Can you grow Sinningia from cuttings? Or, how to propagate Sinningia.

 

Regarding the first question, the answer is: it depends.

Since many people get introduced to growing houseplants in the context of things like pothos, I think people have a natural assumption that taking and propagating cuttings is a normal part of the "houseplant game".  Unfortunately, not all plants agree to play that game.  So as you branch out into more esoteric plants, you'll want to get to know their habits.

Sinningias can be considered to fall into roughly two groups.  Those with sort-of determinate growth, and those with more indeterminate growth.  You may have heard these terms in conjunction with tomato varieties.  The idea is similar, though Sinningias of course are not grown as annual crops.  In short, some plants will produce stems with a terminal size, more or less, while others, can just keep on going and going until frost cuts it off.  The former is "determinate", the latter "indeterminate".  

Sinningia sellovii is an excellent example of indeterminate growth habit.  The stems are of variable lenght with many pairs of leaves, and they flower on top.  Also, notably, the stems can also branch, before or after flowering, or in response to damage at the apex.  This branching tells you there is potential at those nodes to also form roots, and they can and will do so.  Success rate is variable with rooting these and getting them to produce tubers, but I'd say at least 50% of cuttings I've tried will do it.  You want those tubers to form, because that is what ensures the rooted cutting will survive as a plant on its own long term.  If you try it, root them in potting media of choice.  

IMPORTANT: if you try this approach, root stem cuttings, not leaf cuttings.  As far as I know, leaf cuttings, as is done with violets, will not root for any species.

Sinningia leuchotricha, one of the most popular sinningia, is a good example of determinate growth.  The stem grows up, has leaves and flowers at the top, and more or less that is the end of the story.  The leaves collect light energy and feed that tuber all summer, then dry up and fall off at the end of summer.  Sinningia with this habit generally don't root well, if at all, from cuttings, and will similarly not produce a tuber if they do.  I will concede there are occasional exceptions, where if you get just enough tuber chunk with the stem, the tuber chunk may form roots and successfully likewise a new tuber.  This is pretty hard to pull off though.  

Well...fine then how does one propagate Sinningia leucotricha and its kin?  From seed of course!  Its pretty easy to pollinate them, and sown relatively fresh, the seed often has amazingly high germination rates.  I like to use those clamshell containers that salad greens come in.  Partially fill with your soil mix of choice, sprinkle the seed on top, mist to settle the seed down.  Close lid and keep warm.  Germination usually takes a couple weeks. 

Now I said "roughly two groups".  There's a third flavor, and then still legend tells of a forth propagation option.

The third flavor of Sinningia is those that naturally form satellite tubers.  Most of these are also indeterminate or semi-indeterminate in habit.  A satellite tuber is an extra tuber that forms on its own along the stem somewhere, or on a stolon.  Species that can do this include Sinningia bullata and eumorpha.  In these, you can keep the extra tubers together, or separate them out as individuals to share when they get some mass to them.  Despite the formation of satellite tubers, I haven't seen bullata successfully root from cuttings without having an already existing tuber, however, and so far they only produce satellite tubers on young plants.  Perhaps more testing needs to be done.

The final option for propagating sinningia, after 1) seed, 2) cuttings, 3) satellite tubers, is *drumroll please* 4) cutting tubers.  In theory you cut top to bottom splitting the growing point in half or thirds, like one might split other kinds of tubers.  I have not tried this, so I cannot advocate for any level of efficacy.  I find the idea horrifying, honestly, since it so much easier to produce a large number of new, happy baby tubers by seed, and if you cut a tuber, you now have some weird looking tubers.  So that means if you try it, you're on your own.  But if you have tried it, please do comment below and tell us how it went!

PS: looking for where to get some sinningia plants to get you started?  Browse the available plants at juliaredman.com!!  :D

Horticultural Practice: Growing Your Skills

 

 

What does your horticultural practice look like?  

