I loved RainforestGuy's post. He left and never came back. I got his email and tried to get him back. There was some arguments on this forum and many people got mad and quit. I tried to smooth it over but feelings got hurt. So we all loose their knowledge and wisdom. Sadly how many have left here.

Stush

Yes, several have left. But then new have joined!

Great pic for comparison Nancy! Metallica variegata definitely has wider leaves but colors are similar.

Stush, I guess I wasn't here when the ill feelings were going on, I don't remember the episodes. But too bad people say things that get feathers ruffled, you're right in that we do lose experienced and informed people and their input.

Russ

Good morning, everyone! Per your request Akrrm, here are photos of my Gray Lady Aurea, which JC called GL variegated when I bought it a couple months ago.

At the same time I bought from JC something called 'Silver Street', which held next to Bantel's looks identical to me, but JC swears it's a different cultivar. Here it is:

Lastly, I recently bought a Craigii on eBay that is gorgeous so I thought I'd post it as comparison to GLA:

I should have shot them side by side this morning but didn't have time before work. I will later today or tomorrow and post it.

I've never heard of Silver Street, it does look like Bantel's other than the odd color of green I'm seeing, but it's probably the pic that came across cyberspace. It's kind of olive green.

Beautiful variegates Lori, I especially like the Gray Lady.

Does anyone have both trifasciata Craigii and metallica variegata? If so, what differences do you see? I got a sans labeled Futura Aurea (not) from pioneer collector Alice Waidhofer in 1999 that is obviously one of those two but don't know which.

Russ

Thanks vitorama, all of them are very pretty. When I purchased my gray lady the title also said gray lady variegated but when I read the description of the listing he called it gray lady aurea, I guess another way to cause confusion.

Russ, I too purchase a Sans called futura Aurea and was actually guineensis variegata. If it's in the guineensis family which is large, it will only have up to 3 leaves to a node or sprout.

Try as I might, I could not keep this plant over two years. Seems every new leaf means a loss of one. Almost a touchy as S. t. hahnii Solid Gold.

Here's my S. t. Gray Lady.

Needs seriously re-potted.

And my Bantel's Sensations;

Stush

FWIW, Juan Chahinian wrote an article in the Sans Journal on variegation and from what I remember there are many different types (as far as plant cells, etc.) of variegation. For example: laurentii, you can feel with your fingers, it's raised up. Anyway, I bring this up because there very well may be both a GL variegated and GL Aurea because of the difference in variegation (that may look the same to the eye). I would shoot him an email and ask for clarification.

In the Ebay add, He stated that Gray Lady is a smaller version of Silver Queen. Never heard that before. What do you think? I don't own Silver Queen.

I have both, the GL I have is in an 8"pot packed with leaves, I think probably it's mature. Compared to the 10"potted SQ I saw at the nursery greenhouse, yeah, it's smaller. That SQ was on the floor and came up to my waist if not a tad taller - it had to be +40" tall from the soil level. My impression was even if I had $60 for it, how would I get it out to my car (due to the weight and mass of it)? They both have a predominance of pale grayish green, although the GL seems to have a few more horizontal darker green stripes here and there - narrow leaves, more of them perhaps. My SQ, is half the size of the big one I just described, very close in size to GL. I wouldn't say they are the same except for size, I think they are distinctive enough to have both but that's my opinion.

I have silver queen and I will never have a full pot of it (I explained this in one of the posts in this thread)

The original growth in the royal blue pot 3rd from the right and the new growth in the purple pot 2nd from the right.

From the other direction, the old plant is 27" and the new growth is 35" last time i measured it.Stush all of your gray lady looks very light, like my newer growth, the old growth of mine is darker, they were in front of a west window in my house. All of your sans look great. My silver queen has a very thin darker green edge.

Russ, here are closeups of my metallica variegated

Very firm leaves, feels like it has ridges, sort of waxy feeling. It's finally getting a 4th leaf.

I took some pics, I didn't realize how much greener SQ is. First pic is all three (I got a smaller GL with an ID to compare to the bigger one which was NOID), second a close up of GL with a new leaf and third is SQ closeup.

