# Sinningias and Alsobias



## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

I have always wanted to try sinningias, but after my last experience trying to get an alsobia to live, I am a little leary. What's the trick to these guys? Another thing, has anyone ever tried S. leucotricha in a viv? I LOVE this one.

Thanks in Advance.


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

Sarah, S leucotricha may not like it in a vivarium due to the excess moisture. You may want to try one of the minis. Many Sinningias go dormant but will resprout from the tuber. Anne gave me some mini Sinningia and some have gone dormant so I have some tubers if you would like to try some. Alsobia should do well in a viv though. Did yours rot? Did you try it from a cutting (best way)?


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## Elphaba (Aug 26, 2007)

Hi Sarah,

I have an Alsobia dianthiflora in my tank that's doing really well growing up a piece of wood. It was a very small cutting and it's prospered in a way I didn't really expect it to -- it puts out new leaves on a fairly regular basis, and they're very small and velvety. I've found that while the plant will quickly rot if left wet for extended periods, it appreciates the high humidity I have in that particular tank. If you like, I can try to get you a cutting too. 

Let me know if you start trying out the sinningias. I've been hankering for some of those a while myself and would be very interested in knowing your results.

Best,
Ash


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

It was a rooted plant already, I had it sitting on a piece of wood with a little bit of sphagnum. I'm not really sure what it did... .it kind of just faded away until there was nothing. Leaves were partially dry and partially mushy, whatever the heck that means... 

Yeah I was wondering about the leucotrichas hairs; if it would be ok with the water.  Thanks guys for the offers of cuttings and tubers. I will have to hit you up this spring as I would really like to give these a try.


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

I have a few Sinningia 'Flair' growing out which I germinated a few weeks ago (seeds produced by self-cross, so 'Flair' x 'Flair' might be more accurate..) should be able to send one over when your temps get better. Many Sinningias will do well in vivs so you should have plenty to pick from, it's always nice that they form tubers since they will come back if you kill them. Bill Price recently gave a lecture on Sinningias at a different chapter meeting I attended, I can try to get his powerpoint slides for you (they are mostly pictures but I think you will still appreciate them).


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## SeaDuck (Nov 8, 2006)

Sarah, I have had the best luck by just seeding them in the vivarium directly. There are quite a few available from the Gessie Society seed bank. Good luck, Robert


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## candm519 (Oct 15, 2006)

I was hoping my Sinningia Meadow in my big tank would look like my growout tank:









It doesn't. I have exactly one in bloom right now, S. Contrary Mary, which is pretty cool because it can have 3 different colored flowers on the same plant at the same time.









My other Sinns are in various stages of disappearing, with leaves dying, sometimes with a bit of new growth showing, needing attention.








I can cut all the greenery off this one at the base, remove the limp leaves, plant stems with little live tips, and each will make a new plant. The buried tuber will send up new growth.

S. Rio das Pedros selfseeds, but doesn't scatter the seed very far so seedlings are overcrowded. I don't know how many of these will grow up.









I planted a single leaf from the plant shown above, and it has grown into this pretty little plant starting to bud in only 2 months.









My Sinningias tend to go dormant, with leaves disappearing, after each flush of blooms. I don't understand why when we control the lights and thus the seasons.

I'm planning to rebuild my meadow to match my growout tank substrate -- from mainly cocoa husk to sphagnum layered over commercial AV soil over leca 

Besides preferring very even root/tuber moisture and moderate humidity, they grow best with even (room) temperatures. So the nightly temp drop, so necessary for most orchids, isn't so good for sinningias. 

This GARDENING IN MINIATURE 
is a nice booklet about the micromini sinningias, with more information than I've been able to absorb yet.


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Thanks for all the pictures Anne! Those Sinn's in your grow out tank are amazing!

Thanks for the heads up Robert. I was on there the other day and thought that I would try and order some to start from seed, as I kind of don't want to wait until spring  Yes, some would call me impatient.
Am I to understand correctly that there is not a set price, it is by donation?

Maybe what I am going to have to do is place pots into my backgrounds, or make pockets with AV media, as I have gone to the clay in most of my tanks and I know that wouldn't bode well for these guys.

There is a mini I found the other day that has white flowers.... hmm, I'm not at home so I don't remember what it is. Are minis and micro minis any more difficult to take care of than the compacts?


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Ok, so those of you that use seeds... Robert, Anne, et al... what is the best way to seed these guys? Would sphagnum work until they got big enough to transfer to AV soil? For those of us that dont use AV soil, whats the best way to get them to live in a viv? I use clay which obviously wont work. Am I just going to have to resign myself to placing pockets of AV soil in my substrate and never having them spread? Thanks again for the help.


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## Corpus Callosum (Apr 7, 2007)

Any reason the clay won't work? I germinated these Sinningias in a mix of clay/peat.. if you think your clay particles may be too large, just add some peat. Moisten it up, keep it in a closed piece of tupperware, and within a month you should have some sprouts.


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## candm519 (Oct 15, 2006)

Here's how I have been growing sinningias from seeds:

I don't think it really matters what you germinate seed on; just something airy that holds moisture, which is spelled s-p-h-a-g-n-u-m for me. They do grow better on a smooth surface, so I run my sphagnum through the blender (dry!) in small handfuls at a time.

**Actually, instead of blending it myself, an unavoidably rather messy and dusty endeavor, I've just discovered 'Supersphag pellets', available from Camp One Orchids, Supersphag. I love them! They swell up with water like the peat pellets, but more so, much bigger than you'd expect.










I try to sprinkle the very small extremely tiny almost invisible sinningia seeds evenly (which I haven't managed yet), and sparingly (which I also haven't managed yet) on top of sphagnum. Don't cover the seeds. 
I mostly still end up with plantlets that are way too many, way too crowded, well before they are big enough to handle comfortably. 

My plan for next time is mix the seeds with some perlite dust, which should dilute them and make them easier to spread out and sort of see them.

When I can manage, I introduce the little plants individually into plug pellet trays. 
I fill the plug holes halfway with AV mix, top them off with milled sphagnum, and try to not tamp it down as I put the little plants in. 
I got the combination kit (bottom tray, plug tray, clear cover). This way I can bottom water them evenly all at once. I keep the clear plastic hood over them. They seem to love it the space with continued humidity, and take off. 

Once they've grown little tubers and frequently buds, I transplant them to where I want them. I include as much as possible of the AV soil layer in the plugs because it is filled with fragile roots. The sinningias aren't pushy; they will also grow and bloom happily in the plug tray for a long time while I'm deciding what to do with them.

Belisle's advised me to make little pockets of AV soil in the terrarium for them so I did. 
I haven't grown them long enough in a terrarium to worry about whether they can spread; the ones that have bloomed are now sulking and I'm waiting for dormancy to end. I have investigated several sulkers, and the tubers are solid and much larger than I expected.

I also haven't yet tried seeding deliberately directly into my tank, but S. Rio das Pedros has seeded itself, and the plantlets are overcrowded and slow and I guess I should cull most of them so one can take over. Or get a frog to stomp on most of them. 

For a busy vivarium, propagating directly from leaves might be more appropriate than using seeds. But seeds are more fun.

Here's some good advice from the Gesneriad Society:
The Gesneriad Society - Gesneriad Propagation

And there is some info on the Yahoo Sinningia site.
AVI_Sinningias : AVI SINNINGIAS

I believe The Violet Barn, home of Rob's African Violets also has good info.


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