‘Horticultural practice’ is concept I’m suggesting to describe a mindset of being invested and committed to your plant hobby.  How it looks will be unique to each of you, but will have one common factor:  a pattern of increasing success through discovery.  It is a mindset you can use to level up your game, no matter what your current level is.

I’m borrowing this concept from the term ‘art practice.’  Artists often talk about their art practice.  This is all the things one does to stay fresh and active in their field, similar to a medical practice.  It isn't as simple as cranking out the next painting.  Instead, it is the path of exploration, discovery, learning new techniques, personal challenges, and overall continuing education that enables supporting and improving the production of new art, in the case of an artist.  Basically it’s all about going beyond just the production aspect.  You can imagine how with growing plants, you can have a similar concept, though it isn’t often named as such.

So how can we think about horticultural practice?  What might that include?

Obviously it can be the every day work of caring for your plants.  It also includes reading about various plants or plant-related topics, joining various plant groups with online chat or in person lectures, as well as trying things out for yourself.  To get the most of the effort invested, though, make sure to practice with purpose.  

A great purpose to start with is investigating problems that arise - really pursue it to get to the bottom of it.  We have an instinct to look for an easy answer, or try things “just in case”, but that doesn’t really teach you to see it before it happens next time, and worse, may involve spraying chemicals that aren’t going to do any good.  Push beyond to figure out exactly what is happening and why it might have happened.  Use google image and website searches, and be picky about your references.  Maybe hit up the library!  This will lead to a more informed choice for solving the problem, but may also lead you to general improvements in how you care for your plants on a daily basis, so preventing this from arising again.  

Side note, the above is the path that led me to switch to using reverse osmosis water only.  If you’re interested, I can expand on that another time; leave me a comment below.

Or perhaps you like succulents, and you’d like to know how to grow better looking plants, consistently.  How might you do that?  You can certainly start with talking to other people who keep succulents, but that only gets you as far as the knowledge they’ve gained and whatever assumptions they’ve made about the question you’re asking.  So as a next step, you might research individual plants.  Where are they from?  What is the climate like there at different times of the year?  Make it your personal challenge to find someone on instagram that posts photos of those kinds of plants in their native habitat.  Can you tell if they’re in shade?  Always on a slope?  What other kinds of things grow nearby?  Maybe visit or look at photos from botanical gardens.  How do they situate the plants?

For myself, I find there is nothing that changes my perceptions about plants more than seeing photos of them in the wild.  I’ll never be able to travel to find all the things in their native habitat, but if you see and hear enough talk about those places, you gain an appreciation of what its like.  This will change the way you manage your plants.  As a bonus, its like arm-chair travel!

Yes, all that is lovely but why bother with all that when you can just get someone to tell you what to do?

Well, actually, that is part of it.  That is often really useful, a great starting point.  Instead what I’m saying is more on the lines of ‘always dig deeper.’  There are a number of reasons for this.  One, for example:  you post a photo on facebook and ask what is wrong.  Folks will make assumptions about your growing space, habits, water quality, and overall what is happening in your windows.  They also have to operate under the limitations of their own experience or reading, and so may miss things, all good intentions aside.  So you might get some good answers, you might get some incomplete, and in both cases, you may still not know *why*.   A combination of the effort to get into the details, making notes for yourself, and that feeling of “this is it!” is what usually makes something truly stick in your mind.  Plus, it is just fun.  So, yes, chatting with plant friends is a starting point, but there is so much more you can discover.

At the end of the day, if the goal of the hobby is to get stress relief, gain enjoyment, gain a sense of accomplishment…its hard to get that by chance.  Most people get that sense of fulfillment when they get to the other side of ‘conquering a mountain’, if you follow the analogy.  Meaning, the journey of discovery, solving a mystery, the expansive feeling of sheer wonder and awe - that is where you will find joy.  So get out there and explore!  

Enjoy your personal journey!

Mystery Mushroom

Leucocoprinus birnbaumii (?)

You may have had this experience.  You have a plant, large or small, summer comes, its warm, the thing is being watered well, and suddenly there are neon yellow mushrooms cohabitating with your plant.

