I do not think starting from a leaf is a viable solution - the success rate is low and the time it takes... I would feel getting old just waiting...

For an Episcia to grow fast - it requires high humidity, warmth, decent light and regular food. It is a heavy feeder. I think windowsill growing can be ... challenging. Some cultivars are slow and if there is nothing special about it - just decorate a compost pile with it - and try something more vigorous. An example - 'Star of Bethlehem'. Who would grow this miserable thing but for the flowers. Picky, slow, not very viable. Croaks at a sneeze... But the blossoms... gorgeous.

You can try to give it fish emulsion. And 80F. Or GET SOMETHING ELSE!

hmmmm,,,,,compost pile--not an option/ starting a leaf, I don't think I will. I think I will just let nature take its course. Maybe, like some children, it is a "late bloomer". And, I have nothing but time !!!! Rosie

Rosie - you need to have something blooming for you - or at least growing nicely - for every day. Since your plant growing real estate is limited... keeping the daugs is counterproductive. For a sunny person like you .. you should be surrounded with happy plants! So - if this location is not right for this Episcia - put something there that will lighten your day...

Oh Irina, not to worry. My non blooming "anythings" are always offset by the violets that grace me with flowers. And as soon as one is finished another one or two start blooming. While real estate may be limited I am loathe to "compost",,,,,,but you should smile! I am getting pretty good at taking off the bottom row of violet leaves and THROWING them away when I prune!!!!!

Oh,,,,speaking of throwing them away, 3 or so days ago I went to Lowe's and bought the only violet that still had a couple sad flowers on it. But the plant leaves were in good shape and I could identify it right off the bat as Optimara MySensation!!!!! Oh heck yes I bought it!!!!! Green and white,,,,oh my!!! I so wanted that plant!!!!! And I will start the leaves when it is time to take them off. Just for backup you know. And one for my daughter in Tennessee. AND I left the other flowerless Optimaras there. I am getting good at that.

Well and besides, the leaves on my episcia are pretty. I have a feeling it will finally find its way and take off like a bat out of hedoublehockeysticks!!!!! And the main thing is,,,,,I am happy just tending it! It will turn out ok,,,,trust me! And I have nothing but time! Rosie

Pic-pic-pic

Ok, here's a couple that are blooming now.

Opt. Pennsylvania, my favorite red is also blooming. Somehow I ended up with 2 mature plants of her so one will go to my daughter in Tennessee!

There are a few more blooming and some are setting buds as we speak. I just love my babies! Rosie

How about taking a photo of your little episcia, Rosie? I didn't know you had one!

Oh, I didn't mention it???? hmmm. Well ok, maybe sometime today I can take a few pix. Rosie

How about right now!

Well,,,,,,because,,,,,,the truth is,,,,,,,I HATE taking pix of my plants and dolls! And finding a place to stage them and putting them on my computer, and labeling them, and putting them in the right folder. I don't know why but I just hate taking pix of my plants and dolls!!!!! I love to HAVE the pix. I love to look at them,,,,it is just the process of DOING it! There I finally said it. I can sit for hours transplanting, trimming, getting my hands dirty etc., but taking pix???? Hate it!!!! sigh,,,,,but,,, I will. Rosie

Just take them with your cellphone... who cares if they are not staged - it is for information only.

Irina had some good advice. Also episcias do better with a LOT stronger light than most people give them. Mine grow much better under lights than in the window. Also repotting every few months helps. As Irina said however, they love heat and the average shelf isn't warm enough so make sure you have it up high rather than down low.

It wouldn't hurt to put a single leaf down but you are liable to have a very low success rate if it isn't under bright artificial lighting, so if window light is the only option I wouldn't bother. They do take a very long time. Tip cuttings however can root within days so that's another possibility if you aren't getting stolens. Then you tend to stimulate new growth out of side shoots, usually two or more buds at a time. I actually do NOT feed my episcia very much and all but the pinks grow and bloom like crazy.

Yup - High light makes short internodes and high bloom count. Though I burned Thad's Yellow Bird leaves. It is pale green with yellow blossoms - selfing of Suomi.

I saw a beautiful Episcia Cleopatra Canadian clone grown near the window - not covered. It was at Thad's - the Episcia hybridizer - near Tampa FL. Guess the humidity and temperature were just right. Probably Rosie has not bad of a humidity - but her temperature is not 80F.

All of my episcias (including my Cleopatra, Pink Smoke, and Pink Dreams) all grow by the window or on the lighted stands without domes. My humidity is high though, usually around 60 percent right now and not lower than 45 percent in winter. Day time temps in the studio for summer run 77 and 75 by night (hotter was bad for my streps). Sometimes I put my epsicias outside on the back deck in the shade of a big tree to soak up the heat. They really loved that!

