Mary Beth,

I mix dry soil with water and let it sit, if I want to pasteurise the soil - I use boiling water , mix it with a gallon of soil and microwave it for 8 min and let it sit till tomorrow.

In any case dry soil needs time to absorb the water to get damp. Peat moss gets damp very slowly.

Misting is very useful if you planted seeds and since gesneriad seeds are very small - you do not want to disturb them - and spraying the water to the surface of soil is the way to do it.

Hope it is the info you were asking for.

Happy Thursday

Irina

Irina,

Didn't know about letting soil and water sit. I mix 1=1=1, misted it and put my leaves in. Soil doesn't feel to damp. What can I do to make it damp? Leaves were expensive[Russian] and I don't want to loose them.
Thanks,
Mary Beth

Hi, Mary Beth,

For me, the easiest way to moisten soil for propagating is to simply add some waer to the soil mix right in the container you are putting the leaf in. I went to my local pharmacy and asked for a children's medicine dropper. It is larger than a standard eyedropper. They gave it to me at no charge. I use this dropper all the time when I need a small controlled amount of water. I also use it to water plantlets or any leaf that needs moistening.

You could also place some soil mix in a small container, like a cool whip bowl, add some water, and stir. Not damp enough, add some more water. The amount of water depends on the mix. After potting leaves and putting them into some type of device to hold in humidity, you can always let it dry out a bit if too wet.

I hope this helps.

Barbara

Some African Violet mixes will really not get wet without plenty of time to soak up water, but will just let water run out the holes at the bottom of the pot. However, usually these can be moistened up if repeat applications of water are made; each time water is poured on it, it takes up a little more.

If wick watering, then it will sometimes work well to use completely dry mix (I use 50% perlite)when potting them up, then pour water into the top of the pot, and put water into the reservoir...if you use a clear glass jar for a reservoir and a round pot that exactly fits the mouth of the jar. The water will pour right down through the mix and down the yarn into the reservoir, then wicking will begin and make your soil mix stay moist but not too wet. Potting up a wicked violet may sometimes result in too wet conditions in the mix if you begin with quite saturated mix.

Mary Beth,

My best results in rooting leaves are when the soil is barely moist and the humidity is high. So I premoist soil - let's say 8 cups of water for a gallon of dry soil, let it sit, pot the leaves in solo cups with wicks, put the moist mat on the bottom of the tray, solo cups on the mat and cover it with a plastic dome. Provided that the leaves are in a good shape - you can let them swim in a water for half an hour before potting - they usually all sprout OK.

Good Luck

Irina