Check your humidity. It is usually caused by the plants being too dry - and I do not mean the soil. Humidity for most streptocarpus must be over 40% and /some/ varieties higher. The warmer your temps the higher that humidity may need to be to keep flowers opening.

If humidity isn't an issue, certain minerals may be too low. These are usually copper, calcium, or boron but can also be potassium. This is less likely if you use a good well rounded fertilizer with trace minerals and if you repot at least twice a year.

Not a heat issue. My art studio frequently went well above 85 degrees and though that stresses streps a lot, it wasn't keeping my flowers from opening. Mind you my humidity stayed well over 60 to 70% when it's that warm, too.

Thank you, Hyn Patty for that info. I don't know what the humidity level has been right along, but I moved a meter in there and it is 64% at present - hardly what I'd call dry. And since the AV's are wick watered on egg crate over trays of water in that same room, I have to believe that the humidity is usually pretty good. Low minerals, eh? Hmmm. Well, to be honest they hadn't been repotted in far too long - probably a year - but I did just repot very recently. I haven't used fertilizer since because there is some in the potting mix and the perlite, too so I was waiting for a couple months but I was probably not fertilizing enough to compensate for that worn out soil before I did my repotting. It is always so much easier to just grab the little watering can and use plain water when I'm in a rush and notice wilting. I'll have to do better at making sure they receive proper fert regularly in future. (I use the same Optimara product for the streps as I do my AV's.)

Glad to have that information,,,,,Streps are something I am getting into also!!! Rosie

(No one can see this post but Rosie..la la la) I prefer streps over avs frankly. I have this weird thing about seeing plants change, and the conception (which Irina disagrees with) that african violets are actually made of plastic and ever flowering and non-changing. I know it's not true, but the rate of change of appearance makes me believe it :)

In culture they're about the same though. It's nice to have a variety. Streps do respond favorably to being repotted...everyone knows that! @ That doesn't mean I do it more than once a year either though...but they're sure happy about three weeks after a repot.

As to the OP's question, I see that when I let them get dry (despite what Patty says). Of course my humidity is never low, so that's not an issue here. They recover nicely from wilting, but the flowers and buds do suffer.

Correct Irina, That's a lovely time to separate the multiple crowns most have grown and throw away dead old growth.

Good that you checked the humidity. I agree that in the 60% range you should be fine and have that covered. I then agree with Irina totally that it is probably more an issue of recent transplanting. Very likely, if they are getting the trace minerals and micro nutrients that they require, then you are on top if it and only need to give them a little time to settle in and refresh roots.

It is true that if the soil gets over dry that too can affect the flowers opening (good point) but neither over drying nor wilting was mentioned in the original post so I went with a basic assumption that it wasn't likely the problem. That would be a rather notable deviation from the norm of past growing, I would hope. Where as trace minerals and humidity are more easily overlooked should they change.

I will add that both leaf and flower production are directly linked to /root growth/ so not only is it important to refresh the soil mix as regularly as you can stand to make the time to do so (I aim for every 3 or 4 months myself with most of my gesneriads) but then as you stimulate new root growth, that also stimulates /more/ leaf growth. And the number of flower stems you can produce is directly related to how many new leaves are produced. In the case of streptocarpus, you may further push that by trimming leaves back part way because that's another trigger to leaf production but does not adversely effect flower production on that leaf if enough of the leaf remains to produce plenty of energy to that stem.

Then when a gesneriad /begins/ to become root bound, that tends to be one of the main triggers that alter plant auxins to begin the formation of flower bud tissues in the meristem cells (or stolens in the case of other gesneriads, which if then removed triggers more flowering instead). But it is not the sole trigger.

That is why, for example, when you grow bonsai trees, we depot them from time to time to refresh the soil /and/ trim back the roots and branches both. Even if we do not bump up in pot size. The act of stimulating new and finer root growth keeps the top growth also refreshed and productive more than if we let the roots age and thicken. The same is generally true of most plants and in my personal observation is very much the case with genseriads as well.

I learn so much from you all here! Well, after reading all your considered opinions (for which I thank you very much) I think the fact that they were so long between receiving fresh soil and no fertilizer when watering during the last months of that period had to contribute. As long as I know it is a culture issue I will step up my care and see how things shake out.

And that said, I just went and checked and although the two current Wow blooms are tightly stuck closed and the largest is beginning to show signs of aging, the latest Ong Bak bloom is open. Huh. Go figure.

Just wait... it will get over the sulk...