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auntiecelene

Kohleria Rhizomes

AuntieCelene
19 years ago

I just got some Kohleria rhizomes...any good suggestions on how to plant them? How deep? Regular Episcia/AV type mix?

I have:

Pele

Bach

Frances B

bogotensis

Carnival

Emily Roberts

Brimstone

Flashdance

amabilis

Rongo

Punch

Any advice? Should I use an antifungal when I plant?

Thanks,

Celene

Comments (3)

  • jon_d
    19 years ago

    Wow, what a haul!

    You can grow them in regular AV soil. I use my regular houseplant mix which is 3 parts Canadian sphagnum peatmoss, two parts perlite and one part vermiculite. Most use a basic 1-1-1 mix or these and some just eliminate the vermiculite. But a store bought AV mix is fine. They are quite tough. Plant the rhizomes horizontally about an inch under the soil. You can pot them with the pots only about 2/3 full, and then put the rhizome in shallowly so that later on you can add soil around the stem. Keep the pots moist and they should sprout. Grow them indoors in a bright windowsill or under lights. About your plants: (OK, I'm showing off (again))

    Pele: grows tall, very vigorous, Patrick once harvested a single rhizome that circled around the pot many times--3'long. Flowers finely spotted with mix of purple, yellow, looking like lava.

    Bach: ? I think it also has very fine spotting, grows medium high

    Frances B: An oldie with nice spotted smallish flowers, red spots over creamy white I think.

    bogotensis: a choice one with wonderful foliage, gray with a herringbone pattern. Spotted flowers with two background colors, yellow on upper petals and red on lower petals. Can get tall but usually medium high.

    Carnival: An old Kartuz hybrid. My plant doesn't fit description but it is supposed to have medium to large spotted red flowers. Gets good comments in discussions.

    Emily Roberts: Like Bach, a Roberts' hybrid with fine spotting and medium to compact habit.

    Brimstone: A Boggan hybrid of bogotensis with very nice foliage and somewhat small flowers

    Flashdance: I have this one though it isn't common and we don't know how it originated. It is another medium sized spotted flower on a medium to tall plant. It may have originated with Tim Anderson in Florida.

    amabilis: The choicest species to grow. Stays small and can be difficult. Give it extra humidity and keep it evenly moist. Nice spotted red-lavender large flat flowers. It has green and brown patterned foliage.

    Rongo, an old hybrid that was very popular in its day. Nice flowers on a vigorous plant that gets medium tall.

    Punch: A smaller grower that spreads horizontally with nice medium to small flowers red spotted over white. Boggan hybrid.

    Jon ;)

  • AuntieCelene
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    Thank you SOOOO much! Jon, you're the poohbah of gesneriad information!

    I'm off to plant some Kohlerias, and episcia stolons, yesterday and today was certainly a grand haul. DH will be building another light stand this weekend, to accomodate my ever-expanding addiction. Such an enabler ;)

    Celene

  • jon_d
    19 years ago

    Of course, when it comes to kohlerias the expert is John B. He wrote the AGGS kohleria register and has made some very nice hybrids, with even better ones coming. I've made a few hybrids myself and now have a couple that I am going to intoduce, but, I tend to be a more esoteric hybridizer, creating oddballs and monsters. Hopefully I will have one or two to show next summer at the AGGS convention in Portland (toes crossed).

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