Heya, if you need leaves I have cuttings related to your old plants. I have Rob's Snake Charmer which is doing well, and the Streptocarpella (hanging in there, but not really taking off...maybe I need to plant them together and put them outdoors!?). I've not done so well with Orchard's Bumble Magnet, but I do have one little plant hanging in there. I failed at the variegated minis >. Let me know if you would like some leaves!

Korina -

I think you were in too much hurry. I heared that you can possibly cure your babies - if you start them in water. Or reroot crowns in water.. Helps to wash the undesirable minerals away. At least worth a try.

Senks... poor Senks...

I'm so sorry. I looked at those pictures and I have 5 that look the same way and have for some time. I tossed mine too. But all my violets get about the same everything, so I don't really think that was my problem.

I'm sure your friends here will help you replace your collection.

tish

Korina

I know how you feel recently lost a lot of my bigger plants to the dreaded root rot. There was an article that really opened my eyes to it. The only ones that seem to be surviving it are some minis and the ones that do make it should at least be healthy down the road.

Thanks, mini, but I think I'll take a break for a while to re-evaluate my methods and conditions.

Irina, I still have a couple of plants that may or may not be affected; I'll experiment.

Thanks Tish.

Steve, believe me, I've had root rot before -- the plants don't hang on for months or years, they're dead in a week.

Korina
~embrace the confusion~

What is micronutrient toxicity and what causes it?

James -

last AV magazine has an article by Barbara Pershing - so you can check it with all the details and pics.

But in a dry form- if your soil Ph is out of acceptable range - and the peat based soil has the tendency to get very acid with time - the trace elements - zinc, manganese ets - cannot be absorbed and utilised properly, they actually poison the plant. Macroelements - N, P, K - also are not absorbed and utilized and the plant becomes starved, poisoned, the central leaves grow small or die, the plants die out from root rot etc. The article has tons of good pics to keep us scared.

After the plant goes into this condition - from the point of view of the author - better chuck it and do not even try to start the babies - they come stunted too.

To prevent this problem - we need to repot often enough, leach the soil and the main thing - keep an eye on our water. We need to know if it is acid, neutral or alkaline and correct for it.

Author changed her water from an alkaline well water - to reverse osmosis water - and the alkalinity that kept her soil from getting too sour too fast - was removed. So with the rest conditions the same she experienced a deterioration of her plants. Now she corrects her RO water with Dyna Gro ProTect and everything works fine, except she replaced her sick plants, since they refused to recover.

Hopefully it covers.

Irina

I got you covered on Tiny Moon Goddess plants suckers or leaves! They are very healthy. I also have sixty other named mini/semi mini's your welcome to at any time.

I always keep more than one of each variety. Anything that looks iffy I toss it!

korina,

so sorry you lost so many good plants! i know the feeling. I have your rob's dandy lion and that girly violet with the white flowers if you'd like some leaves.
-ming

What a shame. We will all wait for the word from you when you are ready to replace what we can for you, and get you going again. Just say the word!

Barbara

Thanks, Irina, you said it perfectly. Thanks also to everyone. I really appreciate your offers. I just need to figure everything out, and then I may take some of you up on them (I do miss Tiny Moon Goddess).

Big hugs to all,

Korina

Brain: Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?
Pinky: Mmmm, no, Brain, don't think I can.

Korina
I was about to order some leaves from Fay Wagman, but you are you saying you got AV's with micronutrient taxicity from her??
I had that problem last year and lost over 100 AV's but lost count after that. I don't want to start that again.
I also tried to to restart leaves from the failing plants and as the article said "it comes back into the new starts".
Cork

Cork, no. The toxicity was entirely *my* cultural practices. Fay always sends wonderful, healthy leaves. This was *not* her fault; she had *nothing* to do with it.

Feel free to order from Fay with joyful abandon. It's fun! :-)

Korina (mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!!)

just wanted to mention that I could NEVER grow AV's in soil. This is an option that I have been using for about a year and a half and have had amazing success. This is not the cumbersome hydroponics. This is hydroponics. You use deli type containers with ceramic pebble-type balls-no soil. I know our tap water is around 7.0 so I use "PH down" from the fish store (a tiny bit) and bring it down to about 6.0. I am amazed how well they are growing. There are 2 holes about one inch from the bottom so there is always some water in the container. The roots grow right into the water and love it. Just an alternative for those who may be soil challenged like myself.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:362100}}

Alotofplants (love the screen name), thanks for the suggestion. I have been contemplating a move to something like that; I've heard of people using perlite instead of even soilless mix. I have a couple of survivors I can experiment with, including one that's starting to show symptoms, so I really have nothing to lose.

How often do you feed them, clean the clay balls, and change the water? Enquiring minds want to know!

Korina

Sorry I didn't get back to you, I have been working on my roses. I usually feed them whenever I water them. Since they don't have soil, they need the nutriments. I never clean the clay balls and you don't have to change the water because you are filling the pot and only about 1 inch of water stays on the bottom. This filters up and waters and feeds the plants as needed. Since the containers are see-through, I just put more water in when the reservoir starts going down. Some people do flush with plain water occasionally but I haven't found that necessary. It is interesting that the roots grow right into the water and it doesn't faze them. I do not like the round clay pellets but I can't mention where I go because they get upset here so if you are interested I can email you the site. You do not have to wait for the plant to be rootbound either. Mine are usually blooming within a month or two.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:362101}}

Thanks. I had a few of those balls and transplanted Rainbow's Quiet Riot, which had begun showing symptoms, into it. The trouble seems to be keeping them wet; the top is dry so I added water until it's an inch or so from the top of the pot. Maybe I didn't soak the balls enough, but I'm hoping it helps.

This morning I finally remembered to bring in my large perlite (got it for orchids, before I gave most of them away); I'll experiment with that too.

Korina, enjoying playing mad scientist (Mwaahahahaha!)
~embrace the confusion~

This doesn't make sense to me. While live things can die from nutrient imbalances, unless there is genetic damage, there should not be damage to the extent that the plant cannot be propagated and have genetically identical plants from the propagation.
Could someone explain please?