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mini trailers
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Posted by
oriole6 9b (
My Page) on
Wed, Aug 29, 12 at 13:34
| Has anybody come up with a good set-up to water-wick a mini trailer? I sure could use some ideas.... my one and only no-name mini purchase has turned out to be a trailer and it'll be my first. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: mini trailers
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| oriol6, do you by chance have a picture you could post? I know a lot of minis have suckering habits, but they should be kept cut back. As for watering by wick, I'd use the same nylon string in a home-made reservoir and treat it like any other violet. |
RE: mini trailers
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I'm getting better results with Texas potting. As the pots for trailers are about 3 or 4 times wider than deep I put about an inch of perlite and put the mix on top of that.
I sit the pot in a fairly wide dish (thats the trouble with trailers they take so much room) and put in the nutrient to about half way up the perlite.
I only add fresh nutrient when the container is completely empty and the bottom of the pot is dry.
I have other trailers on wicks (2 x 8 ply wicks per pot but these dont seem to get evenly moist. I should probably use 3 wicks as these are in 12 inch wide pots. However these are standards not minis. |
RE: mini trailers
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| Seems I do have a miniature after all. This is Wee Golly in a 9 inch wide pot. Actually its a saucer with holes drilled in it and it has 2 wicks. |
RE: mini trailers
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| That's a beauty, GCTBA. And thanks for the education - I had never heard of Texas potting. It's given me something to Google! But your saucer and wicking set-up makes a lot of sense, too. I like the way you have it sitting up out of the water on the rim of the tray. I would think this would add humidity to the plant's environment as an added bonus. And thanks to Taxonomist3 for your reply... you know, I was wondering just how you can tell the difference between a suckering mini and a true trailing mini. I'm just basing my judgement on the behavior of my other minis; they sucker of course, but this particular one is different. It's laying it's stem over and rooting, and the new 'suckering' growth is almost uncontrollable. I've not had a trailer before, so I'm just going with the flow, if you know what I mean, and will give it what it seems to be asking for. |
RE: mini trailers
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| GCTBA, That is one gorgeous violet you have there. How long does it take for a trailer (standard?) to reach that size?
Looks like success to me. Oriole, It will be interesting to see how your mini av grows. I've never grown a trailer, but they look magnificent. HOpe yours does well.
Jon |
RE: mini trailers
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| I hope it does well too, Jon. It's a dainty little thing with nickel to quarter-sized leaves. It won't have as much "oomph" as GCTBA's, but it will be an interesting experiment! |
RE: mini trailers
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Oriole6 -
you are correct - the trailers have longer internode distance - you can actually see the stem between the leaves - and a suckering rosette plant - it looks like a mop - and it is very hard to see stems, they are very squatty. When the hybridizers developed trailers - they used the wild trailing species of Saintpaulia in their crosses, and you still can see a difference- leaves are usually thinner and petioles a bit longer in relation to the size of the leaf. We have a restaurant chain here - Tokyo's Joe - and I love their black disposable plastic bowls - just right for the good size trailers or Episcias. I drill holes in a bottom, put some perlite and wicks - soil and plant - just like Andrew. Irina |
RE: mini trailers
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Jon it took 6 months to go from a pot 5 inches across to filling the 9 inch saucer. At first it looked extremely overpotted but it hasnt suffered as a result.
All it needs now is a lot more blooms, so far its put most of its energy into widening the root structure. Its now a little closer to the lights than the standards and I do use three quarter strength food whereas the standards only get half strength. This pic was taken soon after it was repotted. Andrew |
RE: mini trailers
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| Sorry the pic didnt go through in the previous post. |
RE: mini trailers
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| Irina, that's an excellent description of what my little trailer looks like. I'll pot it properly tomorrow (after I have lunch at a restaurant with a disposable bowl just the right size). : 0 ) |
RE: mini trailers
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| I'm really getting hooked on trailers! I have a "Fancy Trail" that's ALWAYS in bloom! REALLY Easy to start from leaf cuttings. |
RE: mini trailers
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| All good information. I have been growing trailers since 1984 when I purchased Pixie Blue (still my all time favorite violet). Except for the small standard concord I exclusively grow minis & semi-miniature trailers. They grow more my style... kinda wild looking. lol Seriously though I find them more easy to manage. One doesn't need to worry about the perfect rosette. Larry |
RE: mini trailers
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| Funny you mention 'Pixie Blue'! I started 2 leaves of that a few weeks ago! From Lydon Lyon's. Can you post a photo of your's if it's not too much trouble? |
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