"What do I do?!?" you think, and "where did I go wrong?"  Nothing* and nowhere.

If you have a small child or dog with compulsive hand to mouth syndrome (eats whatever it touches), you might remove the mushrooms, the species is not edible.  But otherwise, they harm no one, certainly not your plant.  Though some fungi are parasitic or pathogenic, in general fungi of the mushroom type are nothing more than an indication of the presence of decaying organic matter.  In this case, potting soil.  Many fungi are even beneficial.  To learn more about that, read up on mycorrhizae. 

This, however, is just a mushroom.  I believe the species is Leucocoprinus birnbaumii.  They get into the soil from other plants, spores in greenhouses and garden centers, and in potting soil (or potting soil components if you mix your own like I do) that is not fully sterilized.  You can remove the mushrooms, but these are only fruiting bodies, the bulk of the organism is living quietly beneath the surface in a vast network of fine mycelia.  I suggest you just enjoy their obnoxiously yellow presence for the few days they are present.

If anyone is interested, according to The Rainbow Beneath My Feet by Arleen and Alan Bessette,  the species produces beige to yellowish brown dye depending on mordant.  Bummer, I really hoped it would be sunshine yellow.

Praying Mantis babies!

This post is overdue, I took the photos at the end of May.  They still may be educational.

Look closely!  What you are seeing is newly hatched praying mantises on strawberry plants.  They were about a centimeter long.  There are two in the one below, but the second is blurry.  Sorry about that.

I was able to tell they were newly hatched because there were so many among the plants.  Within a day or two after hatching they begin to disperse throughout the area in search of food.  They grow rapidly and reach adult size by the end of summer.  In this area, around September or so they lay their eggs, which are housed in a foamy-looking papery case, usually attached to a twig.  See below.

Be on the lookout for these in your garden while pruning.  If you find one, leave it in place and prune that section the following summer.  You want these guys in your garden.  Not only do they look awesome, but they are predatory insects, making meals of such undesirable things as grasshoppers and stink bugs when larger, as youngsters of course they must select bugs more appropriate to their size.

Predatory insects you should be kind to:

• Lady Bugs and several other tiny round beetle like critters that eat aphids, mealybugs, etc.  Familiarize yourself especially with what young ladybugs look like - nymphs are very different.
• Praying mantis
• Assassin Bugs or Cog Bugs - do look this one up, they are very creepy looking
• Centipedes and Millipedes - I generally want to mash centipedes, but I have personally witnessed them at the hunt, so I tolerate them.
• Spiders of all kinds!  Seriously, spiders are awesome, and contrary to paranoid beliefs of many they are not out to get you.  Do, however, feel free to mash black widow and brown recluse spiders, but familiarize yourself with how they look to prevent unnecessary deaths.

There are many others, of course, and likely you are aware of some or all of these.  But it bears repeating - these will be of assistance to you.  Encouraging them takes time, and pesticides can kill your friends as well as undesirables.  Also meadow and other 'wild' garden spaces provide the territory for them to establish and thrive.  A "well tended" lawn is essentially a desert.

A proper web

Argiope aurantia, or yellow orb weaver, is possibly my favorite spider.  The females are large, dramatically colored, and spin the most impressive webs.  When they are young, if you get close to their web they freak out a little, and rock their bodies to make their entire web flap, making themselves more visible in hopes that you won't destroy their careful weaving.  Males are much smaller and easily overlooked, but sometimes you'll see one actually hanging out on the female's web in an unobtrusive spot.  I enjoy monitoring their progress throughout the summer, occasionally helping out by tossing them a grasshopper.  I count myself lucky that these accomplished pest control agents can be found in my yard every year. 

Dischidia ovata seeds

Dischidia ovata seeds!  Though I have been interested, I have never figured out how to hand pollinate Dischidias.  Their floral structure is not obvious, I have never bothered to stick one under a dissecting 'scope, and have yet to find any useful information.  But as you can see, some kindly bug must have finally taken pity.  I was gifted a wee pod about an inch and  a half long and very narrow.  It recently ripened and released the prizes.

