathtaking! GREAT job growing!
Kim, do you want one? The only difference I see between the Cajun's Lil Love and Cajun's Lil Tizzy - Tizzy has serrated leaf edges, and is a larger semi than Cajun's Lil Love . . .
Does ANYONE have any Episcia Silver Skies?
Oh Nicole, that is SO nice of you to offer.
No one sells any of the Cajun series it seems and I just discovered the Cajun's and would LOVE to acquire a few.
Maybe once things get going here; we can do a fall swap or something? If you have an extra Cajun's can you just put it aside with my name on it?
I will send you the list of AV's I'm growing and let me know what interests you OK?
I put a leaf down every time a new violet arrives. Eventually I will have babies coming out of my ears hopefully *lol*
I have a smaller stand from my brother that is still in the box that I plan to use for babies once things start rolling here *lol*
I am not growing any episicia right now so I can't help you with Silver Skies :(
Sorry.
Kim
This message was edited Jul 8, 2014 4:51 AM
I'll get my list together one of these days, and update my Have/Want list . . . I wish we could clean that one up a little . . .