Healthy and prolific they are, Michael

Michael, it is too dark now to get a good picture but tomorrow I will take pictures of both the non flowering and the Rienhards that are going to flower. Yours seem a bit more gold than mine which are a reel deep green but I am finding out how difficult it is to get the camera to capture the exact right color.

Ok ...Here is my Reinhard

And the reinhard that appears to be going to flower. I think you can force semps to bloom by having them overcrowded in the garden or a pot, withholding the water and raising the temperature. I was not trying to force bloom but all the conditions have been right. I am not even going to admit how long these have been in the same pots!



good news is that, today I found a ciliatum that is going to flower probably about the same time as Reinhard. It has really long stolons. Maybe we can get something with shorter stolons and tufts in bright green.

So mine is definitely not 'Reinhard' if your pictures show the real one, which I do not doubt.
Which rosette is going to flower - from here they all look pretty high and of similar shape?

parttimegardener said:So mine is definitely not 'Reinhard' if your pictures show the real one, which I do not doubt.
Which rosette is going to flower - from here they all look pretty high and of similar shape?

I strongly suspected your 'Reinhard' was not correct when I first saw it. The green was wrong and the tips weren't the characteristic dark almost black. Even the leaf texture seemed off. But it could have been due to growing conditions and I'm no expert. That's my two cents.

Michael, I have a semp that looks a lot like your Reinhard but it's called S,tectorum Sunset

I have had Sunset get quite large but it's a slow grower.
The analysis on the Quick Start is 4 - 12 - 4 . Perhaps that will help you locate it or something similar.

ricos said:
The analysis on the Quick Start is 4 - 12 - 4 . Perhaps that will help you locate it or something similar.

I wonder about the usefulness of this QuickStart stuff in my particular soil. I know my soil has more than enough Potassium and plenty of Phosphorous. But is lacking in Nitrogen and Calcium. I suspect I would be better (and cheaper) served by using a little water-soluble Calcium Nitrate. But there are other aspects I don't understand like seasonal root uptake availability.
I don't like the idea of adding nutrients to my soil without first knowing if they are needed. That's the problem with fertilizers like this. They're offering a one-size-fits-all solution in a many-size world.

Tim,

I'm not really using SOIL for the semp seedlings I'm using a prepared compost mix that is fairly light and high in organic matter and doesn't have much in the way of added nutrients, essentially a blank slate. The response of the semp seedlings to the Quick start is great. Moreover, I use it on all my transplants of other plants (irises, hardy geraniums, dianthus, daylilies) and they also really respond well to it. I think its advantage is that everything is very soluble so that the plant is able to use it NOW. There are certainly other mixes but I have found this to be almost miracle. I got Lynn to drink the Kool-Aid now how about you??

Kevin

Tim, I am with Kevin here. I am using Quick Start on seedlings and transplants that are growing in what is essentially Sunshine mix. It's a comercial mix of peat and pearlite that is basically sterile. It's not the soil in my garden. I am a huge proponent of soil testing before just randomly pouring nutrients into your soil. I think your calcium nitrate sounds like a great idea in your case. If i had beds like yours i would only use quick start when I first planted something in the bed just to help it with transplant shock and might even mix it a bit week.
( As Kevin pointed out, it is very solualbe and therefore ready for immediate uptake by the plant.)
Then leave it alone and see how it does. If you are not growing for fast increase of a new variety you probably do not need to use it all the time.

Hello Jo Ann,

I saw 'sunset' in a local nursery, where I also bought 'Reinhard'. Their 'sunset' looked like yours, maybe a bit more on the red side in tip colouration. Definetely not identical with my NOID formerly known as 'Reinhard'.

yep, I drank the kool aid too and ordered a jug in amazon. Too busy to shop by car

Me too. I've been using it since last summer.
I've been very pleased with the results.
I've been using it half strenth on my semp seedlings.

Me three, love the stuff!

I have a couple of questions on seedlings. First, what do you do with the ones you don't keep? I have a really hard time tossing plants.

Second, when I was growing african violets, they said you could freeze the pollen from one parent plant until the other bloomed. Can you do that with semps, too?

@JungleShadows
Kevin can answer your questions about the pollen Margo.
As far as the reject seedlings they can be used in making gift containers of all kinds. Our make the containers up and sell them at a yard sale.

I bet others have even more interesting ways to use the surplus seedlings.

That's good to hear. The african violet people were baby plant murders. I am definitely pro life.

Sad, but funny.

Margo,

You can save pollen but I find it keeps for a month in the butter dish or crisper of the refrigerator. Set up a jar and fill it with drierite and put pollen (NOT WHOLE ANTHERS) in glassine envelopes or microfuge tubes. You will need to use a brush to apply pollen stored in this manner.

I RARELY do this as I have so many flowers that have at least SOME overlap. It's much easier to use whole flowers as the pollinating mechanism.

I try o give away most of my seedlings unless they are crap. I try to eliminate the ugly ones and they GO TO THE COMPOST!

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin. I might get brave someday.

So, the motto at your place is, don't be ugly, or Kevin will compost you.

JungleShadows said:Margo,

I try o give away most of my seedlings unless they are crap. I try to eliminate the ugly ones and they GO TO THE COMPOST!

Kevin

Murderer!