Dischidias are a close relative of the Hoya genus, which places them in the milkweed family.  You might have suspected this by the appearance of the seed pod.  If you've ever grown either genus, you'll also have noted that any cut or damaged plant parts exude a white, sticky sap, also reminiscent of milkweed.

I have a few Dischidia species and I find them all to be easy to grow and flower.  Dischidia ovata, though, is by far the easiest.  With almost no encouragement it will creep, crawl, twine and climb all over the place.  It also seems to bloom for much of the year when kept indoors.  I have never found this sort of success with Hoyas.  Actually, sadly, I have yet to have a long term relationship with any Hoya.

Want some cuttings?  Drop me a line via the shop.  I'll probably root some to sell, but they're easy enough to get going, so if you're interested, no sense in waiting on my account.

I have sown my Dischidia seeds in a plastic bag of damp sphagnum.  They germinated within a couple days.

The method is also effective with Anthurium seeds.  Oh by the way - you can expect Anthurium scandens seedlings to become available soon too...

In Bloom: Albizia julibrissin

All over Maryland Albizia julibrissin trees have been in bloom for the past few weeks. These are also known as Mimosa or Silk Trees, though the former more properly belongs to a related genus to which the diminutive Mimosa pudica (sensitive plant) belongs. I've you've seen those, you'll recognize the family resemblance.  The plant in the photo is a volunteer, which admittedly came up a little close to the house, but they don't get that big and I like them so it stays.   I have carefully protected this thing from 'helping hands', sloppy lawnmowing, and grazing horses since it was a wee, weedy sprout.  Finally it has bloomed.  I am quite pleased with its depth of color.

This species is found in much of the Eastern and Southern ranges of the US, but it is not native.  It is actually introduced and naturalized, and also considered a weedy, invasive pest in certain areas, notably Florida and Tennessee, according to the USDA PLANTS Profile.  Such is often the lot of plants in the pea family.

Yes, this is actually in the pea family.  Family resemblance is more obvious in the structure of the foliage and the bean-like seed pods, less so the flowers due to lack of petals.  Interestingly, however, if you look closely at that flower you'll notice that each of those pink filaments is tipped with yellow.  Those are stamens.

I understand the species is highly susceptible to Fusarium wilt, and so can be short lived in the Northeast as a result.  My mother used to tell me there were many of these trees 30-40 years ago in the DC area with fantastic color.  Then they almost all died out, tragically leaving only the ones with pale color.  Well, fortunately, they're weedy, and so are making an excellent comeback.  They sure seem to be all over the place now.

An introduction to Orchids as Houseplants

Frequently I hear ‘orchids are just too sensitive’ or ‘I could never…’, but honestly orchids are not always as difficult as people think. With the number of orchid species estimated at as much as 30,000 species (not a typo, see also Kew: Science and Horticulture: Orchidaceae) and native species found on every continent and climate except Antarctica, plus countless man-made hybrids, finding something right for your house is just about knowing what to look for in an orchid plant. Keeping it alive is just about being well informed (and occasional watering).

How is an orchid different? While there are many answers to this question, what really matters to the home grower is that many orchids, and certainly most of the common types grown as houseplants, are epiphytes. This is a situation where the plants use a tree branch (or occasionally rock crevice) as a condominium. They are not parasitic, just opportunistic. What this means to you as the home grower is that orchid roots are accustomed to an environment where while there might be frequent rain, there is also strong air movement. Many types can even be grown on a wood plaque with no media around the roots (see article here). Similarly, if your nicely potted plant has a root sticking out of the pot somewhere you shouldn’t be alarmed – in orchids this is not necessarily cause to repot. Some orchids just don’t really understand the concept of a pot and so throw their roots in every direction.

Good watering methods are key to root health. Watering of some houseplants is accomplished by leaving them to sit in water for hours at a time. This is not recommended with orchids (with a couple exceptions of some Phragmipedium species that live on river side rocks) as it may lead to root rot. The easiest thing to do is water the orchid by running plenty of water through the pot from the top. Once the media is well wetted, let it drain, then return it to the window.

