I've never grown Parks violets but I heard pretty good things about their mix. You get a nice selection of colors. My method of growing seeds of gesneriad of all kinds works very well for me but its different from what many people do. First I make up a seed planting mix of equal parts peatmoss, perlite, and vermiculite. I wet this mix and cook it in the oven at 170 degrees, more or less (temperature really doesn't matter--but I avoid higher temperatures on the theory that it may not be good), for about three hours. I then take this cooked steamy mix and let it cool, then I put it away in a closed plastic container. I make up a goodly amount at a time and then use it up to start seeds over a year or more. To plant, I put the mix in a three inch pot, and at the sink I thoroughly wet it with the smallest stream of water I can get from the sink--so that it doesn't bring all the perlite to the surface. I get the mix totally saturated (i.e. wet, wet, wet!). Let it drain and gently press down so that the surface is fairly flat. Then I take the seeds and place in the open crease of a previously folded piece of white paper and gently tap the seeds over the moist surface, getting them as evenly scattered as possible. I then put a short label (with the date and name of the seeds) in the pot and place the pot inside a sandwich size or quart size ziplock bag. Then it goes on my lightstand. On the light stand the seeds, which are on the surface of the soil, germinate at a high rate, taking about two to four weeks, more or less. I often end up with a green carpet of seedlings. This mix has no fertilizer in it, so after the plants have germinated I begin to very lightly feed, to get them to grow, then I divide them to community pots and soon am swimming in seedlings that rapidly take over the whole house.

The reason why I cook my mix, is that, when enclosed in a ziplock and very wet, molds, mosses, ferns, and other unwanteds grow very fast. Once cooked, the mix is inert, and nothing but my seedlings grows. If uncooked I can lose seedlings to molds or see them buried under faster growing mosses, liverworts, and other greenies.

Jon

I would like to start from seed...would like to breed my own, as well as buy some different ones. I have wildly splashed flowers in several colors...so...anyone breeding their own seeds that can offer suggestions? Or, offer suggestions where to buy seeds that are not just ordinary?

Jon
"cook it in the oven at 170 degrees'.........

Is this C or F ?

Smart money's on F. We Americans can't think in Celsius.

-Mo (WV)

Took a while but C is really easy

0=freezing
10=lowest for gessies
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20=nice for plants and people (cats curl when sleeping)
30=hot - but plant propagation is fast (cats are linear when sleeping)
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40=stinking hot - bad for plants and people (cats find a cooler place)
100=boiling = Ok for coffee and for sterlising gessie mix

The "Cat Celsius Converter"! Best translation I've ever seen. Thanks for the humor!

-Mo (WV)