Kohleria humidity problem

I bought some Kohleria rhizomes a while back, they have all sprouted, but some are doing better than others. It seems that some of them are going dry and crispy at the bottom. The picture shows the lower leaves going brown and crisp.


I am thinking it has to be a humidity problem, as the couple I put under humidity domes seem to be doing much better than the ones that are not under my dome. I was under the assumption that they grew in much the same conditions as their cousin, the AV, but I am finding with a higher humidity, they grow much nicer.


The picture below is of some Kohleria Texas Rainbow. It was having some really problems until it went under the dome, and now it is starting to look really good. The ones under the dome are not getting the crispy brown leaves like the others, so I think I am going to have to move all of them into the dome. I have to be really careful as to what I out under the humidity domes, because I have found that plants that don't require such high humidity rot quite quickly.

I bought some Kohleria rhizomes a while back, they have all sprouted, but some are doing better than others. It seems that some of them are going dry and crispy at the bottom. The picture shows the lower leaves going brown and crisp.


I am thinking it has to be a humidity problem, as the couple I put under humidity domes seem to be doing much better than the ones that are not under my dome. I was under the assumption that they grew in much the same conditions as their cousin, the AV, but I am finding with a higher humidity, they grow much nicer.


The picture below is of some Kohleria Texas Rainbow. It was having some really problems until it went under the dome, and now it is starting to look really good. The ones under the dome are not getting the crispy brown leaves like the others, so I think I am going to have to move all of them into the dome. I have to be really careful as to what I out under the humidity domes, because I have found that plants that don't require such high humidity rot quite quickly.

A single bloom on my most stubborn Lipstick plant

Over the course of the past few months, maybe close to a year, I have been watching this lipstick plant grow a few buds, only to lose them before they bloom. I can not for the life of me figure out what causes bud blast on various plants, but it happens quite often in my house. Well it finally decided to keep a bud and let me see a flower. I believe it to be an Aeschynanthus Radicans, although I could be wrong.


I just love looking into the throats of various flowers, mainly gesneriads, but also schlum's. Inside the flowers are the most intricate and beautiful designs and colors. My collection of Aeschynanthus....aka lipstick plants has grown over the past few months, and it must be the season for them to flower. I am really coming to appreciate the intricacy of these flowers. It can't be a good thing....lol....because there are a lot of different types of lipstick plants, and with spring soon here, I can start the mail order thing again.


This plant hobby of mine has turned into a full blown addiction, and it is beginning to take over the house, and the backyard in the summer.

Pooh Bear joins my indoor jungle

I have been meaning to do it for months, adding a humidifier to my indoor jungle. It is pretty dry here, especially in the winter, so it will be a great addition not only for the plants, but for my family as well. Of course, I kept putting it off, there is always nicer things to buy than a humidifier, but then I came across a Winnie the Pooh humidifier, and being a Pooh fan, I had to grab it. He looks so cute peeking out from behind my plants. If only DH would stop unplugging it.....lol.

I could''t leave the foliage out

Well I felt a little bad for all the leaves, old and new that didn't get their minute in the spotlight like the flowers did in my last post.....lol. My camera takes wonderful close up pics of the foliage as well. It is able to capture hairs that are near invisible to my own eyes. The pic below is a variegated AV crown.


This close up is of a new leaf growing on one of my hoya's. This leaf is really only the size of the number 8 on a keyboard (Well standard ones anyway, but who I am to say, I am typing on a pink and silver Bratz keyboard.....lol) Let's just compare it to the size of a small pea or an apple seed....lol.


Now I am not even sure what this is. I know it is one of my episcia's, but I have never seen growth like this on any of mine before. Now I have never seen my own episcia's flower, so I am hoping this is what the beginnings of flowers look like. I can't even get close enough to get a good look with my eyes, because it is fairly small. If anyone can confirm that these are buds, please confirm for me.


This is a close up pic of my Hoya lacunosa. I swear it hates me . You can see in the pic that based on the look of this peduncle it has flowered a couple times or so, but this has not actually happened. It grows a few buds, and they never get too much past this size. I have seen them once come oh so close to blooming, but like I said this hoya hates me, and just keeps dropping it's buds on me. I think this will be the fourth of fifth time this hoya has done this on two different peduncles, The first peduncle it surprised me with didn't even get buds, the whole peduncle fell off before anything happened. It likes to tease and taunt me.

Capturing the Sparkle on my Flowers

Santa was very nice to me this year, she brought me a new digital cam. Well I had just recently begun to learn how to take pretty nice shots with it, and now I have to learn on a new one. But oh Wow!! Can I ever get close, and get clear detailed pics. I can see more in the pics than I can with my own eyes on these plants.


The pic above is a close up shot of a peduncle on a hoya, the peduncle itself can't be bigger than a pencil eraser. I mean, like, whoa, I can barely see this clearly that close up.

I am so impressed that I can capture the sparkle in my African violets, Not all AV's have this much sparkle in their leaves, but I have heard that domed cells in the petal create this effect. Please don't quote me on that.....lol. I can not find anywhere to back this up, but I have read it somewhere in the depths of the world wide web.



I am even impressed at how true the color comes out in the pictures. This is something many gardener/photographer's have found to be a bit tricky sometimes, depending on the light you take the pic in, but so far, my colors are coming out fairly true.


This pic above is slightly blurred, but I kept it anyway since it showed some of the glitter and sparkle in this flower.


I just picked up the above AV from WM yesterday. I couldn't resist it. I don't buy many AV's from big box stores anymore since they tend to get the same types of plants in. I only buy, the really funky ones, and this one qualified. Some of the flowers are almost like chimera's, with the stripe of color. It really is a pretty one.


I have had the above AV for a while, it has gone through several bloom periods this year, but I still always love to see this one bloom. Again it has the sparkle effect. I also have a thing for the fantasy and bi color AV's.


And last but not least, this is not an AV, it is an azalea. I just love the markings on this one, and I am going close up crazy with the new cam.

"Foliage Plant Care" tag

I could scream every time I see one of these generic plant tags. I mean c'mon, wtf? This helps......how?? LOL.

Had to vent.......I am okay now.

Comparing Longicaulis & "Black Pagoda" (Aeschynanthus)

After all the confusion with my Aeschynanthus Longicaulis, I think I have finally found the "true" Black Pagoda. Black Pagoda is supposed to be a cross between speciosa and longicaulis, with the flowers of speciosa, and similar foliage to the Logicaulis. In the pic below both plants are side by side, the one on the right being the one I believe to be the Black Pagoda cultivar.


This is a pic of the "Black Pagoda". It had one flower that was nearly open, but I am guessing because it is a new cutting, the bud fell off. I doubted it to be the Black Pagoda because the flower itself was green, more like the longicaulis, and the flowers on the speciosa are orange and red. But looking through different pics on the web, check the speciosa link above, the flowers begin as that greenish colour, like the ones in the pic, but open to be orange and red. I am conviced that had the flowers opened, they had the potential to look like the speciosa. So I am almost positive the is the true Black Pagoda.


My longicaulis is in full bloom now, but like I have said before the flowers are not very noticeable. They don't stand out like most plants, because they blend in with foliage. In the pic below there are almost 10 flowers showing, but yet one can hardly notice.


I had too add this pic into my post. It is a pic of one of my "String of Heats" (Ceropegia Woodii). I thought the pic looked pretty cool as I did not use the flash. The flowers are so neat on this one, and the foliage is pretty cool too. I would really like to get an extreme close up on this flower since it has very unique characteristics.