Add me to this group of addicts.

I started seeing some really spectacular coleus plantings last year (instead of the usual impatiens) . One was so stunning I asked the restaurant who their landscaping company was so I could call and compliment them!

I would recommend that you think about putting together a seed starting set up with lights. Then you can grow coleus from seed. You may not be able to get the newest hybrids, but you can certainly afford mass plantings that way. I have about 40 coleus started that are about the size of a dime right now.

Swallowtail seed has a pretty nice collection.

Here is a link that might be useful: Swallowtail Seed Coleus

I know I'll eventually have to arrange some sort of seed-starting setup. I just don't know WHERE. I keep saying I need a shed with a greenhouse attached, and my husband just smiles like I'm kidding. He's gonna be in for a shock one of these days!

Four foot shop lights hung from shelves, you can probably get 5 or 6 shelves high and only a foot or 14 inches wide, that would start hundreds of seeds. It is such a small footprint that it could go in a closet, at the back of a garage, etc.

Lucille, you're a genius! OMG, I'm totally going to do this in a "closet" upstairs! We have two laundry rooms in this house. One upstairs, and one downstairs. (The laundry room is always supposed to be on the same floor as the master bedroom, but this house has two options for that) Anyways, the upstairs "closet" is EMPTY! It only has the upstairs air handler in it. So it's about 7 feet wide by 4 feet deep. It already has outlets, too!
Thank you, Lucille!

The issue you might have with a 2nd floor closet, is if it isnt against an exterior wall it may be to warm, not for starting the seeds, but for growing on the plants. If it is on an exterior wall it may be perfect. Also dont forget to rig up an ocelating fan in there too for air circulation. It will make for stronger plants and less chance of fungus/mold problems. If it was designed to be a laundry room then you even potentially have water available right there!

It's not on an exterior wall. It does get pretty warm up there in summer because we only run the downstairs A/C. (No one lives upstairs). So I'd basically have a hot-house.
Hmmm.

You would actually only be using it in the winter, if it was just a seed starting room. However - I just noticed that you are in zone 9b - do you even really have a winter? I can see how a green house / shed could make more sense.

I did read about a woman who made herself a very simple little outdoor space just using lattice fencing and shade cloth up against the side of her house. Seed would be started inside under lights, but then moved to this more protected area to grow big enough to plant in the garden. temps of 50 at night - 65 in the day are perfect for growing on most young plants. You probably already have that.

Starting indoors makes a huge difference for me because I live in WI, most things cant get planted out till the end of May here.

Mandolis, I don't already have that. I lived in Michigan for most of my life, so it was all Gro Lights and basements back then.
Yes, we have a winter. Not like up there, but it still nauseates me when the overnight low is predicted to be anywhere under 40.
Good point about me only using the upstairs closet in the winter. Another good point/idea about... well, basically a cold frame outside here to use in winter.
... and the wheels keep churning...

This is a 'slight' change of subject (not really) but did anyone order any of the seed coleus this year? I didn't and it's probably too late for me this year, but next year I'm getting some of the Carefree Mix. So pretty. I'll attach a link to Park's pictures of the Carefree, but several of the good seed companies carry all kinds of great varieties.

If you haven't looked at the seed varieties, you should.

Here is a link that might be useful: Park Seed

I ordered coleus seed from Swallow Garden. Might not be too late. I ordered on Feb 15th and got mine this past Tuesday!

I saved the red coleus shown below from death this past fall. It grew majestically in a city-maintained container on main street. When the weather got very chilly, I took a small cutting and it rooted nicely. It is becoming its old majestic self again on my office windowsill. I can see why y'all groove out over this plant group. I love when the sun shines through the leaves. Do any of you recognize the cultivar name? If so, would you let me know? Thanks!

Joseph

This post was edited by gerris2 on Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 20:26

I love that you saved this plant! I'm not sure, but it looks like "Religious Radish"?

Purple, couldn't you just cry and die??? I mean, this one almost brings tears to my eyes.

Very pretty. Could it be Religious Radish?
rose

Someone on flickr offered it was Religious Radish. Its a cool name.

S.S.- That blue and magenta looks to intense to be real - has anyone grown that? or is it a phhotoshop-ed tease.

