By the way. The reason I posted this is because I see a lot of

"I wish I could grow those but mine always die" out there.

I want to give you hope that you can do it.

I have to agree.. The ones I started from seed died from over watering.. I think B Culebra is also one that needs much less water.. I plan to try to get somemore Sang seed and try it again... I have just moved the Vulc.(thanks for the connection on that) outside as our temps are becoming more comfortable.. I did notice the thing had spider mites :( .. First outbreak of the yr...hopefully have that cleared up..LOL
Kylie

I do think the lack of blooms has to do with the heat, at least with Sangs. The plant will grow but I've never had blooms. I am also growing a Culebra and a Vulc that I got this year. They are both growing beautifully but it remains to be seen if they will bloom next season. We have temps in the 90's with super high humidity for much of the summer. I just use Fafard 3B and have never had a problem with drainage.
Karyn

The showering every day will keep those mites down. I personally don't like pesticides and it seems to burn the leaves of my sangs and vulcs. Nothing else though.

I encourage everyone to not give up on growing these in your climates.

The culebra thing..... I agree it does not like to be too wet, but mine definitely seems to tolerate more water than my sangs/vulcanicolas.

thank you .I was beging to wonder if i should grow my sanguinea or not. Things i have been reading made me a little worried. I do feel better now.

Denise

I put very hot water in the sprayer and sprayed.. If that doesn't work I will defoilate it and cleanse it with a mild dertegent and a good rinse.. Has worked in the past on Brugs..I only watered this Vul when it was potted up and I know that has been long over a month...
Kylie

Keep on the showering though. That keeps the bugs down and humidity up.

Denise, GO FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can do it. Don't let us have all the fun!

Matt you give me hope and very good detailed info on how I can try to grow one. Because I truly think they are very different and beautiful!
I agree with you and the showering. I have not once had any mites problem this season. Because they get a showering off every day. Unless the blossoms are open. Not sure if I am just having beginners luck. But for health and envoirmental reasons I do not use pesticides.
Thank you. For more then just this great threat!

Lucy

Yeah my poor sanguinea is torn up by caterpillars because I don't use pesticides. But it is happily growing along other than that.

When I first acquired it it was littered with mites. I just keep showering every day and have not seen any since.

They bloom for us here in inland So Cal from late november through march.

Does it ever get cool for long enough in Texas or Florida or anywhere in between that they would bloom outdoors?

If not maybe the air conditioned house thing is the best. I was telling Kylie earlier that we are having a crazy dry, heavily windy few days here, so I had to bring in my freshly rooted inca princess and my rooting 621 cuttings and put them in my room with the cool mist humidifier on full blast. My room is like walking into a cloud forest. But, the plants/cuttings look great. Plus it helps me not dry out too.

My larger 621 and sanguinea outside in the ground are dealing with it just fine. I'm sure they hate it, but it will be over in a few days.

So I say if it's too hot, find a well lit room and run a cool mist humidifier and the air conditioner. Perhaps you can get blooms that way.

Now that I thought of that I'm going to take a Zunac vulcanicola inside and hopefully in a couple weeks I'll see buds on it.

; )

Thanks Matt. Today they would have been real happy in the house. I had opened the windows and before I knew it everything was real wet lol.

Well this being my first year and I mainly tried to concentrate on easy once to grow and heard sanguinea is nothing for hot TX weather. I did not even think of getting one. Now with the latest information I will try to grow one. Maybe during the hot summer month in the house and later on like now, put them a while outside. Would that work or does it bother them to be moved around alot?

Matt can you post some pictures of your beauties? You know we do love pictures so much. It just brightens our days and so many already had to put their angels away.

Do yours in the house have bug problems? if so, do you take them out to shower them off or in the shower?

Lucy

crossing my fingers for you and your Zunac vulcanicola. Hope your wish will come true and you get to see a few buds .

I will grab my camera from my girlfriends tonight and post pics first thing in the morning. You must know though that all you'll see is foliage because a couple of months ago I tore everything out of the ground and rearranged them. They're still recovering from the root damage. I can however post a pic of how my 621 looked when it started. Then post a pic of how it is now. When i got it in march it was just a cutting. It is now about three and a half feet tall feet. Same with the sanguinea, though not as tall. And they are going to look mighty wind damaged. I know........ excuses, excuses. But, I'll show you what I got. Just remember caterpillars and 28mph winds for the past two days = no good for brugs.