Great growing guys! I long for the day I have full pots. My SQ and GL are both young. At this stage they do resemble each other. This pic is from April. Funny I thought to compare the 2 back then. GL on the left. I'm nursing the SQ back to health as she was sitting on a front porch in full sun. There's lots of red spots, just not a very pretty girl, but there's potential!

Those variegates are just beautiful. I recently received one and can't wait for it to flourish. The yellows and greens really stand out in those. NextO, that pot of GL is a force to be reckoned with! I've never seen them like that before, only for sale in small offsets like the one I have.

Nancy, your pics made me smile because I have a patio table turned plant stand as well. They're all so healthy and cheery. And is that a pup in the older SQ?

Yes Katrina - when I first started frequenting the nursery with the greenhouse stuffed with Sans I didn't even see these big plants in the back, but on subsequent visits I began to pick out bigger-than-normal Sans that were bursting out of their pots. I guess they had been there awhile and just grown really well in that greenhouse environment. Maybe other customers weren't as determined as I was to move all the plants out of the front to get to the ones in back, heh heh.

He prices them by pot size so most were 10" plants still crammed into 8" pots (and the price doubles for the larger size). Of course I "fixed" that as soon as I got them home - had to as the plastic pots were either split or rhizomes were coming out of the bottom holes.

Hi everyone,.

I am loving the plant show! I like seeing them in their home, patios or porches in summer. I will have to take some pictures to add. Everything is starting to grow in the heat.

Beautiful pictures everyone! My eyes are turning green with envy!

Too late to post right now and I'm going out of town tomorrow. Will post tomorrow night.

Yeah, what a picture show! Wish I had some popcorn and a coke.

Russ

Here's how it looks on my back deck this summer. I love this time of year, new growth popping up

Barbmock, what beauties ! Do you have to bring them all in for the winter?

Oh yes,. They come outside around Memorial Day and back inside around the first of October. They fill the windows for sure.

What an incredible collection, Barb! They all look to be specimen plants! Fabulous! You variegated masoniana! Wow!

What is the sans that looks like a stiff leaved spider plant and is growing crazy out of the pot? I am beginning to love the hanging sans.

I love that golden speckled Dracaena you have. I love that plant and have tried to grow it many times but always wind up killing it.

We are all talking about the importance of clay and here all your plants look to be in plastic. I am rethinking my decision to put so many in clay because of the weight. Great growing!

Thank you for sharing your plants!

Yes, those are great looking plants. And what a variety!

We're having a MONSTER thunderstorm here. All my big plants still in their plastic nursery pots blew over. Only 2 plants in clay did. And it's the plant that unrooted...not the pot that turned over. They're tall and recently planted. I like the weight of clay for the wind, but not for moving them. Pros and cons; as always.

Vitorama and Katrina,

Thank you! There are a couple that look like a spider plant, parva white and yellow. They really don't grow very fast at all. I have been trying to baby them along for quite a while. They were given to me by some very generous collectors. I just ran across that dracaena at Lowes one day and coudn't resist. I do have all my sans in plastic. No problems with it for me.

I am really enjoying this post. Such beautifully grown Sans. Well grown.

I too love the plastic pots. Just like above, they have a ledge which makes it easy to grab and carry.

Barb, what is the spotted one about 10:00 last photo? 3rd pot down from the top on the left.

That's a new one, Next O. It's Elliptica 'Horwood'. It has thick stiff leaves. I got it in a trade.

It's beautiful, whenever I see a photo of Horwood I want one (and I finally found one). Nice trade!

I'm a bit confused by elliptica and Horwood. I thought they were one and the same, and many websites treat them as such, but I notice that Chahinian treats them a completely separate sans in his book The Splendid Sansevieria. Been scratching my head ever since I noticed the two pages in his book.

Russ

Summer plant sale was a bust. No Bob Smoley or anyone else with sansevierias. Very disappointed. I had to stop at a local nursery and buy another ponytail palm to not go home empty handed.

