This is my baby. What do you think?
Nancy

{{gwi:829706}}

Hi Nancy,
I've posted about using Strep. 'Mighty Mouse' in crosses many times, so one more time won't hurt. It is often thought of as being sterile because the pods, when they mature look to be empty. But, there are often a few fertile seeds in the pod, and it only takes one to germinate and grow on to get something special. When a strep pod matures we expect to see lots of dust like seeds. So, when this one matures, the few seeds are barely noticable. I have only used 'Mighty Mouse' one time and that was over 20 years ago, but I got two plants from that one cross. The pollen parent was a species, gardenii. Anyway, your pod looks good. Grow it to term and when it starts to crack, carefully open it over some white paper to catch the tiny seeds. Hopefully you have good eyesight or a good magnifying glass to see the seeds. Plant them right away in a sterile mix and hopefully your first attempt will be successful. If not, don't dispair and keep trying. It is not difficult to make strep crosses and there is a lot of value in making mini crosses--most of potential here hasn't yet been seen.

I learned about this plant as a hybrid parent from the creator of the cross who also was the first to make crosses with it. He said it would make 7 seeds, on average. His first seedlings from crosses with MM proved to be much more fertile, and subsequent generations led to the first mini streps, which really were more like compact streps as they could still get fairly large. He didn't name any of his crosses as he felt that each new generation made better hybrids than the previous. This was too bad as there are none of these early crosses still being grown. But, they were used by others to make the compact types that we see today. Of the hybrids that came from MM, but from a number of generations later, the best known is Jonathan Ford's 'Joker', a red hybrid. Dale Marten's 'Texas Hot Chili, a cross with kentaniensis, has MM in its background.

The hybridizer of MM gave up on gesneriad hybridizing within a few years of making this cross, so much of the potential was never realized. Since it was made, dozens of heretofore never cultivated species were brought into cultivation, some of which grow fairly small. We have a much more diverse gene pool to work with today, so there is lots of potential. MM is a cross of a seedling of the 'Cape Beauties' strain x johannis (white flower form).

Jon

Thank You Jon,
Yes, I have good eyes and lots of white paper. I have quite a few of Dale Martens Hybrids and plan to use some of hers when they bloom, texas hot chili is one I have and I want to use. Have not chosen a partner for it yet.
Thank you,
Nancy

Nancy, What are you going for in your hybridization?

-Mo

Hi Mo,
Im going to work on smaller steps with better color, I know that Country Girl and Mighty Mouse together arn't the best colors to pick. I have more buds coming on Mighty Mouse I will use it with one of my more colorful streps with veining or or something brighter. People want smaller because of the room they take up. Thank You Mo! Have you done any hybridizing?

Myviolets

Are you kidding? I'm still trying to figure out how to GROW the beautiful things. I'd love to do it sometime, though. I recently read Rex Dibley's new book, which says you should pick a goal in hybridizing or you might end up with a bunch of blue-toned flowers... I've been lurking around the yahoo group where it seems some serious hybridizers are getting busy.

Do you have any advice for me? I recently acquired a bunch of streps. I grow them in a W/SW window. I'm going to add a sheer curtain pretty soon. I have buds or blooms on several of my plants, and then one day, Daphne decided to blast. She's right there with the others who seem to be doing fine. I checked closer and the next bud coming on that same leaf also shriveled. (These are at the stage where they are just tiny pearl-shaped buttons.) The crown of the plant looks a bit yellowish. I'm wondering if it could be fertilizer buildup? Do you leach your streps at all? I use 7-7-7 fertilizer on the 'constant feed' directions (for av's) and top water once or twice a week, depending on heft. If it is still just a bit moist, I let it go 12 to 24 hours 'till I water.

Also, I have Chorus Girl in quarantine in a pretty bright East window shaded by a lace curtain. She's over there with Gwen, Inky Fingers and B. Petticoats. I came home one day to a seriously wilted plant, so I watered her back up with straight water, no fertilizer. And she blasted her bud (probably would have bloomed this week, so it was pretty well developed). Could the wilt have triggered the blast? I'm so paranoid about overwatering them...

I know this is long, and this thread probably isn't the place to ask these questions, but any help/advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

-Mo (WV)

Streps are easy to grow, easy to flower, grow pretty fast, flower a lot and are easy to hybridize. But, don't feel bad if you have some cultural problems. They are also quite prone to mysterious setbacks. I call it "crown rot". That seems to be what will get a plant that should be growing but gets wilt without being dry, loses a leaf, just as it is coming into flower etc. It is a perennial problem with growing them. A work-around is to keep your plants propagated so that if the big plant has problems there are others coming along. Sometimes the crown rot can be arrested by repotting, sometimes, just letting the plant go dry between watering can help the plant to overcome the disease. But, letting a plant go through alternate periods of wilt and then recovery, followed by wilt, and recovery... seems to end in crown rot. Also, old plants that haven't been repotted seem to especially susceptable to rot. You probably did lose buds when the plant wilted. Don't be too concerned--as long as it has recovered nicely it should resume growth and flower as it gets going.

Jon