For those of you looking into seed I just ran across this site - Summer Hill Seed, they have a nice variety

Here is a link that might be useful: Summer Hill Seed

I did a google image search for Religious Radish, and this came up in the middle of the first page. it's from an article in the Seattle Times... and it's labeled "Religious Radish," even though I can't find another one that looks anything like that.
*Shrug*
Pretty picture, though.

It's a "colorized " image.

Hopefully "they" will find the blue leaf gene!! I don't think that's for real either.

There are some catalogs of low rent garden companies that seem to specialize in that kind of overstatement of color.

Well then sign me up!
LOL!

@Rhizo- You'll like that Carefree Mix of coleus from Park. I grew them for years. I haven't ordered from Park in a while, so now I just order the Rainbow Mix from Pinetree and cull the herd to find what I like best.

tj

One of my new Coleus is already dying. I don't know what's happening! It wilted, then dropped leaves...
It's had water, it's not in full sun...
I pushed it back so it would have even less sun (it's in a pot), and that made it worse. So I pulled it forward to give it more sun, it's just dying quickly.
I'll have to post a picture tomorrow because it's dark out now... but I just thought you all should know that I'm in pain over here.
(lol)

OK, don't panic. Let's figure out what the problem might be.

Did you pot them up from their original containers? Either way, how would you describe the potting mix.....very fine textured, fine textured but with some perlite, medium, coarse with bark fines, garden 'dirt ', unidentifiable matter from an undetermined source?

Are you able to water thoroughly until lots of water drains from the bottom? Are you certain that the water is soaking the whole soil volume and not leaving any dry pockets?

Might you be watering too frequently? Does the medium turn to cement after it begins to dry?

You can probably tell that I suspect that the problem is related to issues with the potting medium/watering/root system. It usually is! But we still need more information about the life of your coleus since coming into your ownership.

And be sure to check out the obvious......is there any chance that the stem has suffered a crack....even below the soil level? What about the root system?

I haven't re-potted it since I bought it ten days ago. I was going to, but then they were calling for cold temps and I knew I'd be dragging its new, bigger, shared pot into the screened porch or house and didn't want to add trouble. I planned to pot after this cold snap thingie.
Here's a picture of what it looks like now:
{{gwi:2180}}

And in the following picture, you can see that it is clearly just being a jerk. This is where it sits, with all the other Coleus waiting for their new homes. They're perfectly happy! I had this pot on the right, on the left, in the front, in the back, and in the middle. It's determined to be the... let's call it the purple-headed step-child of the group.

{{gwi:2182}}

Did you trim all of those branches?

No, they came that way... but were full of leaves. I noticed when I bought it that it had been cut back for some reason, but since it was so full... and the only one they had.... I bought it. Now this.
*Sadness*

Very strange. They either cut it because it had something wrong with it, or to propagate. The only time I've seen a Coleus like that is after a frost but if those stems had leaves when you got it, that doesn't make sense because the leaves would have been dead already.

What's going on in the pot? Can't see in there at all.

If you had a big male dog, I might think it had gotten peed on...

Yeah, we haven't had a frost since I bought it, and it was very healthy ten days ago.
The media is soaking wet, as all of these are, because we've had quite a bit of rain. But the holes in the bottom and on the "corners" of the bottom of the pot are as big as quarters. The potting media they use at the garden center where I bought it is very similar to 5-1-1.
We do have a large male dog, but we have always taught our male dogs to squat, so they never ever EVER lift their leg. Also, this plant started showing these signs while in the back of this cluster.
Should I pull it up and put it in water in the house for now?

Here is a picture I took when I first got it, where you can sorta see how much better it was doing, and you can see it was already cut back.

Those spots on the leaves look suspicious. I don't know what Coleus can catch but it looks like one of the diseases like botrytis or pseudomonas.

I guess it's a goner.

You might want to quarantine that one from the other plants in case that's what it is, and putting it in the ground might spread whatever it is around, if it's that kind of thing. I would wait to hear what Rhizo has to say. She's much more knowledgeable about such things.

Check out the links I posted in another thread about downy mildew. What do you think?

