Lucille, because they are so small they may adapt well to your environment. Will be curious as to how your seedlings do. Keep us posted.

Dave G.

I don't see why they wouldn't be happy in Houston, I lived there for a while. Too beastly hot and humid for too long for me, though.

You live with AC running constantly don't you ? The temps therein are quite enjoyable for streps too:)

Yay Lucille! :-)

There's a really, really good post that Karin did on the AV forum about seedlings for AVs. You might take a look at it, she really chronicled it well, though her seeds were from her own hybridizations.

Let us know how it goes! You might also try a leaf from a vendor-they're a lot less expensive than a plant (and probably a little easier than seeds!).

Best,
Judy

Judy,

Could you please link Karin's post here?
As far as a leaf, I don't have room right now with 150 babies but it is a great idea for later once these seedlings get going a little.

Here you go, Lucille:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/afrviolet/msg0518443416299.html?61

Let it load-it takes a while as there are many pix in there.

Check back on the AV forum as we have all talked about splitting the post out (it's SOOO big)-and there's more yet to come (like when they start blooming!)! :-)

Best,
Judy

Great thread, thanks!!
I was wondering- I'm keeping the mix moist now as these guys are TINY, but I've read that adult streptocarpi (is that the plural?) don't want to be overwatered.
At what size do I need to start treating the babies as adults as far as watering goes?

From me, I honestly don't know. It would seem (to me) to be the point at which they sprout, but perhaps sooner. At that point you're probably going to want to curb watering, and rely exclusively on condensation from the dome (assuming you're using one). If you're not, you might consider it.

Stop watering now, put a dome on and let the condensation do the work-you don't want it dripping on the seed tray though. If the mixture is already damp-leave it. If there's too much condensation, open it up a bit, then close it again. Seeds can develop fungus too, so we want to avoid that. Just considering how little these guys need watering, I have a hunch that the seeds would react the same.

Here are a couple links about raising them from cuttings, they may have some info.

http://www.avavs.com/GrowingStreptocarpus.pdf

http://www.streptocarpus-info.com/streppropagation.html

For the cuttings I took, I pre-moistened perlite and some very small amount Optimara AV mix (no fertilizer), just to the point of being damp, and inserted the leaf cuttings. They're in containers with no drainage, set on damp capillary mats, with a dome over them. The mix is a little dry now, and dang if I didn't forget to spray it a bit this morning. I'll do that tomorrow morning then.

Those were put in sometime early August (ok, dummy me didn't write the date down!) and they're still turgid so I'm crossing my fingers!

Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in. It's not clear to me if Dave has grown from seed, but it's likely he has.

Best,
Judy

Lucille, you got me to looking! :-)

Here's an article, though it doesn't say much about watering:
http://www.worldofstreps.com/strepforum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9
You may need to be a member (it's free).

Here's another one from Dibley's (no membership required):
http://www.dibleys.com/strep.htm

And yet another, that claims the needs for AV seeds are the same as for streps:
http://www.grownotes.com/grow-streptocarpus/

And one more for later:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gesneriad/msg0107560220751.html

You might check with Karin on the AV forum since she's growing bunches of AVs from seed!

Best,
Judy

I do not have domes on them. My gut instinct tells me that since they are tiny seedlings I should treat them the same way I treated my tomato seedlings earlier in the year, the dome comes off as soon as they sprout to prevent damping off.
At that point for my tomatoes I kept the mix damp but not wet, and the top of the mix was slightly dry before I watered from the bottom. Had a blockbuster tomato season this year too :)
But streptocarpi are different when they are adults and it is not clear to me at what stage I need to be careful watering.

You should be in good shape then! :-) The articles may help-

Best,
Judy

Thank you. The more info, the better.

Some are doing fine, but I've lost some already. The day after I received the seedlings I transplanted them because they were extremely crowded in the little plastic dish they arrived in. Many were extremely tiny and I used tweezers to help separate and plant them, but I was not used to working with plants that small.
When I plant seed for veggies (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) one seed goes into one pot and the resulting seedlings stay there until they are ready to go outside, I do not ordinarily move them while they are tiny.

Hi Lucille,
My bad, I thought you were talking about seeds themselves.

What buyer on Ebay did you get them from? I've seen some seedlings that are just packed in, but that's not the way I do it either.
Would you be able to take a small "clumps" and just transplant those?

It sounds like your adventure is proceeding nicely. I planted some strep seeds in April and most have 5" leaf spans and one is coming into bloom. The main thing to remember in planting any strep, adult or seedling, is to make sure the crown is slightly above the soil line or they might rot. I grew mine under a dome & started to gradually remove it for an hour & then more until the seedlings were older. For the last month, they have been growing in the open. By the way, it is good to transplant any gesneriad seedling at a young age as it speeds up development.

As far as careful watering, did you know some growers wick water their streps? I have done this by necessity and came home to robust plants covered in bloom. I think you can find threads on this forum about wicking streps and other watering concerns.

As far as temperature, I'm not certain modern strep hybrids are as demanding as older ones or the species. I believe the ideal temp for a strep is about 72 degrees. My plant room in the summer runs about 75 to 80 & I have a fan running 24/7. Temperature drops at night aren't much & certainly not 10 degrees. With temps over 80, streps are uncomfortable. They don't really like it chilly either. . . when I grew them in a greenhouse, the night temps would drop into the low 60's or even less. They did not do well.

Have fun growing out these seedlings!

Terri

Terri,
Thank you for your encouraging post!! It sounds like my conditions might be OK after all!!
JudyJ,
Some are in small clumps of a couple just because they were so tiny, and so intertwined, that they just had to be planted that way. Most are single planted.. They are all in peat pots sitting on a mat, so water is wicking into the potting mix via the pot itself.
It's been a few days, some didn't make it but some look OK.
They've been through enough, for the next couple weeks I'm just going to watch them and maybe tell them that they are good plants and I know they will be fine.

And now that it's been a week or so-how are the little ones doing now, Lucille?

Best,
Judy

They are still tiny. And I think constant mat watering is not a good idea, or else I did not add enough perlite, I've lost some more.
I poured the water out of the reservoir and am going to water intermittently using the pencil method Dave talked about in another thread.

Hi Lucille-
How did you fare with them so far now? I've got babies coming up from a couple leaves. Was wondering how you dealt with the sprouts?

Best,
Judy