Good luck, hope you figure something out. I am going to be in the same boat with Hoyas before too long, and they get pretty big. And as I get better at growing AV's, oof. Really would be good for me if I could stick to a species.

But hey, come spring of you still need to clear out space I can give you an address you can send as many extras as you care to at, hahaha. ;)

Whereabouts in Michigan are you? I am from Marquette/Hancock.

Kim - I'm at the tip of the mitten, so a troll to your U.P. home (that means "below the bridge" to you non-Michiganders!) But I will keep you in mind if I have some to dispose of next year during warmer weather, I promise. :-) And oh dear, I recently received a start for a Hoya. How big is "pretty big"?

Terri - you gave very sensible tips anyone should heed. Thanks for taking the time to share them all. I particularly agree about the seductive dangers of round robins which often result in an explosion of baby plants at a later date (which is exactly what is contributing to my problem right now.) And deep down I know that it is going to be a better idea to pare down than to add another stand which is probably why I've been dithering all year about it. Thanks for the affirmation.

Hehehe, size all depends on the Hoya. Most of them expect a standard sized hanging basket, like a big pothos for comparison, you can also grow them on bamboo u-hoops and trellises. You can also keep them cut back if you like. They grow continually, which provides you plenty of material to trade for more species... Which is partly how I now have 36 of them, a tiny collection compared to some. Some don't get terribly large, others can turn into 30' or more of vine, like the ones with enormous clusters of 3-4' flowers.

Troll status aside, most Yoopers agree that anywhere north of Traverse City is still fit for human habitation, hahaha. I moved away quite a few years ago, just don't miss the snow!

AnneCecelia, I don't know if you've read about the number of things that have contributed to the mess I have right now. Annie would indeed have a heart attack but I think she has issues which are her issues.

It is true that I have been shocked at how many plants I have crammed into a tray and the fantasy issue is certainly part of it. I don't know how important appearance is but I have added what I certainly hope are some temporary lights. You can make a PVC stand for a shop light that doesn't cost much and we had one for seeds. We had modified another one and I am now using it but I hope that is not permanent. I also got a larger rack and swapped things around and put up a narrow one in the hall. I may have bought a shop light but we were using some very old shop lights so there wasn't a lot of added expense. The one setup consists of small stand (I think it was a microwave cart but I had used it for a tv/vcr). There was an extra shelf from the new stand so it sits across it and the PVC light holder sits on that and it holds 2 trays easily. The PVC can be taken apart.

Things should improve eventually though if I can get them into bloom so I can decide what to keep. I did buy a stand but I wanted to get boxes of leaves off the floor and have one with casters and the one I was replacing had no casters and was deeper than was a comfortable fit in our narrow hall. This one was not expensive and can be moved out of the way if necessary.

Of course it is your decision what to do. I am trying to get over what I feel is a temporary situation without losing too many things that I have paid for and grown out. If they aren't true, they will go; if I don't like them, they will go; but I will know then.

Diana

Hi Diana, yes I have been reading with enjoyment (on two forums) about your stands this year. I love your droll comments - you often make me smile or even chuckle out loud. I understand where you're coming from, trying to keep all those plants going until you can see how they bloom and shape up and yes, that is pretty much my issue as well. I just have so little space. I do have one spot I thought of setting up some kind of a frame (perhaps PVC would work) to suspend a 4' fixture temporarily and that is on top of the large entertainment center which is in my plant room. I wouldn't want to put holes in the ceiling to suspend the fixture by chain, but I could deal with some kind of contraption to sit up there and hold the light - just until I get these babies grown up a bit more and sorted out. That is a thought.

Hi, AnneCecilia,

Thanks for sharing with us your plans. The "first step" is "to admit we were powerless" then to "acknowledge to another human being the exact nature of our addiction," if I may paraphrase

Sounds like you did an intervention on yourself with the fluorescent light burning out. I know what you mean about the small plant quantities vs. the space taken by larger plants.

I often plan to reduce the quantity by a dozen, but it seems more like only a half dozen at a time. Better they go to new homes than suffer neglect by overwatering after under-watering.

Winter already where you are? We never got to Fall, still in the high 70's and low 80's here. .

Annie is strict with herself based on her years of experience. As a newer grower, I am still learning about various varieties. My solution is to let some go to new homes once they mature as new starts come in. The Optmaras are the "foster plants." They are easy to replace from local shops or leaf starts. They perform well in their new homes. If they don't, I don't take it personally.

I know some collectors whose shelves look like Annie's, but that is because they are at the end of their growing years.

I spent the afternoon with a violet friend from my club. We traded a few violets, went to a couple of nurseries, admired the plants, and went home with no extra violets. It is interesting to observe how people have strong color preferences. Seems that several in my club have different colors they like, so that makes it easy to trade or donate.