It doesn't look good! It looks like it is a stock plant that has had a lot of cuttings taken off.Also,in regards to temperature some coleus will suffer in temps way above freezing.It looks like a lot of my "mother" or stock plants do when I'm ready to pitch them in late spring. I rarely save any of these old plants.I have saved maybe 3 of my stock plants & set them out & they never look as good as ones I've started in spring. It seems like they are brittle & the branches break.I have 2 that I might set out this year.Trailing Garnet Rose(Swinging Linda) & Grape Expectations.
As far as disease,I don't know because I've thankfully not run into any.
Do cut off the good piece & try to root it.
rose

Ok, here's the poop:

Since it's getting chilly here tonight anyways, I was bringing plants into the screened porch to at least block the wind. That Coleus came into the house. I intended to cut off whatever was dead, but that turned out to be over 2/3 of the plant. Only one stem is viable.
So I pulled it out of the pot, cut off the piece with leaves that you see in the pic above and put it in water... then took a piece of the stem that's still alive and put that in water, also.
Seems like a lot of trouble and frustration and disappointment for $3.
Durn it!

I see, I see. Gosh what a pretty one, too! There is no question that I would toss it....and scrub my hands afterwards, lol.

Sometimes, the early symptoms of diseases can look very much alike, and the only way to find out for sure what might be going on is to ship plant samples off to your plant pest and disease clinic at your state's research university. Information about this service can be found at your local extension office.

Probably not worth it for one plant, though.

I'm going to leave it in the glass of water and see what happens. If I find another one around here that looks like it, then I'll toss it.
The pieces that are in water look like perfectly healthy Coleus cuttings. I inspected them with a magnifying glass even. Nothing out of the ordinary, so I will continue to inspect daily for any changes. If I see so much as a speck on a leaf, I'll toss it.

So how's the plant doing? What's the new poop?

After a lot of soul-searching and blunt internal discussion, this mildew issue has made me decide not to do the big order of Coleus I had discussed above (and meticulously planned with a spreadsheet.)

Not that I won't be out there buying Coleus soon, but it seems like tempting fate to devote that much space and $ to this vulnerable plant.

My plan is to use more "house plants" in the ground which I can save just like Coleus if I don't feel like digging up roots in the fall. Begonias, Tradescantias, Cordyline, Aglaonemas, sweet potato vine, Cissus, Sansevieria, and other colorful plants will go nuts in the ground just like Coleus, giving similar effect without the monoculture danger, and be similarly easy to save. In a good location for it, very long season but cold winter nights should help kill any remaining roots.

The more I think about it, the less sense it makes to give ONLY Coleus the chance to have so much fun, a chance to roam out of their pots. I've already babbled about this in the house plants forum, but the past couple weeks the idea has congealed into being a replacement for the amount of Coleus I originally had in mind as well.

Thanks for the caveat in the Coleus mildew thread, Rhizo! I needed that.

This discussion reminds me of a commercial lately where this little girl says, "If you like it, you just want more. We want more! We want more!"

All of the Coleus are looking pretty good. The cuttings are leafing out and look healthy and all the others have been potted and look pretty good. They weren't happy about being potted and looked awful for a few days, but now they look fine. (I've never had coleus "pout" from being put in a pot) I'm still nervous, though, because they don't look GREAT, just pretty good or fine or ok.

I, too, rethought my huge order. I want to see if these coleus are disease-free first. And I've got a lot of other yarden "projects" going on right now. I'm not sure anyone would believe how many plants I've bought, propagated, found, been given, etc already this year that have been waiting for me to plant or pot them.
I'm almost done, too. I just have to pot some of the cuttings that are currently in water and are ready for pots. Once that's done, I have to mulch everything (I counted, I need about 50 bags!) THEN I can tear out more grass and go buy more plants!

Wish you were coming to the garden party, purple. How far of a drive is it for you? *hint*

You're in Tampa area? Only about 7 hours... I'll be there in spirit, thanks!!

I'm not worried about buying diseased plants, just that the wind could bring the disease to my yard and virtually wipe out the entire landscape...

I need to make more beds too, in the sun, so I'm not so hung up on Coleus! Do you have the patience for lasagna? The one new sunny spot I have ready to plant this year got molested a few weeks ago, a dog tried to dig under the fence to get in our yard. They used to just open the gate until we put another latch on it. Luckily that spot was still empty!

