Not that anyone cares, but in the spirit of sharing culture, this is how I grow in my living room with a southern exposure window. The light is shaded by the paper shade and I hang them so they feel like they are in a tree. They don't get a breeze really unless the wind picks up and blows through the window. I soak when I remember to (usually as I'm wandering around the orchids checking for temperature/water), and I often use the tillansia food "Epiphyte's Delight" according to their suggestions of the weaker solution weakly. minibot

Hi Winnie, Streps can be grown cool or hot. Some varieties are more tolerant than others to a wide range of conditions. I have also found that who I buy them from matters as well. Some streps don't like big changes whether their soil or growing conditions. But I have found that all of them do well when wicked, although others say there are some varieties that do not like to be wicked. My soil mix is 3:2:2 of Schultz potting mix, vermiculite, perlite. Before wicking I found that they wilted and browned easily. So as soon as they can be potted into a 3inch pot, I wick them. Self watering pots from Zellers or Walmart work well too. But these are only available in larger sizes, so I grow the larger streps in them. I grow in a cool basement (never warmer than 70F and as low as 60F) with a few in the living room (72-78F). I have found only a few varieties that won't grow/bloom in my basement. Whereabouts are you located? There is a Toronto Gesneriad Society. Linda, warped leaves will stay warped. The new growth should be fine.

Hi Joanne, They range in size like AVs, though none so tiny as the real minis. I've got one, a hybrid from Dave Thomson, called "Elfin Etchings" that's not supposed to get more than 7 inches fully grown. Others can get large-you can see some on the web. However, I'll try to post some pictures for you tomorrow to show you the size variations (types and ages) so you get a better idea. The thing with the leaves though-unlike AVs, you can trim them down, without causing any distress. For example, I had one that had a couple 12-inch leaves, which I cut down to about 1/3 of that size. This was a pretty young one and I didn't have room for those leaves in our mini greenhouse (usually once they're in 3 inch pots or so, they're blooming nicely and come out to somewhere else in the house). As for sticking up, some do, but most of mine curve gently down outside the pot. You'll see in the pix I post tomorrow. By the way, I did end up repotting three or four of them into four inch pots, and they're quite happy. I've just ordered some 5 inch pots off eBay for later on. That's about the max pot size they'll need I'm guessing. After that they'll probably need to be divided. Also-for your info-I pot them exactly the way I pot AVs- including the same soil mix. Best, Judy

I blame both.. the Patient and the Doctor. When you're run down...like heaving a cold etc. and can watch movies you don't need antibiotics. Here is a statement from 1987 Contact Report 216, Monday, March 16, 1987 Billy: ...what you can officially answer for me is certainly the question that you recently meant with it, when you said that the future of antibiotics looks gloomy. Quetzal: ..My allusion referred to the fact that the earthly physicians will be forced to investigate new medicines in terms of antibiotics. This will find its reasons in the fact that more and more, the Earth people will senselessly take antibiotics and to be sure, ones that are irresponsibly prescribed by the doctors - for even the most minor of illnesses. But on the other hand, people will also be tormented more and more by antibiotic injections in all sorts of meats and other food products, causing a wide variety of bacterial strains to become resistant against antibiotics. This will happen, on the one hand, through the irresponsibility of many doctors and, on the other hand, through the fault of those who, due to their greed for profit, allow foods of all kinds to be filled with antibiotics, as this has already been the case for quite some time in all industrialized countries, in which animals are bred for slaughter and foods of all kinds are produced in order to be placed on the consumer market and sold to the consumers. These, then, are the ones who become impaired in their immune systems by the antibiotic-impregnated food and who become infected with bacterial strains, against which there are no longer possibilities for defense. In particular, multi-resistant germs or bacteria will emerge more and more in hospitals, against which there will be almost no possibilities for defense any more or else none at all. Particularly in this regard, the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus will excel in an extremely dangerous form as an especially multi-resistant hospital germ, which is designated by the short name of MRSA....a multi-resistance will appear over time, which will result, then, only as a natural effect of the cause of antibiotic abuse. As I said, more and more antibiotics will be irresponsibly given to the patients by the doctors, and on the other hand, the people of the Earth will eat more and more antibiotic-contaminated meats of all kinds, and to be sure, meats of mammals of all kinds and also of fishes and fowls. Yet through this, more and more deaths will appear, just due to the failure of medicines or due to a lack of suitable and effective medicines. From these facts, there will already be talk very soon of an "end of the antibiotic age" among the Earth people.