As for hoyas, aren't they outdoor plants? We have just one or two, they are ground cover for the rose beds.

Joanne

If you would like links for the two types of pvc stands we made, I can find them. The other one we have was made from the legs of an old plant light. Of course you had to have old iron plant light legs. We have a couple using these. One is a real light - I think it is made for recessed lighting and is a 24" light but a cord had to be added to it and it is bolted to the legs. With the other one, I said, "Can't we just put a broom handle or something between them to hang the shop light?" so that is what is there. It seems to be okay. I have to say the pvc ones aren't pretty. The only advantage to the one is that it is not wider than the shop light whereas the other one is.

I really have had a lot of things pile up this year, including a snake in a tray. I mean who could have predicted that? The thing is that I am not a grower like Annie and I would be miserable trying to grow like her. I expect I have more years experience than Annie has. She just has a different personality type.

I have only been posting on one group for awhile now. Sometimes that is about all my isp will load!

Diana

Thanks for the offer to look up those links, Diana; I found these PVC stand instructions: PVC Light Stand | University of Maryland Extension

What do you think? It's certainly not a beauty, but it looks easy and efficient and I can pick up everything that I need at work tomorrow (I work at a lumber yard) and maybe even have the guys cut the 10' pipe to length for me if I plead no way to get it home in my little car in one piece. ;-) And if it is so utilitarian that it is not charmingly part of my decor I won't be so tempted to make it become a permanent part of my plant room. Ha!

Joanne, you're right - I did a self-intervention! I understand what you meant with the story of you and your friend coming back from your outing with no new violets. I have become that way with my roses and lord knows I was an out of control collector there for years, adding and adding until it was no fun to garden anymore. Now it has to meet certain criteria first, i.e.: disease resistant, hardy, fragrant - and then it has to knock my socks off because if I buy it I have to dig up something else from the garden to make room for a new rose. That caveat sure slows one's purchases down! So I have to look at my light stand the same way I look at my fenced-in garden. That's it; that's all the room there is for permanent display and that's the end of it. (Well, to be honest my mind is still waffling but I'll work on it.) ;-)

And no, not winter quite yet but well on its way. We've already had one heavy snow that stuck around a couple of days and temps are dipping below freezing overnight with more regularity; daytime highs in the 40's. I felt so sorry for the kids out trick or treating last night at 42 degrees in a cold, steady rain. Snow would have been better.

Joanne, Hoyas can be either or, but I can't grow them outdoors in my zone. Which is probably good, or I would have several hundred of them, I am sure. Reading this thread with interest, some good suggestions on lighting setups, helpful for me as a student with limited funds. And I have several genera of plants I am interested in and could get out of hand easily. I only have my one AV, but around 60 plants in total and my wish list isn't getting any smaller. May as well start now with getting used to rehoming or discarding the ones that I am not completely in love with , at least make room. I am really tempted to join an AV club, but worried I wont be able to control myself!

And good to know the fantasy types often revert. Bummer, but it cuts back a lot off my wish list!

Ok. I have a weakness plants, top on the list is African violets, followed by Amaryllis, Christmas cactus and other succulents, I have a couple orchids one has actually bloomed every year for past three years:) plus other houseplants. Some days I hate the house but don't think I can ever move and have this much natural lighting. The windows in the down stairs are 36"x9ft. So no room is safe with all the windows in the house being on the East or West I can find lighting that plants like everywhere. Except the poinsettia that wants darkness to blooming but hey it has made it thru the year and still has green leaves. If I ever become a true collector of named varieties I might be sunk but right now I kind of use the entire house as a green house but don't tell my husband and that kind of makes it ease to sneak in a new plant .

Kim, it's not so much that fantasy plants 'revert' (which to me means that they sport into some plain colored blossom) but that starting from leaves does not yield 100% plants that are "true," that is, exact replicas of the parent plant. Different AV's are more or less likely to come true from a leaf (Imp's Spirit Warder for example was rated at less than 30% by the hybridizer!) Which means that for a pot full of hopeful fantasy babies you must keep multiples - the more the better - until they reach blooming size (which may take a year or more) so that you can see which ones are going to bloom true and THEN you can discard the rest. It takes up a lot of space if you happen to love fantasy markings (and I do!) They are so worth it, though IMO.

Julia - you are so lucky with the windows in your house. If only I could turn my house on its foundation 90 degrees, LOL. I'd have every room stocked with plants, too. ;-)

AnneCecilia, oooh ok. Thanks for clarifying! Aaaand my want list just doubled up again. For now, my little NOID is going to remain an only violet, until I get some more experience with it. I didn't realize I can find Optimaras at Lowes though... Might be too hard to resist if I find one I really like, but I will do my best. :)

AnneCecelia, my ISP is being a pain but I am like 99% sure that is the first stand we made. It worked fine and the only advantage to the second one was that it could be made with a shorter base whereas the light hangs inside this one and it is like 50" long or a bit more. You can take it apart and store it if you should want it again or need to start seeds or something. The guy has it on a table or something I think in the photo. We made it last year to start tomatoes, petunias and other outdoor plants but this year there were too many violet leaves under it.