If they do get any morning sun you do need to acclimate them /slowly/. Most of my large episcias are in the window and the smaller ones are under lights. All of them wicked. I don't know if any of that is helpful. I really love them.

The one I don't have but still want is Ember Lace or similar!

Grrr - Ember Lace all the time tries to turn green. And if you do not watch it like a hawk and pinch green shoots - you will lose the pretty part...

Flame Violet ‘Chocolate Soldier’ (Episcia hybrid)
An old favorite for that warm low light window! This member of the African Violet family adds vibrant color to a pot or hanging basket. Its silver leaves are blush-pink with chocolate brown margins, while brilliant orange blooms create a mesmerizing presence.

Just for giggles I took a walk down Memory Lane a few minutes ago. I came across this description from Logees.com. From what I read here at the forum Episcias need high light. They say low light. Is this just a marketing ploy so you will buy their plant? (US dollars $11.95) I don't know too many people that have high light windows for plants!

I also realized we were talking about vintage varieties, some of them I had back in the 60's! The names are penetrating my memory! Ember Lace is 1958! Not as vintage as I am,,,,,but vintage non the less! lol

I do think,,,,after re reading this thread and a couple others, my little Episcia is not getting enough light. And food. I am not a consistant fertilizer and maybe that is the problem. hmmm I will ponder that further. Rosie

I am aware of that problem, Irina but it's still a very lovely plant. I don't mind pinching it! ;) Problem is finding one. As Rosie says it's an old variety and probably due to it's constant attempts to revert, few people have it.

I'm sure Logees means low light in the sense of not full sun. Anyone who grows gesneriads generally knows when they say bright light that they mean really bright indoor or shade but not full sun. It's assumed you'd realize that but Logees can't assume you wouldn't put it out in the baking full afternoon garden.

Chocolate Soldier is a favorite of mine. I love it.

I have a small number of episcias available for sale now but they are rooted cuttings, not large pots. I have Chocolate Soldier, Pink Haga, Pink Panther, Chocolate Cream, My Precious, Pink Smoke, Cleopatra, and one Jim's Lemon Zest left. But who you may want to look up is Jim King on Facebook. He has a TON of varieties and his prices are very reasonable. He doesn't sell the pink chimeras but I got a nice shipment from him back in the spring for an assortment of beautiful reds like Looking Glass, Red Gator, etc.

Lyndon Lyon carries Ember Lace - but they usually sell it all early in a spring. I know Jim and his wife Beth. He loves gesneriads with passion. He tried hybridizing Streps - was showing his hybrids on Denver Gesneriad Convention, they were quite interesting.

Many of my more unusual harder to find plants were from Facebook groups. Lots of hobby growers use it. Mainly Epiphyllum, and Rhipsalis. Some of the newer sellers show their beautiful plants to drum up interest so when I search for said plant on eBay and Etsy there it is. They seem to be doing well.

I never had much interest in violets but falling in love with columnea. Not easy to find. I stumbled in here accidentally from the regular houseplant forum here looking for information on lipstick plants. I just bought my third one and I am trying to figure out my first one still. It's been temperamental on me. I hate repotting this time of year and am trying to hold off until Spring when I know I will get the best results.

I think your plants will be well received on the houseplant groups I frequent. If nothing else show lovely pictures of your plants to make people aware of them and get more interest.

Sorry if you know this already, I know you didn't ask for advice. I get excited for people starting new business ventures.

Patty is the family I married into (Irish).

Would you mind if I call you Hyn? Or you prefer Hyn Patty?

Irina

Hyn is fine! That's what everybody calls me.

I had an Ebay store, but closed it down. Just wasn't worth the hassle. Ebay is difficult to work with. For me anyway.. :)

I'm thinking about opening a store on Etsy. I'm a quilter. I'm running out of places to put them. Ha.

I recently posted an auction on Ebay for a corytoplectus and .... yes, Ebay isn't what it used to be. The fees are ridiculously high. I won't be using them. I like using my Etsy shop if you don't have very many to post but just like Ebay, it is very time consuming. As more and more people request my sales listing I am reformatting to post it to a website. I need to set up a cart system for checkout with payment options. It would cut down a lot on time and fees both.

Alas, back to the original post topic, the spontaneous chimeric version of Chocolate Soldier I got from these cuttings is still alive but has /never/ developed any green tissue whatsoever. The original mother leaf (still alive) seems to be feeding it but I'm pitching the plant as being non-viable.

It reminds me of the variegated African Violet leaf I put down of 'Black Tie Affair' that I had such hopes for. On the second generation the leaf made an entirely white baby that has lingered for an entire year now, but has never produced any green at all. I fear that's another dud that will be tossed, but we try!

