Hi, I have Lakeview Jasmine seedlings that are about 10" now. Their fragrance is heavenly! I would like to trade for a miniature AV or two... interested?

one of my best largest healthiest variegated blooming violets collapsed with crown rot when i was away. it was on wick in original soil (not enough perlite). i uppotted it into a pot with a perlite all around to keep it drier back in summer. and it survived like that in 75F for 2 weeks. so i did not think to worry about it.. but now the temps are cooler and it rotted :(. i cut off 6 still healthy leaves and put them in water with some peroxide to disinfect. but after 2 days i see browning of the stem at the tip...i cut off 1/2 inch more and now have only 1/2" stubs left. i finally put them in perlite and dipped in rooting hormone to hopefully stop the rot. i actually never put the leaves in water like that before. so my question is : does the stem naturally brown at the tip when put in water?

Good Day, ladies, Lucille, I'm so happy you got your trays and book. Great news. You'll be busy for some time playing with your new toys and book. You're saying the trays come in different sizes? When viewing the site I only saw one size, but didn't have time to read all the info either, so probably missed it. I was shocked by their shipping costs. 30 something dollars..Yikes. How did you talk them down? LOL..I'm wondering if 30.00 is actual shipping costs or they include handling like so many other sellers are doing. How did you determine the right size? How many plants fit on each tray? Do they fit according to pot size. I think you said you bought 29 trays..How many AV's fit on each tray, and what size pots are your AV's in? You also mentioned these trays are thicker than those sold at Walmart. Are the trays you're referring to used for sowing seeds? The type Peat Pellets or Jiffy Pots are set in? If that's the case, I've got several. Before getting a gh, I used to sow annuals seed every winter/spring. Still have most of the trays. I agree, they are lightweight, so I double or tripple.. You've given me an idea though, Lucy..thank so much. I use two trays for a Coffee tree, a couple small Hibisucs, Azalea, and Ming Aralia. Since I have extras, I'll see how they work with AV's. Each tray would probably hold, 12, 4" pots. The minimum, 9 pots. I don't have an extra shelf to set AV's, they have to sit atop 3 single shelves in the LR windows. One shelf w/lighting isn't sufficent for AV's, so in winter, I place lower light plants or plants in dormancy. I'm really happy you got your goodies..I wish you'd take a pic of AV's on a tray to give me an idea what it looks like. BTW, I was reading your Bio..You have parrots? Do you mind if I ask their types? birds are the best. Anyway, thanks for the help.. Irina, it's too late..I've already contracted the AV bug..LOL..I'm planning on getting a Tiger, but waiting till cc statement is PIF. LOL. I also want to order the two books, Growing AV's and Growing to Show, but that too will have to wait. But I will, definately buy both books. About soil or soil less mixes, I'm afraid to pot in a completely soil less mix. I've been growing plants in soil so long, to change now is frightening..LOL. Don't get me wrong, my mix contains non-soil mediums like Perlite/Peat/Vermiculte/sand, but I still add soil, too. There are so many experiements I want to try, one is using a completely soil less mix, another is deadheading flowers so nutrients focus on foliage, last, breeding flowers..LOl..Is that what it's called? In my AV Orthos books, one article details how it's done..It sounds easy enough, but waiting is the thing..How long does it take for an AV seed to germinate? Its' been some time since reading the article. I beleive it was stated AV seeds can take up to a year to germinate.. Also converting soil to completely soil lees would be like starting over. I don't water any plant by schedule. (Fertilizing and ST is planned by date.) The AV magazine should soon arrive. I'm hoping between GW and the mag will explain AV care from novice to pro. I hope..(S) How are you girls today? Do you garden outdoors? How about indoor plants? Or dedicatated to AVs alone? Toni

This is really fascinating stuff. I looked up colchocine and while it's typically used to treat gout, there are folk in the plant research area that are using it to create chlorophyll mutations, which I suppose is where the variegation comes in to play. It would be curious to find out if that's where some other non-species type variegated plants are coming from. Interest, really interesting. That also means (to me) that it's perfectly acceptable to create a hybrid whose total is greater than (or possibly less than) than the sum of the "named" parents. What I mean by this is that in it's (the hybrid's) current form, it's DNA would not match exactly those of the parents cuz someone mucked with it! Therefore, my next question, though somewhat philosophical-but also serious-is: what's the difference between hybridizing two NOIDs into a "named" plant, and radically altering the DNA of an offspring of "named" parents? Perhaps because one could possibly repeat the "mucking with DNA" portion of the "named" hybrid, but I will tell you in truth-without extremely sophisticated equipment (mega-software and mega-computing power), it's not that simple and is more like winning the lottery if it works. You might come pretty close, but not necessarily exact. Or perhaps that the "mucked with (MW)" hybrid will yield consistent behavior in physical aspects-and any abnormality would be put down as an environmental issue for a particular plant (and it could be BOTH!). If I were to be a purist in this respect, I'd want DNA evidence that the offspring of the of the MW hybrid exactly matched that of the parent MW. Of course I could digress on what defines the term "exactly" but I'll spare you my engineering rhetoric as you're probably seeing where I'm going with this. Now someone mentioned the name "DuPont" and indeed, they would have such software and computing power-if we're talking about the major chemical manufacturer. But it's still past even the more sophisticated hybridizers (unless they've got an agreement with someone like DuPont). That brings me to the question of how AVSA would know-and what kind of proof they would ask for... But of course, I'll certainly abide by the rules! And maybe later down the road, I'll get some of that colchocine and toss in some radiation to make my own super-hybrid! :-)) What an incredible discussion! Thoughts in my head still meandering- Hoping I'm not offending anyone with this: I really don't mean to. Thanks so much! Best, Judy This post was edited by judyj on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 21:47