Another Fairy "Tail"

Once upon a time, there was a tiny cat that was getting "cabin fever". He was, of course, the master of all he surveyed. He had conquered the fierce beasts that tried to invade his kingdom, he had made his people proud. But now, well... he was bored.

He went to his computer (because he was a techno-savvy cat) and he thought he'd instant message a few of his friends. One was out of town on a trip and another was doing taxes. A couple of his friends were even at Disney World (because they heard about the "mice" that lived there.) So just as he was about to give up on finding a diversion he saw that he had an email.


The tiny cat was excited because his email was from his friend and mentor from the next kingdom over. It was from Miss Tilly. She said that she had urgent business to attend to far away from her kingdom and she wondered if there was anyone that was strong and brave and fearless to come to her kingdom and watch over it while she was gone.



Well.... strong, brave and fearless??? The tiny cat knew exactly who that sounded like and he said that he would journey right over. He came to the massive gates and entered the tidy kingdom. When Miss Tilly greeted him at the castle she said that all he had to do was simply sit. (Miss Tilly really didn't like anything to "move her cheese" and she valued order above most everything else.) She knew the tiny cat had problems with curiosity, but after they talked he had solemnly agreed to simply sit at the castle and take a nap. Just his presence was enough to keep the order which Miss Tilly so valued.


Everything was going along well until the tiny cat heard a noise. He knew he wasn't supposed to do anything about it, but curiosity got the best of him. He went to the gardens and walked amongst (and on) the plants there.



He saw something hanging down from the ceiling that looked like giant striped spiders and he got worried that they were about to sneak up on someone in the kingdom. He taught it a good lesson and it was never to rise off the floor again.







He heard a mechanical whir and the tiny cat went to the computers and stuck stuff down into the whirring machine to silence it! It was finally quiet.








He then saw a menacing foe on the ground and flung himself onto it. He kicked and bit and finally it was still..... he chewed on it's whiteness for a while till he fell asleep. "Whew," said the tiny cat. "That was a close call".

When Miss Tilly came back she gazed about her now less than tidy kingdom. She just sighed. Finding the gardens stepped on, the floors an unrecognizable jumble and the computers jammed she knew that the old saying was only too true.... When the mice are away, the cat WILL play!

Share Your Favorite Tips

How do you control your "wilder" growing plants? What do you do to keep everything growing evenly and your violets symmetric? Let's hear from folks about what you do to make the plants you grow look their best!

My favorite recycle-tip is using chopsticks to stake up stems. They come in just about the perfect size for those things that grow under lights, things like kohleria and sinningias. The wood's been made smooth and you don't get splinters or the artificial color rubbing off on your hands like you can have happen with the colored green bamboo pieces. The sticks are tapered for easy insertion in the soil with little root disruption and they are fairly strong and won't bend over like a soda straw.

(There is an entry about how to enter comments just below the Imidacloprid post if you need some advice about how to make a comment.) Send us some of your helpful tips regarding how to control those unruly stems and wild stalks, how you get the leaves of your violet to lay flat and overlap.... and how you make your plants show worthy!

Imidacloprid

There's been an interesting discussion on the gesneriphile list talking about the use of Marathon systemic granules for insect eradication with regards to people's collections of gesneriads and African violets. Certain insects are very hard to control and this particular chemical has sparked some interest because it seems quite effective. Here's a little information about this chemical, Imidacloprid.

Imidacloprid is a systemic, chloro-nicotinyl insecticide with soil, seed and foliar uses for the control of sucking insects including rice hoppers, aphids, thrips, whiteflies, termites, turf insects, soil insects and some beetles. Imidacloprid is found in a variety of commercial insecticides. The products Admire, Condifor, Gaucho, Premier, Premise, Provado, and Marathon all contain imidacloprid as the active ingredient (223). (Material from EXTOXNET from Oregon State University). Please look at this link to see more information.

Posts from the gesneriphile list have been discussing ways to control mealy and soil mealy bugs. One person, Irina Nicholson was saying, "I join the Marathon afficionadoes. I got a half gallon of it - seems it is a smallest container you can get, paid about $100 for it - but it will last for a long time. I add a half tablespoon per a gallon of soil when repot - and it works for 3-4 months. I had a root mealy bugs infestation in 2004 - and it was the only thing to get rid of them. It keeps off any kind of mealy bugs, fungus gnats and thrips - in their soil and leaf eating stage, it doesn't help against thrips in the buds, though, so if they fly in in summer - I need to disbud everything."

