Petrocosmeas

[ruweiss]

A few days ago my Petrocosmeas started to flower. These plants are relatively new to me
and I hope,that the names are true; if not, I would be grateful for an exact identification.
These beautiful gesneriads are not easy to obtain in Germany and it is apity,that they are not hardy here,

[Pauli]

Hello Rudi,

the Botanic Garden in Linz grows the same plants, but names are different at least for the first; I do not know if their names are right.
First: P forrestii
Second: their plant looks a little different, more untidy
Third they agree

If bone dry, they can withstand a few degrees below zero, as long as the temperature rises during the day.
Do you have them from a certain Chinese source?

All the best

Herbert

[Paul T]

Rudi,

Beautiful!!  Haven't had anything to do with these myself, so lovely to see your pics.  I have Haberleas flowering for me at the moment here in the Southern Hemisphere.

[ruweiss]

Herbert and Paul, many thanks for your kind replies. I got my plants from an orchid grower, who raises them
simply and quick from leaf cuttings in his heated glasshouse. The chinese offerings of rare and new plants
are always mouth-watering, but I want to be sure, that my plants are seed raised or nursery propagated.
During the frost-free season my Petrocosmeas are in the Alpine house,as they do not like too high temperatures
the get placed under the stages during the hot summer months. In winter they stand by the window just frost-free
in an unheated room where they flower for many weeks.

[Lesley Cox]

What lovely plants Rudi. Unknown to us here in the southern hemisphere I'm afraid. I had P. kerrii once, many years ago but not the conditions which it preferred, so lost it.

[Paddy Tobin]

Wonderful plants, Rudi.

Paddy

[johanneshoeller]

Hello Rudi,

I grow some Petrocosmeas and Chiritas, too. They stand by a window frost-free. I have seen that they do not like too low temperatures (0°C-10°C), then the leaves look poor and become yellow.
When and under which temperatures do you propagate them with leaves (temperature)?

Wonderful pics Rudi!

[Tony Willis]

Hello Rudi

I grow rosettifolia, grandiflora, sericia which I bought from a nursery(Keith Lever in N Wales)  and minor I imported from China. I also grow a number of other Chinese gesneriads,chiritas lysionotus,paraboae etc, and a couple of chiritas I have exchanged with Herbert in Linz. I have no idea if any of the names are correct and many plants from different sources look the same. In fact P. minor was exhibited at several shows under a variety of names.

I grow mine in clay pots in a sand plunge with a heating cable underneath set to 5c and they are covered over in frosty weather.

Propagation is very simple in a smalll heated propagator. Just pull leaves of and peg the stalks in a free draining peaty compost. After a ew weeks plantlets appear and can them be potted up and grown on. This sems to be able to be done at ant time of year but late spring seems best to me.

[SueG]

I grow several too and have noticed that on ebay you can buy leaves of particular ones, I guess to root.
I've got a chirita leaf in a glass of water on the kitchen window sill with an embarassing amount of root on it - I think it was one I broke off a plant (by accident) and just stuffed into the glass, it began to root then the water in the glass dried out and I didn't notice, so I chopped a bit more off the bottom of the leaf, gave it more water and it grew again! I don't know if this would work with the species - this is a cultivar from Dobies.
Sue

[Maggi Young]

Most Gesneriads seem very obliging about their ease of putting roots on a cut leaf.........

[SueG]

Most Gesneriads seem very obliging about their ease of putting roots on a cut leaf.........

and yet I've never managed to root a single streptocarpus leaf cutting ever and everyone tells you how easy they are!

[Maggi Young]

Most Gesneriads seem very obliging about their ease of putting roots on a cut leaf.........

and yet I've never managed to root a single streptocarpus leaf cutting ever and everyone tells you how easy they are!

 I can manage those... but must confess that of all the Saintpaulia leaves I've rooted and grown into nice plants, none ever flower more than once!!

[ruweiss]

Petrocosmea rosettifolia is now in full flower, we all enjoy these lovely flowers in wintertime.
As my Alpine House is unheated, I keep my Petrocosmeas at a window of my staircase, here
they flower for months. The temperaure can sink down to just a few degrees above zero.
These plants can be highly recommended for brightening up these dull winter days!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

They look great Rudi !!

[Paul T]

Most Gesneriads seem very obliging about their ease of putting roots on a cut leaf.........

and yet I've never managed to root a single streptocarpus leaf cutting ever and everyone tells you how easy they are!

Sue,

I find that they root easiest in the middle of summer here, in fact the warmer the better.  At the height of summer the streps root within a couple of weeks, while they take 6 weeks or more if tried when cooler.  Maybe some bottom heat, or placing them in a particularly warm area, might help your luck with striking them?