I just came in from checking on my Coleus. It's not looking very good, but I can't tell if that's from the cold night we had last night or something worse. I really REALLY don't want my Coleus wiped out.
My new beds will be in the sun, too. Which is why I want to get them started before it's too hot to do all that work. I don't have the patience for lasagna this time, though I do have a lasagna garden I started about a year ago and am just planting now. My grass all along my fence line is sparse, so it's not TOO terribly difficult to remove.
I'm straight across Florida from Tampa. I'm more in the Kennedy Space Center/ Cape Canaveral area. The garden party is nearest to Orlando. Jus' sayin.'
I'm waiting for a guy to come bid the shower we're redoing, then I'll try to remember to get out there and take pics of my coleus and their "issues."

Sorry you had a cold night last night. Good luck with the shower!

Think I'll have to create a swap/party here to have one close enough to attend. The AL forum does one up by Birmingham.

When is this thing? Orlando is about 6 hours, still in the realm of needing a hotel, even I can't justify that expense with $4 gallon gas too.

Our vacation funds this year are already appropriated to a trip to NOLA, a trip up north in the summer, canoeing at least once, and hopefully a camping trip or two in there somewhere, lots of day trips to the beach. I do need to take my son on a pilgrimage to see The Mouse, he's already 8 & we haven't done it yet. I could plan that to coincide with this plant thing, '14 or '15, if it's an annual event.

Sending good vibes to everyone's Coleus!

So here's how they look from further back... which is why I mistakenly said they looked fine. It's been chilly here (to me... not to anyone else) for the past couple days, so I've stayed in the house and done "house things." Today, I went out there and took these pics:

{{gwi:2183}}

{{gwi:2184}}

{{gwi:2186}}

And here we have close-ups of some examples of what I'm seeing happening. Also, I've noticed the new leaves seem stunted. They don't grow very big before they either stop growing or fall off.

Misshapen leaves, 'browning out'...

{{gwi:2188}}

Hard to really tell in this picture, but the leaf in the center is sorta 'browning out.'

{{gwi:2189}}

If this was a fancy goldfish, I'd say this one has 'dropsy.'

{{gwi:2190}}

Some weird new-growth habit, among other things.

{{gwi:2191}}

More brown spots, plus white spots. At the edge of the pot, you can see the leaves are dying here and there.

{{gwi:2192}}

This is an attempt at a close-up of one of the worst ones. Small leaves that fall off if you even touch them.

{{gwi:2193}}

Another particularly affected plant.

{{gwi:2194}}

The first sign of a problem on a previously robust plant.

{{gwi:2195}}

I don't know what the problem is, but it's obviously contagious. I'm going to have to pull all of this out, dump the brand new potting media into the trash, wash and sterilize the pots, wait for some undetermined length of time, then replace it all.

Super bummer.

I only hope that whatever it is doesn't spread to things that AREN'T Coleus.

Forgot to add:

The Garden Party is April 11th. It's an annual thing, around the same time of year, though this will be the first one I've attended.

I'll keep that party in mind if we start scoping out plans to visit The Mouse next year.

I guess you'd need a microscope to confirm what's going on with your plants, but looks a lot like the pics from the link in "coleus down mildew" thread. But you don't need me to tell you that. Hope it's something else, but I don't know what... ugh!

I just went out there and pulled out one of the droopiest ones. this is what it looks like. It's dying or rotting from the stem up!

Shear, so sorry to hear about this plague you're suffering. A lot of mine were looking like crap, but it's all attributed to endless propagation and a few winter weather spikes.

I'd love to say your problems are just soil, moisture, or something else environmental, but mine are all thriving, be it full sun, shade, or even in my Colocasia water-logged pot. =(

In a month or so, maybe I could send you a collection of prop pups to get you back on your feet... as long as everything holds up well over here (knock on wood).

Mike

What a nice offer! One I'll take you up on once I get this end handled. I"m wondering how far this can spread. I'm getting paranoid now and every little thing has me concerned.
The Glorybower in the group shot by the screened porch (above) has some misshapen new growth and other issues that have me concerned. My Persian Shield and Perilla aren't looking so hot, either.
If this disease-fungus-problem spreads much further, I'll really panic.