Did you find all the rather elaborate pvc ones you could make? I was surprised at those. You are right that these are not decorative. I had one in the living room and that is what I replaced with a two shelf rack. Of course they are drying out like crazy now.

I hadn't grown much in the way of fantasies before so this issue caught me by surprise and apparently I ordered more of these things than I realized. There were two trailers where I just gave up and bought the plant from Violet Barn. One isn't even a fantasy but wasn't right. I object to being charged $2 for leaves of a plant that I can buy for $6 when they don't come true.

Violet Barn carried quite a few hoyas but aside from not doing well with one once, I don't really know much about them.

Diana

Ohhhhhhh Anne, you couldn't wait til I visited so you could "purge"????? I AM crying, sobbing, just hearing all of those little voices shouting "HELP ME ROSIE" and Rosie isn't there!!!!!! lol (well sort of then again maybe not. Addiction is not a pretty thing!) Rosie

PS. sniff sniff,,,,,,,sorry about your little light unit! I bet it was cute!!!

Gee, Rosie, I knew you'd be in tears...I've been waiting for you to pop in here. You're such a tender-heart when it comes to plants! ;-) Not to worry; nothing hit the trash but what should have - the ones deformed from the fert. overdose I would not have let you have anyway, and the extras were more of ones I'd already shared with you, so see? It's all good, my friend.

Yeah, and I really am peeved about the Sunblaster lighted dome set up. It was such a good idea, but I hadn't had it even a year yet and my son the electrician said it must be the ballast in the little florescent fixture. (Not something that can be fixed because it requires special parts.) I need to go back on Amazon and update my review on it. It was a bit "spendy" to be so disposable!

Well, sniff, sniff, ok.

But about that Sunblaster lighted dome set up! Peeved is not the word that comes to mind just now! There has got to be at least a year warranty on it. Geeze there is on everything!!!!! I would give them holy heck and what for thou art!!!!! In no uncertain terms!!!!! Go get'em Anne!!! Rosie

PS. I would still have taken the deformed ones. <little tear falling down my cheek>

I agree with Rosie. You pay for a thing, there are certain expectations.

Also, Rosie you are as bad as I am... I have hung on to a plant I hate out of pity for several years, and couldn't bring myself to toss the suckers on my AV, because babies!

Seems my 'self-intervention' is working! A friend who I gifted with a violet a couple months ago reports it is thriving in a large window that gets filtered afternoon light. She will make a house call next week to pick out two fully grown violets. She can hang plants, so she might select a trailer as well. I will twist her arm a little .... Then in a couple of weeks, a couple other friends promised to stop by for a few more of their selection. I will never be like Annie, as I like the cycle of growing then finding homes for them, more so than showing. Although I admire and appreciate those who do grow for show. I find people who are not growers seem to prefer fully grown plants. Whereas, growers like the babies. Joanne

I agree. Propagating is most of the fun for me. I just wish I had more friends who could be trusted with plants. I am officially in trouble, picked up a four foot long fluorescent yesterday and am itching to try leaf propagation of AV's again. Basically doomed. Annie wouldn't like my house either.

And you hit the nail on the head, Joanne and Kim. What I like most is starting my own plantlets and seeing them bloom for the first time - it is always such a thrill. I don't think I could look at what's on my stand and say, that's it. No new AV's. What would the fun be in that? So I will have to try harder to do like you do, Joanne and gift some of the larger plants that don't particularly thrill me. I can start making a list of 'expendables' over the winter and be ready to move 'em out when warmer weather comes again. Just because I started it and grew it successfully does not mean I have to keep it forever and always. OK, humming the Frozen theme here...Let it go, let it goooo....

I did research the T5 HO SunBlaster NanoTech light fixture today and I read that the 18" size which came with the propagation dome I purchased back in February on Amazon has been discontinued by the manufacturer. Humph. I have sent an inquiry to Sunblaster Lighting regarding the warranty. Will let you know if I hear anything back.

BTW, we didn't have the right type of shop light at work for making a temporary light stand with PVC as Diana and I were discussing; I will have to wait until the weekend to hit a big box store. Still don't like the idea of putting one up - seems counterproductive to my intervention not to mention less than aesthetically pleasing in my lovely plant room - but I don't see any other way to get through this winter with all these growing baby plants so I probably will do it.

