https://aridlandswholesale.com/oscommerce/product_info.php?cPath=48_140&products_id=14669

Last year aridlands had them in stock, so far this year they only have bullata hybrids.

The ebay plant season just started... may be 'kathystrep' will have it. Check with her. It is not that rare- and if you decide - you can grow i from seeds.. it is not that picky.

Try Kartuz Greenhouses in California. If you write the owner, Michael Kartuz, he may have species available. I have a friend living in Georgia, who imports them from Korea and they are very nice and reasonably priced.

There was one on Ebay the other day but not sure if it's still there.

Seeds only today. 2 sellers.

Thank you all - I did try to bid on that eBay candidate but the price surpassed my bid right at the end. I think (fingers crossed!) that bikerdoc5968's lead is going to come through - I've been corresponding with Mike for a few weeks and believe the order will be confirmed shortly so hopefully in a couple more weeks I can report full success!

Let us know as I want to order other species if Mike has any.

If you don't mind growing it from seed I'd also suggest considering joining the Gesneriad Society. You'll get access to a huge number of gesneriad species and hybrid seed for as little as $3 per order. The membership fee isn't high per year and includes their mailed newsletter with great information in it.

Otherwise good luck with your lead on a plant! ;)

Thing is - if you would plant seeds on March 31 - you would already have seedlings growing....

With these big tubers - they also have a life expectancy. I unpotted a huge Sinningia globulosa today - probably a 3 pound tuber. Started washing it - and ended trimming half of it - it was rotting. I cut all rot, sprinkled it with cinnamon... and drying the tuber right now... hoping... It is not easy to propagate from cuttings.. I tried more than once...

If you want something that looks similar and is inexpensive, there's always dinosaur kale. (Hope you have a sense of humor.)

Garden people try to send us out to work in the yard planting cabbage....

Oh, no, irina_co, how long would you say the life expectancy is? I am so excited about Sinningia bullata in part because I love my Sinningia cardinalis and Sinningia leuchotricha, and I hope they'll continue to thrive... But neither of mine are anywhere near a three-pound size, so maybe that means they have lots of years left.

Haha, I love getting dinosaur kale from the farmer's market, but it's somehow not quite the same...

Update - it arrived! I placed an order from Kartuz via phone back at the end of April, and it went though on my credit card shortly thereafter but when I called a couple times to check in on it in the next few weeks they hadn't gotten to it yet... but it just arrived today, yay!

I tried to order two, and another type of Sinningia as well to make a three plant order, but it appears that they only had one S. bullata in stock and either couldn't remember or couldn't find the other Sinningia so in the end I just purchased the one plant (and they refunded the difference in the order cost to my credit card). No biggie - I hope the one plant I did end up buying does well for me!

I believe that's what Kathy Spissman told me too about tip cuttings. Remove the fuzz and be patient but they can root that way. That's how she does hers.

Huh, that's good to know! I will certainly give that a go once the plant looks less traumatized from the journey. Thanks!

If it looks traumatized from shipping but also has a tuber, now is the /best/ time to take a tip cutting and start it as a backup. Because it's right now that your plant is at it's most vulnerable and trimming back the foliage will lower respiration of a stressed plant. Dome or bag it and as long as it has /some/ green growth still on the tuber it'll likely bounce back faster than if you don't trim it. But up to you.

Irina may have further comments as I haven't grown this particular species myself. Still, having a back up rooting is your insurance policy against loosing your main plant.

Hmmm, I assumed that traumatized-looking stems wouldn't grow well, but your point makes sense too. If I were to take a tip cutting, do I cut the whole of the stem? There are currently two stems growing off the tuber. They aren't very long, and one had a flower and a flower bud that I already snipped off to divert energy back to the plant. Would I cut one of the stems down by the tuber? When you say internode, I assumed I'd have to remove some leaves and bury the stem above that juncture, but the two stems growing don't really have enough sets to do that.

No further comments - Hyn - you have it covered perfectly.

Kartuz grows them under natural light - in the tunnel greenhouses - and his Sinningias always have hefty tubers.

Hrmm, I see your point. A photo is very helpful. I think since it doesn't have a lot of growth I'd be inclined to take just one of those off and plant it to try and root as a backup. Maybe that one on the right since it looks to have an additional internode at the lower leaf junction.

All else looks good! I don't think this looks too shabby. It should bounce back but I do see it's wet - don't let it stay wet! Right now it'll be stressed and need time to adapt. It'll do that better if it's only barely damp and slightly on the dry side else the stressed roots may not be taking up water well and more inclined to rot. Once you see strong new growth that will be less of a concern. I wouldn't even dome or bag this until that dries out a fair bit - you don't want to enclose it if it's too wet.

Do be sure not to remove all active growth though. You need green leaves to drive more shoots to start. Otherwise you risk your tuber to go dormant.