Stuier, It was just announced on the Cactus and Succulents forum that Bob Smoley has passed away. His wife is still trying to run the business but are having trouble with it. I hope she can manage.

Stush

Yes Stush, he died in May. In speaking with his wife on the phone she has a son helping her. Mr. Smoley did not have all his sans labeled she said he knew his plants. So for now it may be difficult to order sans. Very nice lady, it was a pleasure to speak with her. I wish her well.

I thought I had the mealy bugs on my Kirkii Silver Blue under control with Bayer, but the central part of the plant began to rot and I had to cut it away. I salvaged a pup with roots and have repotted it. Hopefully it will survive. I cut away the rotted parts of the leaves of the mother plant and saved the outer part of the leaves that have no rot on them. I'm letting them dry and will see if they propogate in the soil. If they survive, would the pups still be silver blues or revert to some other kind of S. Kirkii?

About Bob Smoley's widow, Mary Ann Smoley, I bought a few rare sansevierias from her last fall, and she sent me great plants. I always call her with my orders. She's very nice, and once the weather warms up, she'll be the first one I go to for new plants!

Sanny, I've seen an old post where someone said they grew a Silver Blue from a leaf, and the pic attached was indeed a Silver Blue. So I'm fairly certain that you'll get more of the same from the leaves you intend to propagate.

Good to know about Smoley's still being a great source for sansevierias. I heard Mary Ann was struggling with the business after Bob's passing, in particular with ID's of the plants. If your news of her sending great plants is an indication that she's doing very well now, I'm so glad for her.

Russ

Sanny, Stush grew a silver blue from a leaf. He posted a picture in one of my other threads.

CLICK HERE

Thank you for the link! It's wonderful to hear that silver blue leaf cuttings (if they survive) produce new silver blues! They are my favorites among the sansevierias! I love that Stush was able to get a new silver blue plant out of a "half dead" leaf! I don't know if I'll be as skilled to get a new silver blue plant to grow out of any of my leaf cuttings. I live in hope!

Sanny, I've seen a 4 or 5 year old post on Gardenweb showing a picture of a beautiful Silver Blue, and the grower said they had grown it from a propagated leaf of the variety. So I'm confident you'll get more of the same if you can get those leaves to produce plants.

My experience with propagating leaves that have had rot cut away from them isn't good, in most cases the rot progresses up the leaf in spite of cutting it back. But I have had some successes so it's well worth the attempt. Keep us posted on how that goes.

NextO, on the pics you posted in June of your big pot of Gray Lady, Juan Chahinian says in his book that it tops out at 1 foot, but I've grown it here in Florida to over 18 inches. The high humidity and heat apparently drives sansevierias to exceptional heights. I know you're in zone 10 which has even warmer winters than I do so plants continue to grow almost all year. I'm curious as to the height of your big pot of Gray Lady, and did you get the smaller pot you show in your photo from the same source as the big one? If your large plants are over 2 feet I have a theory (which is probably wrong) that they might be another much less common variety of trifasciata called Slimmerette. Are you familiar with it?

Russ

Russ, Just as plants produce cultivars of something different, those plants are always trying to revert back to something else or something new. I remember growing hosta, over the years Francis Williams developed into many different cultivars of some similar looking plant. Depends on how far along the reproduction line they came from. After 50 generations, (nothing in the nursery business) you do get deviations.

Russ, interesting point on leaves with rot cut off not being easy to propagate. I have noted this also when trying to save a beloved plant. I had a Golden Hahnii that I could not save as the rot kept advancing despite callousing and the use of different anti fungal powders. Nothing worked, it seams once the rot gets into the leaf it travels up the leaf even if you cut back just past healthy tissue. Having said this, I must also mention that I have had success with other leaves where I have cut rot away. Some Sansevieria varieties are hardier than others. So, yes it is always worth the attempt.

Stush, that's very true! Which is why when I'm offered a sans or other plant in trade that I already have, I often take them up on it because sometimes there are slight differences. Hostas are cool, I wish I could grow them here. I know a lady in Ohio that is making her own hybrids and they're quite nice.