AnneCecil, I will help you with that intervention come spring, you can catapult discards over to my green thumb mama, and I will cover shipping. ;-)

I have started looking more critically at my Hoyas, a few will be gifted on after they bloom for me. Nothing quite as enjoyable as starting with a tiny cutting or plantlet, turning it into something beautiful and gifting it out to make room for the next. My friends will become plant people through me by proxy. Ha, I have already installed a philodendron at the house of my blackest thumbed friend. So it begins!

Oh I can't talk about this!!!! Unwanted babies! I keep them forever! Or until they die! A natural death that is. I have no one here to give them to anyway! Except to share with my daughter (which I do!!!! ) wahhh wahh!!!! Rosie

If only I had the space! So far, the east side of my little house has been a death some for plants, neighbors house is too close. I don't have a plant problem, oh no! I have a space problem!

Rosie, I agree with you. I think of myself as Child Protective Services for plants. That being said ideas are running thru my brain saying if she would have let us know we could have found a emergency placement, we could have become foster plant parents.. Even though African Violets are my favorites if I see someone post that they are free for shipping I will adopt anything and see if I can get it to grow.

No offense, ladies...but to quote The Bard: "O, that way madness lies; let me shun that..." ;-)

You can't save 'em all! (Nor should you.)

I know everything has a season, but if I can prolong and bring back to health something that for me is beautiful I will try. Even if the plant is never show quality Mom always said," Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Not to say I have not over watered, fertilized, or given to much sun to a plant.and said enough because a plant that I loved previously is not living up to expectations.

That said one of my favorite quotes from Nursing school is," We are all a little mad sometime." Plants just happen to be my madness:)

Hi, AnneC, For me, it is about the growing, not the keeping. My innate perspective is different. Or maybe it has shifted. I am definitely a collector who does not crave that many. It is not difficult at all for me to part with violets. I grow them to give them away. Coming from an agricultural and farming family back a generation, crops were raised to be shared--sold or given away. Also, with a limited growing season, I was not used to plants living longer than a few months. So the concept of raising 300 indoor African Violets would have seemed like an unusual hobby. My ideal situation would be to have a greenhouse and raise them for market. The problem with raising them for club sales to the public is that unless people grow them, they don't understand how to care for them. So club sales are not that successful or rewarding for others where I live. I have observed over the years on this forum where the same questions are asked over and over about growing and getting them to bloom. They are not an intuitive type of plant to grow. In a way, they are a manufactured plant, serving no purpose aside from ornamental.

I can understand the hybridizing of roses. They are an outdoor flowering shrub with far more versatility and widespread appeal than AVs. They have commercial value and the bonus of fragrance. Joanne

fortyseven ...

I think that you perfectly captured the conundrum of the level of difficulty in growing African Violets successfully.

They can be an easy plant to grow (once you know all of the rules and have adusted/adjusted to your particular environment), ... but they are not ... INTUITIVE ...

I whole heartedly agree! Now that I have the care routine down, it seems so simple. Until I try to explain it to a friend who doesn't grow a lot of plants, then their eyes start to glaze over. Remember that movie gremlins? Don't get them wet, hehehe. (at least not with cold water).

Still, very rewarding. Think I have one more major hurdle with my AV's, and that's the summer spike in temps that will turn my house into a greenhouse. In the meanwhile, my little love keeps on blooming even though its lost its prime window spot to my full bloom Hoya multiflora. Want to talk about a plant that just sits around and looks pretty? At least AV's don't drip nectar like a few of the Hoyas, multiflora included.

sniff sniff,,,,I know. You are correct. I need to TRY to stop saving them all. Maybe I will start tomorrow,,,,,,,Rosie

Aegis, They are also relational, after all, they live in the house with people. My cat was well aware and quite jealous when the violets got my first attention when coming home from work.

Kim, the summer spike in temps is not a good thing. Do you have any way to keep the temps to moderate range? AC or fans? There is almost nothing worse than growing a plant then watching it wilt from heat. They can take an occasional warm day, but not a steady diet of mid-day heat.

Joanne

I have a plan for that, but I definitely need to pick up another small AC unit or two. Should be able to figure something out, I think with the second AC and a couple more fans I will be in good shape. Needs to happen, for my sake as well as the plants. My northerner blood can only take so much heat too!

Boy, this thread really took off! I have enjoyed so much all of your comments. :-)

To bring this back a bit to my original issue, I wanted to tell everyone that today I received an email from the Future Harvest Development company in Canada regarding my complaint about the T5 HO SunBlaster NanoTech light fixture. They assured me that there is indeed a one year warranty and they asked for my receipt and promised to send a replacement out to me. Can't ask for anything more!

Anne

Good for you! Usually there is some kind of warranty on everything! Glad you pursued it! Congrats!!!!! Rosie

That's great!