The plant room looks really empty now.. mainly my African Violets. I think Im gonna take advantage of this space and put a large number of leaves down.
I also sowed some seeds.. 2 packs of Columbine, 3 different types of morning glories (Picotee Blue, Dwarf Blue Ensign, and Flying Saucer), and a different brand of cactus seed.. Im gonna see if there are any other varieties.
The plants seem to love it outside, and its supposed to rain, which will be good for them.
Well, I have baby rex begonias!! 2 of my leaves took, and they are sprouting babies.
So far the germination rate from Josam5’s seeds on ebay have been 50/50. The philodendron has not germinated, but another type did.. I forgot what the name was! Ill have to check. Tonight I put down asparagus fern and some hens and chickens seeds.
I have baby African Violets coming out of the wood work. Lots, and lots of babies.
Last night I did a major cleaning downstairs.. repotted my gardenia, because I dont think it liked the pot it was in. Piddled around, and generally just got things done.
Spring is showing its signs, and I cannot wait to put seeds in the ground, move the houseplants outside, and be able to whine all night because I forgot to put on sunscreen and got sunburnt while gardening all day.
Tonight I split a rex begonia that was over-growing and I got 5 plants out out one. I also split the spider plant, which had 3 crowns instead of one. I also put down some Peperomia leaves to see if I can get any babies.
I found an aphid on a plant. Devastating, I know. But appearantly if you have alot of houseplants you will see them eventually. So I went out and got a pint of Malathion, and mixed some up, and sprayed down my african violets. Take that, aphids!
I think thats it. I have baby cacti everywhere, so I will have plenty to sell and trade. And I am thinking of doing a dish garden, or a desert type box garden to mimic the natural enivoment of cacti and succulents.
The tangerine seeds are doing well, and I have baby trees. Im happy to see that they took off. And the coleus I grew from seed it thriving.. maybe my black thumb is turning brown.
I have AV babies!! Hundreds of leaves, countless techniques, but I finally did it!! I guess I finally got an idea of what they like. And its taken a year to find out! Its from a non-identified plant, but Ill be able to sell them at the farmers market this summer.
Wooo-hooo!
We have cacti germination! I see little green babies forming. And considering the large amount of different varieties, its gonna be interesting to see what I get.
The coleus is out of the little germination greenhouse, and is doing great.
I put down some more AV leaves tonight, to hopefully have more babies to take to the market.
The bleach drench has been doing great to cut down on fungus gnats, and it did not harm the germination of the coleus or the cactus seeds, so I know that I can use it when I need it, no matter what stage a plant is in.
I noticed tonight I have an AV with a bloom. First time I have had one bloom in the green house, and this is one I found on sale at Home Depot. I was quite happy about it.. I’ll probably let it bloom and document what type it is, then debloom it so it can concentrate on its foliage instead.. it’s still a lopsided, sick little thing.
The philodendron didn’t look too good trying to root in the water, in fact I think it was starting to rot. So I did a texas watering system on one pot, where I fill it half with perlite and a layer of vermiculite to fill the rest of it up, and set it in a dish of water, about a half inch high. And I put both starts in it, and we will see.. this system seems to work better than just plain water, it must be from the cooler temps.
At Wal-mart tonight I found Christmas cacti on sale for 50c each.. so I had to get a couple, of course. No blooms, and kinda beat up, but Im sure some time in the green room and they will be fine.
They also had the *most* gorgeous African Violets there, and I got two.. a burgandy and white bi-color, and a purple with white edges. When I got them home I did the typical bloom-plucking and grooming on them, to which my beau automatically started squealing, and I had to explain to him that the grooming is to make the plant feel better.. and yes, I like the blooms, but most likely there are thrips on there, and they need to go.. he just rolled his eyes and sat back and watched me go at them with an exacto knife. But Im sure they feel better without all of those suckers. And I started to groom off the assymetrical leaves, but thats a thing that takes time, I dont want to take all of the big leaves off at once.
They had some beautiful (and huge) Kalanchoe at Wal-mart, but I had to remind myself not to get it. Ill just keep checking until they are marked down, and then bring a couple home. They also had a few other different houseplants, but I wasn’t familiar with their upkeep, so I didn’t want to bring in something new right now. And I am sure that I’ll be there again, soon enough.
I received a box of violets from a friend in PA, and at first they looked ok, but they went downhill. They didn’t die, but the leaves turned brown. She shipped them at the coldest time of last month, so considering the circumstances she did great in packing. But I have noticed new growth and every week or so I lightly groom each plant, and they seem to be doing well. They still don’t look good, but condsidering the growth I’d say they are doing fine.
I also have a covered bowl with anacharis that I have under the lights. It’s an aquarium plant, and I keep some with both my betta and my sister’s fish. It grows just fine, and since the fish bowls arnt in the sun, the plants with them tend to die over time. So it gets replaced from time to time. But I placed some in fertilized water today, a 20-20-20 at quarter strength. I’m curious to see if it grows faster than anacharis in plain water.
My father also found a remote thermometer and humidity gauge, so to see the levels I dont have to walk downstairs. This is good, because I am curious about the temp dip during the night, and when the peak temp in the day is.
I found a pot for the paperwhites, and potted and watered them. They already seem to be coming up, so hopefully we will have blooms soon. Its a pity that you have to throw them away after you are done with them, but being in zone 5 I doubt I would have any luck getting them to rebloom.
I did a little bit of African violet grooming last night, and in a week or two Ill do alittle bit more, and hopefully get them back into shape.
I’ve been quite busy this morning.
Last night I got an amaryllis bulb at Home Depot, so I found a pot for it and brought soil in, and potted and fertilized it. Whats supposed to be green is in fact white; so I set it in a window with low light so it can get used to sun. Its already pushing up a bud, so hopefully itll bloom for Christmas.
I also set down 3 AV leaves from Ozio; my plantlet kicked the bucket, so I tried to save what I could — althought it doesnt look promising.
I also got enough fertilizer on clearance yesterday Im set for a while. I put some in old tupperware containers so I dont end up spilling the bag.
I need to take a picture of EverGrace.. its beautiful.
