Definitely cut off those bad leaves, you are going to lose them anyway. If you think any wilted leaf is going to perk back up, I would only cut it back, maybe halfway and let the plant use its energy on the rest of its good leaves.

Hope someone can help you with the other questions. I don't have a lot of luck with streps. I wouldn't keep it too warm or too damp, it could rot quicker.

Hope it recovers! tish

Thanks Tish! I cut off the dead leaves and put it in a dome with some other seedlings/intensive care plants. I was only able to salvage two 1/2 in long baby leaves in the center. That was on the 13th, and now I have little leaves sprouting out of the stump at 3-4 different places. The two leaves that survived are now 3/4 in long, and the variegation is coming out on them. Beautiful. This is my first strep, and while I have African Violets and can tell suckers from leaves on those, I don't know how to tell a sucker from a leaf on a strep. Any pointers?

Thanks

Meg

No pointers on suckers,,,sorry. I just recently started growing Strep's so am learning as I go too.
My reason to post is I just bought a variegated leaf Strep also! Mine is named Iced Texas Twilight. Gotta love those variegated leaves! Because of the cold weather it wasn't able to be shipped this week. Hopefully next week.
Glad to hear your chilled baby is coming out of it ok! Good going for saving it!,,,Debbie

Hi Debbie!
I totally agree, the variegation is charming. As those little leaves get bigger I see more and more, and it's been so fun! They're about an inch and a half now, and all the other leaves are growing fast too. The only thing I'm concerned about is that it looks like the stump is producing more than just one plant. Wherever a leaf grows out of the stump, another appears shortly after, and they form pairs, or triplets. I suspect that it's in survival mode, and is producing several new plants, but I've never read about that in Streps. It's not a big deal right now, as none of them are big enough to start crowding each other. I'd just like to figure it out in time to separate them if I need to! :)

Meg

Meg -

after your strep got frozen - it is in intense survival mode - that's why all the suckers. You can get the suckers off the mama plant when they have sufficient leaf surface - let's say when the leaves are 1.5" long and plant them separately, better when they have their own roots. If you put a piece of a dump sphagnum moss around the point of emerging suckers - they develop roots faster. You do not need to take all suckers at once, you can keep harvesting them - until your whole house will be in Pink Flamingos :-))

Irina

Meg -

Your Strep seems to have past the survival mode as the leaves you were able to salvage are growing. The "suckers" are the natural growth of the plant. This process was most likely hastened by the near death of the plant, thus the "survival mode."

As Streps get more mature they tend to spread out, sending out new crowns that eventually will have roots. They can then be divided to start new plants.

In my experience with variegated Streps (I have Canterbury Suprise) they tend to grow slower than green leaf only ones. It maybe just the variety I have though.

Irina's suggestion is right on as well if you would like to have more of this type of plant. Just make sure they have good roots first before taking them from the mother plant.

I agree with the beauty of the variegated leaves of these types. When they are mature and bloom they are truly gorgeous.

If you are interested in trading, I would love to trade! I have an extra Canterbury Suprise growing or we could trade leaves.

Dave