The only ones I took in the house are 2 cuttings of 621 I have taken this week and a very small 'inca princess' I just received. They don't have any bug problems. I only took them inside because of this hellish wind. It's so dry I feel like my head is going to implode. Once the dryness passes in a few days I will put them back outside and continue the showering regimen. Though I am crazy enough that I just might take a shower with them. LOL!

The only way I could see them being bothered from moving around is if you were constantly knocking branches off.

Pics tomorrow!

iiiitara, let me shoot your personal opinion all to hell and back!! I have not watered the Sang that was blooming inside due to when I did dig her up she was sitting in a high water table. So hence let's let her dry out right?
Let's just say temps in the 60 inside and no watering for four days. I come back from my Dr visit and find she is dried out, rich well drained soil and the beautiful bloom is now shrinking due to a lack of water??? She is getting plenty of extra light due to the low e windows and all I can say is she is bone dry. I have also allowed many of the other Sangs while outside to go completely dry and watched Kelley's sang drop buds right and left? Yes, please post photos and you sound like you only have a few that you are growing?

I just received one inca princess. I grow 5 Zunac seedlings, 1 621, and one regular sanguinea. Yes..... you are correct. Bone dry is no good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never said to do that. I also stated that it is windy and dry as hell here and that's why I have been watering my outside ones yesterday and today. That is also why I had to move my baby inca princess inside, along with my 621 cuttings. That is also why I recommended a cool mist humidifier in the room if you bring them inside.

As stated before, please read all posts in full and very carefully.

Thank you.

And yes!!!!
Too much or too little water and humidity can cause bud drop.

My potting soil drains in seconds but remains at 7(moist) -8(wet) on my moisture meter.

Also, drastic changes in weather and soil moisture content are no good.
Hence me having to bring those cuttings inside and turn the humidifier on them.
One day it's 75 and 50% humidity. The next it's 0%humidity with 28 mile per hour winds. If I wouldn't have brought them inside immediately I'm sure I would have seen some major damage to them. Or even worse lost them. At least I did catch it so that they were closer to the way the outside environment was 2 days ago. When this wind and dryness is over I should be able to move them outside again with no problems.

This is giving me hope that the sang I am expecting from a trade will grow nicely and hopefully bloom. May I ask what 621 is? Is it a type of sang?
Shawn

"I water my plants only once a week or week and a half. I do however shower them every day to keep the bugs at bay and provide some humidity." You own words???

Shawn,

621 is also know as Lockwood 621. It is from seed collected in Colombia by Tom E. Lockwood in the 70's and sent to a few different botanical gardens. The most well known is Strybing arboretum. They are the ones who named it 621. As far as I know all of the other gardens have lost their plants. They would also have different numbers for it specific to their collections. The Strybing ones are also in fear of being lost due to a mosaic-like virus affecting most of their sanguinea/vulcanicola plants. 621 is believed by many to be a sanguinea x vulcanicola hybrid, as Lockwood was doing his collecting in an area where both plants naturally occur.

If anyone has more info(which I know some of you do), or if I messed up somewhere please correct it.

Thanks!

Karma,

I'm sorry. I don't understand your question. Could you please rephrase it?

Thanks.

Shawn, I forgot to say.... A little practice and a little patience go a long way.
You can do it!

You are lucky that you've been able to control mites with just showering. I've been able to eradicate spider mites with regular showering and hadn't used an insecticide for at least 10 years but the Broad Mites were impervious to the hose blasts. I finally had to resort to Forbid which worked beautifully. At least it's mite specific and doesn't kill indiscriminately.

Thank you for that info Karyn.

I will keep that in mind. And I'm sure others who have that issue will be gratefull for your help.

By the way.... Your plants are looking great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I was at Strybing this last March, there was only one 621 left that might not have been infected. Ilie Gaceu, their Brug expert, was working on getting some clean stock to replace the virused ones last time I talked to him, but we've both been busy this summer & I haven't heard how it's going.

I heard the same from him around February. But that one plant that doesn't look infected is no more than 15 feet away from an infected one. So it might carry the virus. He said he has clean stock at his house I believe. And I'm sure others have clean stock as well. He also told me I would never be able to grow them in this climate. Well, It has made it just fine through our 100 plus degree summers. The real test are these dry Santa Ana winds.