Streptocarpus

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I bought a collection of Streptocarpus and a packet of seeds a few weeks ago, and I thought you might like to see my progress!

Not being an expert on these I am not sure if the are progressing very slowly, or it is my impatience, or even the dull weather.

But this is them warts and all;

The Collection;

The seedlings;

Leaf cuttings

I am not over optimistic about these cuttings because of the compost these are in!

To my mind it is too wet and this seems to be quite common with these peat reduced composts!

I compare these composts with the stuff I make myself, which I suppose it is considering the similar material is added to peat!

The difference is; I use my home made compost as a soil improver because of its moisture retaining qualities but never as a seed or potting compost!

I think it is this moisture retention attribute that is the problem with these new composts, that is; they are not free draining, meaning the seeds/plants/cuttings are sitting in poorly drained compost giving the potential for the seeds/plants /cuttings to rot off!

The bit that amazes me is; that in the past gardening literature and gardening experts always advised people not to use home made compost for this very reason!

So why the change of mind?

Personally I am sick of the ‘compost’ issue!

EDIT

On the advice from other Goyers;

Today I transferred my leaf cuttings from the compost into 100% Perlite as suggested

However again I am not too optimistic if I will succeed with all these, as a number of them have gone a bit limp since I first set them up to root

But nothing ventured nothing gained!

So fingers crossed and all that

The cuttings in ’Perlite

The cuttings covered and on the hot bed

I mentioned above about the poor quality of the compost, this is a picture of it after I had emptied it out of the trays!

It was basically sludge

What it reminded me of was; when my kids were little, and they would put garden soil in a pot, and pretend to sow seeds then water them in, this invariably ended up as a pot of sludge

My Collection;

Bianca

Fleichle Princesse

Pink Leyla

Rubina

Spirit

Targa

So that is how my venture / introduction into Streptocarpus is progressing!

• 10 Jul, 2012
• 5 likes

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