Cyn,
Possibly they are water spots maybe the nursery were you got watered from above. Streptocarpella's are just like violets and will spot if cold water gets on the leaves.

Vera/CA

You can water them from above, be sure that the water is more on a barely warm side.

They are very easy to root - so just in case - put some cuttings down in a light soil with a baggie on the top.

irina

Vera and irina -

Thanx for the suggestions but cold water on the leaves can't be the problem. I got them over a month ago, and they had no spots. I was on vacation shortly afterwards and my neighbor took care of them. When I got back they were covered in spots. I clipped off all the growth that had spots, and have only watered them from the bottom since then - w/ tepid water even.

And yet many of the new leaves already have spots on them when they open up. There are just as many spots now as there were when I got back from vacation - even tho I trimmed all of that off. It's very discouraging b/c they were so lovely initially, and are supposed to be very easy to grow; but now they look awful.

Cyn -

whatever you have - and it seems to me like some kind of poor culture damage - and it hard to say - because - we do not know what kind of soil you have in your pot - may be it is too heavy for the watering schedule you give it, I would think it is the most probable cause, or your neigbour did something differently - or the sun is too hot - or nights were too cold a month ago - but the damage is done and it is not going to fix itself up anytime soon and the summer will be over. If the greenhouse still agrees to replace them, do it. It seems to me that you have some kind of a root damage, that's why the plant looks sad.

If you cannot replace it - I would take the tip cuttings and stick them in a pot of a very light soil and put a plastic bag on the top. Streptocarpella makes a really nice house plant for an east window, and after you figure out what it likes - you can easily create these hanging pots for the next summer. If it is a mechanical damage - removing spotted leaves does more harm than good. The plant is losing its growth and it weakens it even more.

Good Luck

irina

Irina, you make several good points. I will take them back to the nursery and hope they have replacements. If not, I will do as you say w/ tip cuttings. I once had over 100 AV when I was in college, so I'm familiar w/ rooting this type of plant. (I used to love seeing how many plants I could get off one AV leaf!)

Thanx so much for your wise advice.

Cyn

Cyn - you are welcome.

The thing with these cuttings - they root much faster the AVs. You take tip pieces let's say 5-6 inches long, rrmove the bottom leaves and stick them in a soil. If you keep them humid - put some kind of cover on the top - they root in several days, and can be blooming in a month or so.
Irina

Wow, that's great to know. I figured this summer was already out of the question. Thanx again.

Well, Irina, the cuttings are tucked into some good soil and hanging out on my humid back porch. When I took the hanging baskets back to the nursery the "plant guy" said the only thing that would've caused the spots is sun or cold water - neither of which those plants were exposed to. There were a couple more at the nursery, but I decided not to chance it since it was important to get something for my front porch. I did notice that theirs had a few spots as well.

Thanx again - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have a whole new pot of strep here soon!