Petrocosmeas can be rather tricky to grow. Some people do incredibly well with them, and others (like me) have killed more than they care to admit. A well-grown plant is quite spectacular but I have given up on growing petrocosmeas entirely.

Hey Johnnieb,
Could you describe the problems you've had with them? I was also thinking of trying Petrocosmeas but now I'm wondering... How are they different from AV's or streps? Light, humidity, etc?
Thanks,
Andy

For me, the Pet's are slow to root from leaf but once started, grow quite nicely.
The information I first received on these was that they preferred being grown cooler. I found out quite by accident that is definitely not the case for me.
Originally, I had kept the leaves and plants in the basement. When I separated the babies from the leaves I set them in sweater boxes under lights in the upstairs hallway. When those started growing much faster than the ones in the basement, I decided to move the rest. They were brought upstairs and put on wicking resevoirs (another thing I was told they would not tolerate).
Since then, the plants have matured and I have seen blooms on forestii, formosa and flaccida.
Rob's Violet Barn and Linda from Bloomin' Jungle both have some of the petrocosmea's.
Diane

I have had mine for close to a month..thanks to a wonderful person on here :) So far I have not seen a lot going on with it. I got the coolest bowl/vase/what in the world is this to keep it in. I do think they are really cute...I can't even begin to imagine starting one from a leaf. Is that how you do it? The leaves are smaller than your baby finger nail....

Yep...you can start them by leaves. If you happen to get one that suckers, you can separate them (carefully) and pot it up like you would an AV sucker. P. parryorum is on that suckers on me alot.

Even though the leaves are small, they tend to root rather quickly...its the making of babies they seem to take their time with. When they did grow, there were so many babies it was almost impossible to tell where one started and the other one ended. I was turning them every which way to try and figure it out. Eventually, I got a toothpick and picked them apart with that. Didn't loose many babies or leaves once I figured that out.

Diane

Here is a link that might be useful: Diane's Photo Albums