Fred, I've had some successes too, but more failures than not with leaves that have rotten areas. I think the highly variegated ones are the worst, like Golden Hahnii. They seem to be weaker than all-green leaved sans.

Supposed to be 37 here on Saturday night, coldest temp so far this winter. I dragged sensitive plants indoors again tonight but I'm not complaining, I know most of you have had snow already.

Russ

Thank you, all, for your warnings about trying to propagate leaves cut off from plants that succumbed to rot. It hadn't occurred to me --and does make sense now -- that the rot disease may already have travelled up the leaves even though it is is not visible. (Darn!) Unlike the fragile leaves of a highly variegated plant, the silver blue leaves that I'm trying to rescue are thick and hard. Maybe I will be lucky. I will keep you all posted.

One thing I'm trying is to put the bottom of the leaf into a 10 percent bleach to water solution. The late, great Dr. Frank Brown of Aglaonema fame says in his book to soak seeds in it for 10 minutes before planting to kill any organisms that might be on it. I tried it once and don't remember if it worked or not. A potential problem is that the leaf would take up the solution for that short time whereas a seed would not, but I just thought it was worth a shot on leaves with rot.

But again, it's always worth trying to propagate any leaf.

Russ

After reading on line about Plant Intelligence, I suspect that plants have a built in intelligence to cut off a leaf to preserve the main plant and it is programmed to die, even if cut and tried to propagate on it's own. My biggest success came from not putting any attention on the cut leaf and forgetting all about it. No fuss, no must so to speak. Seems totally neglect seems to work best. Also no water (which may have been the real reason).

My success on Silver Blue was the same way, One leaf was totally beat up and half dead which I removed and another fell off from cleaning dirt off roots. Nothing to loose so I put them back in the old pot and forgot about them till fall when bringing in the plants. My surprise to find sprouts coming thru the soil!

Apparently Stush, plants AND their leaves are survivors. I think leaves from extremely thick sans like Silver Blue, kirkii Superclone and the like need a 'dry propagation' technique with little to no watering. And they'll definitely not suffer since they have a year's worth of moisture stored in their leaves, literally. So a month or three waiting to root is a piece of cake.

One thing I've noticed about using bottom leaves for propagation, sometimes the plant is getting ready to discard the leaf when you take it for prop'ing, and it starts yellowing shortly after you put it in a medium. The yellowing starts at the tip and works down, and there's nothing that will stop it. The leaf will yellow completely and die within a week or two. I just had a leaf of a rare sans do that, much to my disappointment.

Russ

Sadly the silver blue pup and the salvaged leaf tips that I was trying to propagate all didn't make it. The pup rotted like the mother plant had earlier, and some leaf tips rotted and some dried up. I didn't water any of them. WeIl, I'll wait until spring and get another silver blue. Such a beautiful plant, I can't wait to get another one.

Should I throw out all the soil left in the pot? Should I assume that it is contaminated by whatever caused the rot and could be passed on to another plant if I reused the soil? Is the clay pot that my silver blue was growing in likely to be contaminated too? If yes, is there a way to disinfect it so I can safely put another plant in the same pot?

You could always wash the pot with hot soapy water with a slash of chlorine.

That's too bad Sanny, it's such a beautiful and hard to get sans. I hope you can easily find one next year.

Don't use the soil again, I would throw it out. I've heard of microwaving soil to sterilize it but I've never personally done it. You might find out more with a Google search.

You can sterilize the pot by immersing it in a 10% bleach to water solution, leave it for an hour or two. Then soak it in plain water for the same time, dump it and repeat. If there are white mineral deposits on the pot, they can be removed by soaking it in a vinegar and water solution, but scrubbing the white areas with a stiff brush using the same solution should work as well.

All the best,

Russ

Watch out mixing vinegar with bleach. It will cause the chlorine to be released immediately causing lung damage or even death.

Wow, that's good to know Stush. The treatments were meant to be separate, but I'd hate to think someone might try to do both at the same time and mix them.

Thanks for the caution!

Russ