Nemathanthus are not hard to grow, but I grow them outside and in a greenhouse, so my indoor experiences are minimal. They are mountain epiphytes from S. Brazil, so they like cooler conditions but I have read that they do well in hot humid climates. They do seem to prefer not to dry out too much but a healthy plant will dry out quickly and recover without damage if not wilted. They root easily in water or in soil. I grow Dibley's Gold as a foliage plant and thus try to get a compact symetrical bushy plant. My plant is still small though.

Strep hybridizing. Where to begin. Fortunately we have a lot of species readily available in the AGGS seed fund. This may not be the case in the future as it takes a lot of effort to get seed on so many different species. But, right now we have a huge selection. The species with scent include candidus (faint honey scent), and fanninae (a giant waterside species with a faint honey scent) and the unifoliates like vandeleurii (which is the one that people have used) and its close relative eylesii, which I once grew. To me eylesii had a scent like creosote or wood burning or something. One idea is to cross this type of scent with a honey scented species to get a new scent??? It is worth persuing though I still thing the most satisfying strep breeding is to go for unique patterns of veining and netting on flowers. Some small species used in past breeding are cyanandrus and johannis. These are still available. I have also grown modestus which has a very pretty blue-purple flower. It rarely needs a pot larger than 3 1/2" for a mature specimen. But, unlike other species it tends to flower once a year, in May-June.

Nikki you are right about the big leaves on crosses with unifoliates. That was how the original strep hybrids of the 19th century got so huge. They were working with a limited group that included some of the huge growing unifoliates, crossing with the multileaved S. rexii. All the red color we see comes from one unifoliate, S. dunnii, which is a harder one to grow and flower, and has small reddish flowers.

It would be worthwhile to work again with cyanandrus. It is a tiny little species with a nice flower. But, it is a cool grower from high in the mountains of Zimbabwe, and generally needs a bit of pampering in a warm climate. But, people are having luck growing it in a terrarium. Its other big drawback is that unlike other streps it is short lived. We don't know if this is a universal cultural problem or more likely just a trait of the species. It tends to self pollinate and can be kept going by reseeding every year or two. I don't know if anyone has worked with this species in years, but it did contribute to the first mini hybrid, called 'Mighty Mouse', which is a cross of cyanandrus x erubescens (a lost species) crossed with johannis. 'Mighty Mouse' is nearly sterile but crosses with it will often produce a pod with about 7 viable seeds, and thus it is in the background of all the smaller hybrids grown today.

I can see my strep pod elongating and starting to look twisted, which is sooo cool. It's still green, though, so I guess I have at least a couple more weeks. I've never grown any gesneriad from seed, though, so I'm practicing now with the free seed gift from the AGGS. When I looked at the listing of available seeds, I'm pretty sure candidus was out and I think cyanandrus was out too. Maybe I will try eylesii if they have it. I've never propogated a strep either, so I'm trying that too. With Network.

So when I harvest the seeds, how long do I have to wait before I sow them?

About Dibley's Gold, I think I'm throwing it away. It's just taking up valuable space now. Not like my lovely streps, which are all either in flower or with buds. Maybe I didn't choose the easiest Nematanthus, though.

don't toss your Dibley's Gold. Instead take it to a NIGS meeting and give it away or put it on the raffle table. Or, try cutting it back and putting all the cuttings in the pot around the plant. They will root and make a nice dense small plant. With cuttings I take one of about three nodes and take the leaves off the bottom node, which is sunk in the soil. Or you can sink two nodes. So, if the stem is six nodes long you can make two cuttings. You can even make three cuttings if you go with two node cuttings.

The seedpod will take about two months, more or less, to ripen. It should turn purplish too, depending on light. The twisted part is the seam, which runs around the pod like a barber's pole. When the seedpod is ripe it will start to come apart at the seam. Then just take a piece of paper, make a fold down the center and open the pod over the paper. Collect the seed in the fold and then.....well, you have options. Plant some or all now, save some seed, or donate some seed to the AGGS seed fund. Or you can share it with other chapter members. Or do all of this!. All gesneriad seed can be planted right away, and it generally germinates faster if planted soon after harvesting as opposed to waiting for several months. You can save seed for many years if kept cool and dry--i.e. in a small envelope in a jar in the fridge (not in the freezer).

I heartily approve of your learning the various phases of growing, like trying out the mixed seed, or trying seed of any gesneriad, just to see how it all works.

Jon

Wow. Thanks, Jon. And thanks mewedzi for this thread.

I was told that Mighty Mouse was sterile. Almost sterile is not the same thing. Sometimes the best crosses come from near sterile plants. I guess I'll try daubing some pollen on Mighty Mouse.

I did my first cross a few weeks ago and have seed ripening -- Ice Wine X Emily. That cross was because they were blooming at the same time and I wanted to try a cross with a variegate. I just got a plant that is a hybrid of komachi? that has very nice small and dark leaves. I'm going see what I can do with that one. I am definitely going to be working towards streps with shorter leaves, mostly because I don't have space and I'm sure that are lots of people like me.

Hi Maureen, I think hybridizing with Mighty Mouse is a great idea. White it was used to create the compactness in many of the smaller growing streps like 'Joker', I don't think anyone took smaller growers and crossed them back onto 'Mighty Mouse'. I remember making a few crosses and remember how short but normal looking seed pods formed. And, like I said, when I opened a ripe pod it looked empty, but then I found that I had about seven seeds. Those seeds are so small they can look like just a bit of chaff. I learned about this characteristic of MM from its hybridizer, who was a friend of mine back then. If half the seeds germinate then one can quickly get a lot of offspring. In the next generations, the progeny from MM will be much more fertile, just as hybrids like 'Joker' are pretty fertile.

Jon