Oh, that's a lovely one, Irina. I don't have enough pink trailers. ;-)

Dviolet, you did a terrific job on your mini. You made Rosie proud, I'm sure. Nice photos - very helpful for the next guy. And I hope yours behaves itself from now on...or, er, at least some part of it behaves. Looks like you'll have enough choices on what to keep, LOL!

Yes Anne, she did well!!!! I am proud! And Irina that is a beautiful little trailer. I do love the smaller trailers also. But I just can't resist the big girls also.! Rosie

It’s perfect!!!!!!!!!!! .......at least for me, - Perfect!

WOW,,,,just wow!!!! That is awesome! thanks! Rosie

No top dressing for a while. We need to recover.

Amen to that!!!! My top is dressed it is staying that way and no more potting for awhile! Rosie

Well i’ve just decided that if I ever start needing replacement minis, I will be looking at trailers! Sounds so much easier than fighting these suckers all the time.

I’m loving how pretty my 3 trailers are. They seem to be rapid growers as well.

Rob's trailers are an excellent choice - they are self shaping, floriferous and very easy. So either order some at the Violet Barn - or watch for them on any kind of sales.

Sounds perfect! Though maybe will be more perfect only after I finally find my groove with the rest of my collection.

Seems I still have my hands full trying to manage all of those right now. Not sure what happened, but when I started I only wanted 4 to care for. 4!

Of course there's a story behind that. But what's your story? How did you all just happen to start amassing your own collections?

dviolet1 - I don’t think I should talk about it. - hahahahahaha, - I was a bad girl. But,that’s my life. I seem to dive head 1st into all my interest. I love research which stimulates desire. I do not regret my choices but I will have my hands full. I am still receiving plants on order. Whoops. The information I have obtained here in this forum has been amazing, supportive, and soothing! I have loved the experience. My husband has a gift store and I have friends to divy with. So I hope to share my interest and love of AV’s with others. I always show pictures!

Not enough light,,,

For the purpose of the ambience in a house - it is fine - but for blooming- it is not,

Irina is correct, not enough light. But those containers are dang cute! Rosie

K, well I want blooms so will b adding lights. But look........

-Rosie1949 - thanks, I really like them. Hope to be adding more soon. It’s evening here. These r north facing. I just thought it was a young plant.

-Irna_co hahaha there’s a new grow light sitting in the chair. Guess I’ll unbox it and turn it on. Let’s see if those amazing flowers show back up. The pots do not drain, so I will need to address that. Think it’s definately necessary. The planter is not as valuable without the drainage and something to catch it.

I would have thought with all the window their light level would be ok

OT what a beautiful room Cheryl! Love all those windows.

If you can find small plastic containers that will fit in the planter cups, you could remove the plants when watering, let them drain, then place the potted plants back in the cups. With that in mind, if you have one or more other AVs -- whether a duplicate or otherwise -- also planted in such pots, you could grow them on a well lit windowsill or under lights then rotate them out so the planter would hold whichever one is in bloom at the time.

Paul - like that idea!!! Nice, thanks! My ultimate choice will be to wick the plants and have the planter allow for draining but that will be a design change and maybe say a ....challenge.

Dviolet1 - thank you. It does get quite bright but it is a shaded light.

What does OT me? ............thx

Still not enough light. I think the best idea will be to keep a number of semi-minis in small pots in the other room under the lights - and as they start going into bloom - bring them for display and enjoyment purposes and put the table -wine glasses or coffee cups will work as cachepots - and replace them 3 weeks later when the bloom is pass the prime. While spider plans - Chlorophytum - make excellent foliage plants and are tough as nails - keeping AVs for foliage only is not optimal. They should work for their keep and BLOOM.

OT means "off topic". Yeah we do that sometimes!!! Rosie

- haha ok. Good to hear!

- hahahahaha, yes Irna-co I do agree. I must work for mine! Will rotate Av’s.

Set this up last night for them

They will go purple bonkers,,, I would,,

Haha- yep, bloom babies bloom!

Update on crown separations...

These are pics taken a month after I planted the sucker crowns from SK First Love. I'm losing the main plant but the crowns I planted are growing nicely.

Edit: the crowns WE planted, lol!

They grew so fast. Did u use vermiculite n perilite when laying the leaves?

That's what I thought, too. I used only perlite in the potting mix. My plants in small pots always seem a little too wet so I stay away from adding vermiculite.

Yes, I am still adjusting my growing mediums too. I thought it was a good idea to sterilize the soil and that way I could reuse it and fortify it but they are not thriving as I wish they were. If urs grew this much from laying leaves mine should of at least grown a bit. I’m ready to return to maybe sterilizing the potting mix and doing perilite.

Urs look great!!!

Oh we got our wire crossed -- these were the 2 sucker crowns I cut off the main plant! Not having much luck with the leaves I put down from it. Most have died off. :-(

dviolet,,,,in the last 3 pix what kind of pots are those? Are they cut down plastic containers of some sort? Just curious! Rosie

Yes, I didn't have K-cups handy so I cut down 2" Solo cups.

Perfect!!!!! They are very nice looking! Good for you on the recycling! Rosie

Cheryl what kind of potting mix are you using? Most people adjust to 50/50 (or less if you mix with vermiculite) by adding more perlite if there's not enough.

I reused and sterilized all the soil form Violet barn, Tropical Nursery, Aquatic plants and added 50 % perilite. They are ok but before I did this they were thriving n growing well. I believe wacky ph and moisture levels etc. R interfering. Apparently dirt is complicated. I am not willing to sacrifice all my little pretties to my experiments. I might try playing with another type of plant but I wish to see huge growth and lots of blooms. Happy flowers!

"

Rosie1949(4a to 5b/SE Mi)

"I love Twinkle Blue! It is on my Wish List!!!! Rosie"

See, that alone could make it worthwhile for you to hit the Lansing orchid show. I may have a few AV starts (minis) for sale there including Twinkle Blue ..... hehe

Oh how you tempt me Paul!!!! Rosie

Maybe he'll up his ante...

What other enticements do you have to offer Rosie...

;-)

ME????? Enticements???? Now you are talking Complete Chaos!!!! haha Rosie

I can give Rosie directions to the Dairy Store on campus where she can purchase some of the ice creams made by the university. :-D

Well, won't you be surprised to hear that ice cream won't get me there??? Not chocolate either! BTW Happy Valentine's Day!! Rosie

Floored by what I just discovered -- one of the suckers we planted has sent up a bud. Might take a while longer to bloom but not bad considering how small and delicate they were back in January.

YAY!!! Rosie

Irina, Your trailer is gorgeous.

Dee, Yes, everyone has their story. For myself, it was a gradual, even a conscious process, of deciding whether to get involved in this "potato chip" hobby. Joanne

Good adjective Joanne. Hard to have just one, lol.