Mel Grice on the gesneriphiles@lists.ibiblio.org said "Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub insect control comes in a 32 oz. blue plastic bottle and contains the same concentration of Imidacloprid as found in Marathon granules. It is a milky white liquid that I mix with water in a watering can and use as a soil drench. A couple of applications a few days apart seemed to solve my mealy bug problems. It doesn't seem to smell and is a lot easier than spraying everything. You can purchase it at Lowe's, Home Depot and places like that. The 32 oz. bottle costs about $20.00 the last time I looked.


Another reader from the list asked about the dilution and application rates. Mel answered, I use ¼ tsp. of the Bayer Tree & Shrub / Imidacloprid in a 1 gallon watering can. It is a systemic insecticide so you want to water the plant when it is slightly on the dry side so that the plant absorbs as much of the solution as possible. I don't like to get out the measuring spoon all the time because I usually spill some of the Bayer. I use a funnel to fill plastic squeeze bottles like you see below with the Bayer T&S. The empty bottles can be purchased at craft, hobby, art stores, etc. in various sizes. They usually have a separate cap and you have to cut off the tip. You get a small hole if you cut it off at the top and a progressively larger hole the farther down you go. I get 20 drops in a ¼ tsp. measuring spoon. You should measure how many drops fit in your spoon the first time you try it."

Usually people have been getting the granular form of imidacloprid under the trade name of Marathon. Many times it seems hard to purchase and expensive for the amount you get. This is perhaps an alternative. I am not endorsing this product or telling you that it's safe for either you or your plants. I'm more of an organic gardener with over 15 years of completely NO chemicals in my vegetable beds and only rare use of systemic fungicides on my heritage peonies that came from my grandmother. (I couldn't bear to lose them.) But, for those interested in a chemical that others have found useful, this might be of some interest. The link and many more like it will provide lots of useable information so that you can make an educated choice of what sorts of chemicals you're exposing yourself to. The comments and picture came from the gesneriphile discussion list.

Here Come the Russians!!!

I became interested in the violets from Russia when I heard Vladimir Kalgin gave a presentation at the AVSA National convention in Tucson AZ. He showed pictures of people selling violets outside on benches by a street. It looked like there was snow on the ground. Everyone was wearing heavy coats and hats. He also showed pictures of meetings inside houses and some were wearing jackets and everyone was wearing heavy sweaters! The rooms were obviously cold. Vladimir brought a whole bunch of leaves to the convention, which were sold at the auction. It was real exciting that he was so generous to bring us their hybridized leaves and give us an opportunity to grow their plants.

The plants looked lovely in the pictures but they must be very hardy to survive in such an environment. How can those plants survive in cool temperatures since we have been told the ideal temperatures are 65 to 75 degrees? Can we grow them in our warm houses? Would they be better, or would they be so acclimated to a cooler environment that they would not grow well in our warmth? I do not know any of the answers, but I went ahead and bought some of the plants when they became available just to see how they grew. I have a beautiful one right now that is 21” in diameter with beautiful symmetry, and beautiful flowers. I am impressed!

At the MN convention I encountered a lady that was originally from Russia, now living in Florida, and she kindly sent me some leaves. I am now starting to grow them and I am quite pleased with the foliage and the flowers. I will be selling some of the babies at our show at Northtown, March 30, 31st. Collection to receive $ 300 at National conventions. Hmm…sorta makes me want to grow them! If you would like to see some of the photos of the plants, go to the AVSA home page, then go to Photographs, then go to Explore the Russian Varieties. You will see there are 4 different hybridizers. All the plants listed have photos.

Time will really tell how they do in our warm houses but right now I have well over 100 babies and I cannot see any difference from the Russian violets from any others that I have and I am truly excited watching them grow, hopefully, into a REAL WINNER!

Thanks to Sharon Johnson for the article and picture!

How to Post a Comment

HOW TO POST A COMMENT

Many of us would like to post comments but are not sure what to do. Here are hopefully some easy to follow instructions.

At the bottom of each article you will see wording to that indicated here. Click on the “2 comments” and it will take you to a “Leave your comment” box.