For best results, orchids are potted in a fluffy or chunky mix that gives a nice balance of holding moisture but allowing air circulation. To maintain root health, repotting your orchids into fresh potting media every one to three years is recommended. Here is a repotting article.

Ok, so all that is great, but how to pick an orchid??

The most important piece of advice is to purchase a plant that is well established. You certainly can have success also with that $5 seedling in a two inch pot, but you will likely find it easier with more immediate gratification to buy a plant that is at least within 1-2 years of blooming for the first time. When buying a plant in person, especially at a place like the grocery store, challenge the plant by gently grabbing the leaves and lifting or moving the plant back and forth to see how well it is rooted into that pot. Good roots mean a healthy plant and more likely success.

Second is to look for a plant that matches your light conditions. For up to a few weeks at a time during blooming you can stick an orchid where it won’t get much light (say, the kitchen table) to enjoy it, but the rest of the year you will want to find a window for it to live in. Here’s a handy guide for commonly available orchid types, based on an unobstructed window, plant sitting right on the windowsill:

North facing window: Rather weak light. You might be able to grow a Paphiopedilum (Paph) there, or some Phalaenopsis (Phal). If it doesn’t bloom for you, supplement with fluorescent light.

East facing window: Great spot for Paphiopedilums and Phalaenopsis.

West facing window: Also great spot for Paphiopedilums and Phalaenopsis. Frequently this is also enough light for some Dendrobium (Den or Dend) plants or certain miniature Cattleya (Slc. or Pot.) hybrids, as well as several Oncidium types.

South facing window: This is your brightest light, excellent for Cattleya hybrids (Slc., Lc., C., Blc., Pot., Sl., Lc….), many Dendrobiums, and Oncidium intergeneric hybrids.

If you aren’t sure what category your plant-of-interest falls into, ask the grower for more details. They want you to succeed too!

I always recommend if you aren’t sure, go with a Phalaenopsis (Phal.) or Paphiopedilum (Paph.). These types are easy to grow, adaptable, and you can always make a very bright window less so by setting the plant back from the glass a little or using a sheer curtain to filter the light. Other culture details are fairly similar for the two types. You can find an article on growing phals here.

Foliage in the News: Fighting off a 'Case of the Mondays'

A study published in Feb 2008 cites keeping plants at your desk may result in more satisfaction with your job. Based on surveys, the study finds that employees with live plants or windows in their offices had more positive and mellow responses to a range of questions vs. those who lived in a basic cube. Basically, they tended to feel more like people with good jobs rather than rats in a maze with bad food.

This makes me wonder if the move Office Space would have gone differently if the plant on Milton's desk wasn't dead. (check out this clip on YouTube, upper right hand corner)

Moral of the day: fix up your desk with a snazzy new plant and have a better day!

Read more about it:

The original journal article:
Dravigne, Andrea, Waliczek, Tina Marie, Lineberger, R.D., Zajicek, J.M. The Effect of Live Plants and Window Views of Green Spaces on Employee Perceptions of Job Satisfaction HortScience 2008 43: 183-187 [link]

Science Daily Report

LA Times Article

Pocket Guides for Bugs & Healthy Foods

Just wanted to share a couple useful pocket guides.

The first one is the Organic Essentials guide to help you with your grocery shopping by showing which foods pose the greatest risk of high pesticide concentrations. Some plants absorb various toxins differently, and may hold more in the tissues than others. Other plants may not absorb toxins, but may be constructed such that washing away the pesticides is more difficult. Still others may require higher application of pesticide for good crop set. Regardless of the reason, this guide will help you make educated choices for your family when you can't always choose organic. (Please note, you should still wash all fruits and veggies, even organic ones.)

The next one is an indispensable guide every gardener should see. It identifies various predatory insects that will help clean out any pests that may be attacking your flowers and veggies. I heart predatory insects! :)