Korina, Gesnerias and especially G. cuneifolia have been in cultivation for a number of years having been collected from Puerto Rica. In recent years, there have been a few species introduced which grow larger and some which thrive with less humidity. I grow Gesneria rupincola (which is almost always in flower) in the open on my plant stand. The flowers are also orange, but a different tone than G. cuneifolia. Another species I have grown for many years open, is G. cuneifolia 'Tom Talpey' named for the man who collected it in the wild. These flowers are more orange/red. It also is very floriferous. Gesnerias need to be constantly wet and are not very forgiving when allowed to dry out. I have found that they grow best for me in a mix with the same amount of dolomite lime I use for Streptocarpus.
Enjoy your Gesneria!

Marilyn

With the 'too many plants syndrome' its inevitable that sooner or later I dry out and kill gesnerias. Too bad for me. Many people have had good luck with them and keep them going for years. They also propagate and can be self pollinated to grow on seedlings. One year, knowing my deficiencies I potted up a tiny cuneifolia in a deep six inch plastic pot--wa-a-ay overpotted. It was under lights and it did very well, growing into a little bushy thing, always in bloom. So, that's one way to grow them. Some growers with low humidity grow them in small pots enclosed under domes or in clear topped sweater boxes. They are often grown wicked. The whole genus is found only in the Caribbean, with quite a few species, mostly not in cultivation. They can be found on almost all the islands including many species from Cuba. Too bad they didn't make it to Florida so we could have a true continental US native gesneriad. Many of the species are really beautiful but some are largish shrubs with smallish flowers. But, many spectacular species remain out there waiting to be brought into cultivation. If anyone is curious to see what gesneriads come from which islands, the Smithsonian's gesneriad search engine works very nicely--just type in the island and up will come all the gesneriads known from there.

So, for example in Cuba there are 23 gesneria species and a total of 37 species of gesneriads from all genera! In Cuba--who woulda guessed. Jamaica has 41 gesneriads (19 gesnerias). Puerto Rico only has 13 gesneriads of which 8 are gesnerias. And cuenifolia is found only on Puerto Rico--I was expecting I would see it native on more than one island. How about that.

Jon

Here is a link that might be useful: World Checklist of Gesneriaceae

Thanks so much for your responses. Fortunately, up here in the fog belt, lack of humidity is never an issue. I have all my Gessies wicked; I've also improvised a mat watering system (cookie pans lined with green scrubbies from the dollar store) that works pretty well. I'll experiment and see which works best.

Korina

Yippee! Yesterday there was one sub-microscopic fleck of green, and today there are three!!

In my limited seed germinating experience, I have had rotten luck, so this is wonderful! I'm so excited!

Korina

'I've traveled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly.' -the Doctor

Quick question. Marilyn, you said, '...the same amount of dolomite lime I use for Streptocarpus.' Now, I'm using coconut coir these days, no peat. Should I still use lime, and if so, how much? Coir is pH 5.5 - 6.8.

Korina