Posted by NSAVC at 9:49 AM . 2 comments . Links to this post

• Type you comment. It can be as long as you want.

• Choose “other” or “anonymous” . If other - type your name (i.e. Barb W). Do not type anything in the “your web page” box. Leave it blank.

• Read over your comment or preview.

• Click on “Publish Your Comment” and your done.

Thanks to Barb W. for making this clear!!!

Streptocarpus Propagation, Part 2

Now that the streptocarpus leaves have made "baby plants", what do you do with them?

When the young are getting to be 1/2" to 3/4" or larger they can be gently separated away from the parent leaf.



Sometimes the "mother" leaf will have rotted away by the time the young are ready to be moved into individual pots.




Take the row of young and very gently "tease" them apart with a toothpick or tweezers or even a chopstick. Chopsticks work well because they are narrow, not sharp and usually won't damage what you're working on if used with care.


The parent might have produced more young than you wish to pot up, so select the best and strongest. Use a very light potting mix. Streps, young and old, do NOT like to be soaking in water. That is one of the fastest ways to kill them!

After you have the individual plants in their solo cups (or small pots with good drainage) put the group of pots back under some sort of humidity dome or cover so that they are in approximately the same conditions that the newly propagating leaf was in.

With luck you should have a good size offspring in just a couple of weeks! Thanks very kindly to Sharon Johnson for demonstrating the strep propagation process for us!!!

Hybridizing, Part 3 The Pollination Process

Hybridizing - Session III: Here are the actual steps to pollinate the plants. I believe each step of the process is covered, but if you have any questions or you think something needs more detailed explanation, please post a comment and I will respond.

The piece of paper is simply for picture contrast. Fortunately, the new blossom pistils on Rebel’s Scotty have been strong and well formed. Many hybridizers remove the pollen sacs (anthers) from the mother plant. I usually don’t bother, but since I am reverse pollinating and will be using them, I have. You want to be sure the blossom is freshly opened.

I use a cuticle scissors to cut off the pollen sacs from the paternal plant, trying to get at least three or four good plump sacs. Fresh sacs and fresh pistils will give you the best results.

Cut the edge off the sac to form a hole and gently squeeze the sac so the pollen is exposed. Push the sac over the tip of the pistil so that it is well coated with pollen.

I mentioned above getting three or four sacs. I like to pollinate two or three blossoms on a bloom stem (peduncle). On each blossom, I use the pollen from two different sacs to be sure it takes.

Winter months for most of us will have our plants showing signs of powdery mildew.

That will kill of the bloom stems and seed pods very quickly. So I keep a eye on them and use a paint brush soaked in fungicide to clean the stem.

This same process will be repeated for each of the parent plants. Not much happens now except for the seed pods to form, grow and dry up. The full process will be about six months. However, there will be pictures monthly to show you the progress of the different crosses. Some may not take at all and will be started over. We shall see.

So What's Really Bugging You?

It seems that insects of some type are pretty much a constant if you have significant numbers of plants. Some are a serious threat to your plant collection and others merely pests. Springtails and fungus gnats are in the pest category, but pest often times is spelled with a capital “P”. As a matter of fact, the whole word is capitalized sometimes. There is nothing as nice as having a dinner party in progress and a stupid fungus gnat decides to aim for your guest’s nose.

This article is not a scientific “what works best for what”. It’s just to give you couple ideas of what’s out there. And there are sooooooo many things to consider when you choose an insecticide:

Are your plants in a room that can be closed off?

Do you have children or pets?

How toxic is the insecticide?

Do you have allergies?

So, the bugs I have dealt with over my years of growing African violets are fungus gnats, springtails, soil and foliar mealybugs, white flies, aphids, mites, scale, thrips and root knot nematodes. Do I have fun or what?!?!?

This is a battery operated device that is activated every 15 minutes. It is relatively safe and is even recommended for kennels and barns. Turn it on for a few consecutive nights and it does a great job on flying insects. This is especially helpful in the summer when the windows are open every day.

If you absolutely want to avoid any type of chemicals, go for the sticky strips or pinguiculas. Pings are carnivorous plants and some have very attractive blossoms. Both of these will work for flying insects. Keep in mind that since pings are in regular potting medium, they are susceptible to any type of soil pest.