Toss it. It is not viable....

I did. Maybe better luck next time!

I am thinking that most of the time sports are less interesting than the original variety. Chimera is an improvement though.

We have a lot of variegated plants - so getting a Bl;ack Tie Affair with variegation... so what... If we would get a chimera out of it - that will be cool. Very festive plant!

True and true. I like surprises though (unless they are bugs) and so it's fascinating to me trying to figure out the genetics and how things work.

The more you stress the plant the more chances it mutates. There is a technique of stressing bi-color and multicolor AV leaves with high temepratures and acidity to force them to produce new chimeras. The article was published in AV magazine several years ago. Steven Ko is the author.

I am familiar with that, and also certain pesticide chemicals, radiation, etc. There are numerous sources of documentation. Even Jenner, who gets an absurd number of chimeric sports due to how warm her upper level of her apartment gets in summer.

Mr. Ko keeps his "experimental leaves" at 95F. We woud turn into chimeras at these temps.

That is very interesting. I'm not surprised if that works well, if they live. My art studio frequently reaches 85 degrees but my streptocarpus really don't like it that warm and neither much do I with our humidity here.

About light...I'm wondering if an Episcia would do well in bright room away from a window? I have an eastern window that COOKS any gesneriads in front of it (including Streptocarpus) with 4 hours or so of direct sunlight. I'm wondering if I have an Episcia on the side of the window but not in the line of the direct sunlight if it would do well? I even put shades but any little drop of sun that shined through would leave burn marks

Even with window sheers, it doesn't sound like an ideal window to use. But yes, episcia can do modestly well in 'low' light. They do /really/ well in bright light, even full sun in the mornings and evenings if they are kept moist enough. You can always try it and move it as close as you can without being in the direct sun, or try sheers. If you are around you can always open the sheers when the sun isn't shining directly through. I have sometimes hung them on wall mounts around my bathtub bay window with a sheer to keep the direct sun off and they love it there. I even tuck in impatiens to add color and fluff above them.

Hello Hyn...what about Kohleria's? How much light?

mine doesn't look so good. It's just a baby though.

I think that depends on the Kohleria. I don't grow them much so they are mostly outside of my range of being able to to offer advice though I'm sure Irina may be able. I have one, Tropical Knight, and it gets fun sun in the morning for about 4 hours. It takes it just fine as long as it has plenty of moisture (wicked) and keeps the plant a lot more compact that I can under my artificial lights. But Tropical Knight also has dark, almost burgundy leaves and another Koleria with pale green leaves might burn easily. If yours is reaching and getting leggy at all, I'd /ease/ it into brighter light (so not to shock or burn it) and see how it adjusts. Pinching also helps keep it busy and thick rather than bolting.

I don't know how hot plants in your window sun would get either. Several of my gesneriads are full sun at least a few hours in the morning as my art studio is surrounded by windows on three walls. I shade the south facing windows with blinds in summer but in winter I welcome the full sun. My sinningias (especially species) do best with full sun exposure about as long as I can give them as long as they keep moist. My plants are wicked on trays indoors so moisture isn't an issue.

Yes, of course...Mine is Kohleria 'Marta'...I've been keeping it in my indoor greenhouse...roughly 60% humidity & warmer than the room it's in which is a south facing w/large bow window....My Saintpaulia/Streps & Charita plant stand is roughly 5-6 ft. away from the window, but still gets a couple hours of morning sun. The sun shines in the window all day. nothing blocking it outside or inside.

Here's a not so good pic of the window, takes up most of the wall space.

Nice that you have a greenhouse! I am thinking about erecting one (mostly for my coffee trees and over wintering my orchids) but I am able to keep the humidity in my art studio at 40 to 50% in winter, and 60 to 70% or more in summer. All these wicking trays make that easy. I need to move first to the new house before I do a greenhouse though.

I should think you can slide your episcia in there at an angle where it will get early sun in the morning but not full on hot sun later in the day. As long as it doesn't dry out they can take full sun even in the tropics for brief periods. Mine get morning sun on my back deck in summer.

Thank you Hyn...I put it out on the plant stand that gets morning sun...

Oh my. Unless it has a great big rhizome, I'd be worried that is over potted. If it stays too wet it may rot so either keep an eye on it, or I'd suggest repotting it to a pot about half that size (but then I wick mine, and yours may dry out rapidly and be fine).

I've been thinking of repotting it for a few days now...I'll do it tomorrow since it's dark here now. Actually it's planted in half a 2 liter bottle! which is smaller than the pot it's in. Thank you Hyn.

Good luck with it. You will know your growing conditions better than I but always a good idea to make sure it's not staying /too/ wet, even if it's a plant that likes things damp. ;)