Beautiful plants ...

I have considered the Ness Viking Maiden for some time. Now I've seen (2) excellent examples of grower's success with the plant ...

Beautiful plants.

Aegis -

Maiden grows very pleasingly on its own It should be under lower lights, leaves bleach easily - and it should have space to grow. Looking at your latest pics ... you are overloaded. I cleaned 2 shelves for show plants... 2-3 plants per tray... thats' it - and then they grow themselves.

There is a way to grow them with overlaps - if you grow on deli containers - you can grow dark leaf ones on 1 pound reservoirs - like 1 pound cottage cheese - and light leaf on half pounders - in 2 stores - but you need to have support rings.

I've not seen blooms like Frosted Cherry. Beautiful!

Gorgeously grown plants, Irina. And thank you for the tip on how to do a "double decker" tray of AV's using the two sizes of plastic containers. That's so simple! And it's a great tip to keep in the back of my mind as my plants on average continue to get larger and larger. I can attest to that "give them space and they will grow" rule. I weeded out a lot of starter plants this winter and rearranged every tray so there were less plants in each one, giving them all a lot more breathing room than they had had before. Man, did they take off and grow fast to fill in the spaces between them in just two months! Now many of them are touching leaves once again and I will need to do another round of rearranging very soon.

It was not funny - I was disbudding and turning the plants from November till end of January...Every time I pick one up - I cannot squeeze it back... So after last disbudding 6 weeks before the show - I washed the leaves, put plants back - and didn't touch again. I knew that I woud need another shelf.

If you are not showing them - you just can take a last row off. With showing - you are always obsessed about not creating gaps. That's why I do not like to keep older plants. They are already large... And I am not ready to keep 4 plants per 48" shelf.

Ohhhh, I just love eye candy!!! No trouble digesting and never gain weight from it! lol Seriously,,,,just beautiful!!!!! Rosie

Oh, I understand what you who grow to show go through to produce those marvelous symmetrical large plants with gorgeous heads of bloom, Irina - and I just don't want to do it, LOL! When I'm talking about shifting for space so my plants grow better, it's no where the space that a show grower would allot per plant. No one will ever critique mine, but I want to please myself with lovely full wheels of leaves...on at least a few of them anyway. But my space is limited and so either I take off leaves and downsize most of my plants or I downsize the collection since I don't like what happens when plants get crowded together into a jungle - none of them can be their best and wonky crooked leaves bother me.

You are so right - you enjoy them when they grow with space to breathe. No, I do not do not rip the leaves just to make space. But some growers do. Doesn't seem yto harm them. I only take older discolored and tired leaves, usually when I repot.

Regarding growing for the show - I think it is a very interesting experience - do it once, select a plant you like - and grow it to its best for something special - for your B-Day party, for your friends out of town visit. Do it once, you will very probably learn something that will help in a regular growing - and you will knock the socks off your friends and family.

I am not exactly saying - you need to try absolutely everything once - but it is very tame adventure - we are not trying to climb the mount Everest. It is captivating . I repotted the plants, removed the baby leaves and old leaves, chipped the buds and the suckers off... and then - nothing happens. I swear - for a month - nothing. Then - you see the buds showing - not many - so I keep removing - 1 -2 bloomstalks every so often. Then it is time to repot to a slightly bigger pot. OK, did it. ANd then things started happening - suddenly big fat suckers started coming literally overnight from under the soil. You remove them - and next week - again - a new crop. At 7 weeks before the show - OK - I am letting the buds grow - and they came in droves. No more suckers - but the bloomstalks with buds all over, And than the waiting game - will they bloom on time, will they open prematurely, will the flowers last? Last week before the show - it was stunning... I wish I could keep the blossoms for an enjoyment - but after the show in a greenhouse - we could bring loads of thrips home - so off with the flowers...

I.

i wish i could hit the 'like' button a dozen times

Ness' Viking Maiden - same plant - just before the show

Yukako - same-o

Frosted Cherry - oops forgot to take the ring off

Irina those are beautiful! Ring and all!!! lol

Ring or the brown bowl I used for a riser - are 9 inches - so Ness' Viking' Miden is somewhere around 15" diameter.

Beautiful, Thank you! Joanne

You are welcome

Irina