There are a number of different sprays. Check the ingredients and on what they are supposed to be effective. Some are more hazardous than others. Insecticidal soap if a very safe alternative, but may not be nearly as effective as chemicals. You personal preferences and plant locations will be a factor in choosing the appropriate spray. These will work on flying and crawling critters.

Sevin is great for soil or folier mealybugs; but not for African violets. It is kept around to treat orchids. Basically, on my AVs, for soil mealies I save a leaf or top a chimera, treat it with a bleach solution and toss the root ball. For foliar mealies it is spraying and wiping with alcohol dipped cotton swabs.

AVID is a mitacide. It does a great job; but is highly toxic.

Systemic insecticides are supposedly good for soil mealybugs and thrips. However, they can be smelly and many are toxic.

Terro?? Yes, if you have enough orchids with enough blooms and enough nectar dripping, the ants will find them. Plus, for some reason we have an infestation of ants NOW in the middle of winter. Good old Terro to the rescue.

So what about a few of the other pests? Thrips - try flea and tick collars for dogs. Scale- wash the plant and dab critters with alcohol. Root knot nematodes - toss the plant. Earwigs and spiders - most sprays work. Springtails - lots of luck!

Oh, by the way! Many of us like to use chlorine bleach to kill any possible pests when washing our pots, trays and work area. We all know that you do not mix bleach and ammonia. Now I may be the only one dumb enough not to have thought of this, but………. I always thought it would clean better if some soap was added. Spic and Span - NO. Ajax dish detergent - NO. Sun Light dish detergent - NO. All say NOT to use with chlorine bleach, so check all products labels.

Many thanks to Barb Werness for this article and excellent pictures!

So That's How They Do It!!!

Or, How to Propagate Strep Leaves the Easy Way.

Take a clean, healthy leaf off a a strep plant. Check for any signs of insects or other problems. Do you notice all the leaf veins on the back of the leaf?




Cut the midrib out of the leaf and toss the midrib away.







Cut the remaining leaf halves into smaller sections of perhaps an inch or two.






Put the CUT, interior edge of your leaf section (where the veins were cut through) into the moist starting mix. Cover the pot with a light-weight plastic bag loosely put over the pot to act as a "greenhouse". Or, put the starter pot in some sort of larger clear container like the type that comes from the deli dept. of the grocery.

Baby streps should start to grow where the cut leaf-veins were inserted into the soil. Note in the picture that the smaller leaves are centered around the main veins of the "mother" leaf where it is buried in the soil.

Streps are easy to propagate by this method but there are a couple of tips to help the novice. Don't make the soil mix soggy. It should be nicely moist. Have some holes punched in your deli container to help with air circulation or if you use the plastic bag method, do not seal the plant into the bag. Remember to check periodically for babies and to see if the soil mix is staying slightly moist.

Next: How to pot up the babies and increase your collection the easy way! Thanks to Sharon Johnson for the wonderful photos!

Grandma's Violets

How many of you remember what got you interested in African violets? I remember them since I was a very small child. My grandmother had windows full of them. At the time, I thought they came in all sorts of colors, little did I know that currently my grandmother would have been tempted to expand her collection into the thousands.

She had glass shelves across the windows that were in the kitchen. It just so happened that they were perfectly placed to be in the north and east side of the kitchen where she tended them daily. Eventually, there was a 4' plant stand in the basement, but the ones in the windows were the ones that she was most proud of.

Our family is pretty sure that she was one of the rather "original" members of the Minnesota Club... or at least that is what my mother remembers. Since she was living in a rural community, she would jump in a car with other ladies with names like Bessie and Emma and drive to the cities for a meeting. I would be most interested if anyone in the MN club has really old membership registers. I would love to know if this was actually the club that she was in.

My grandmother's one wish (violet-wise) was for a green violet. I joined our club after talking to the nicest lady ever, Retha, who told me how to acquire a green violet. I got one for myself and for my grandma! Grandma thought that was really exciting and ended up showing it to most everyone in that small town (by the sounds of it). My grandma enjoyed her plants till shortly before she died at age 93! I wish that I would have had the opportunity to have one of her original plants, but as you can see from the photos, all faded and at least 22 years old, I still have pictures to keep the memories of all the cookies I ate in that kitchen and the flowers on the shelves fresh in my mind!

How did anyone else get involved in the clubs originally? When did you start to grow violets? Do you have any really old ones? Write in and tell us!