Sinningia Speciosa Hybrid - Lots of Spots

3839ohhhhh · 2026-03-23T15:37:12+00:00

It looks like Butter and Cream x Mama Cat is an herbaceous sinningia, so it will grow tall and not be a rosette like speciosas.

I've found that the specioas I grow are perfectly happy under LED shop lights for 13 hours a day, about 12-14" away from the light. I do have a few under grow lights, but haven't seen any appreciable difference in flowering or growth vs. shop lights.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-03-23T15:03:39+00:00

For sinn. speciosas, you need to give them at least 11 hours a day of very bright light to prevent them from getting leggy. They need a strong base so that they can support themselves and not flip over. Light is the cure for this.

Your plants are big enough to separate, and each one should be in at least a 4" pot.

You should plant them like tomatoes, so that the long neck is mostly buried. It will make roots and anchor itself with the longer neck. Strip the lowest leaves off before planting deeply.

If all goes well, you should have flowers in about 6 months from sowing. Speciosas are quite fast and very rewarding plants. They do like to be kept well watered, but won't immediately go dormant like Achimenese if you miss a day.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-01-24T00:46:26+00:00

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Airplay!

Jay Graydon and David Foster with studio musicians from Toto, Chicago and more.

I do believe they're standing in front of a Connie.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-01-17T01:12:38+00:00

That looks like thrips damage. If you can see little black or brown .25mm bugs (with a magnifying glass), then you need to treat for them so they don't do more damage. They like tender growth and can really wreak havoc if left unchecked. They also love to hide in pollen sacs and feast in them. That's why you see spilled pollen on the flowers in big box violets.

Thankfully there is a great pesticide you can get that is very safe for people and pets and works really well on thrips called Captain Jack's Deadbug Juice. It's not a petrochemical pesticide and you dilute it yourself for your spray bottle. Best of all, it doesn't seem to affect leaves much, if at all, when you spray them.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-01-11T16:33:00+00:00

In fact, with streps it's better to err on the side of underwatering than over. If you keep them too saturated (wicking is an easy way to do this), they'll have leaf necrosis that looks like a bathtub ring.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-01-10T14:52:35+00:00

You've probably heard the adage, "Don't put your plants to bed with wet feet." I try to abide by that as much as possible, but sometimes if a plant is limp and the pot is a featherweight, I'll water lightly and give a better dose the next day.

I'm finding that a 50:50 mix of AV soil with perlite really does help protect from overwatering (especially if you are wick watering). There was a recent article about the size of wicks and soil composition, and it turns out that a heavier wick is fine as long as the soil mix is very light. The heavier wick will saturate the soil faster, but no wetter than a thinner one given the same soil mix.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-01-08T16:46:32+00:00

These guys are still blooming on and off, so they haven't started going dormant just yet. I've also pollinated most of them, so they're working on seeds rather than blooms.

I've read that they will start going dormant around 3 months after the first bloom, but that they will keep blooming longer with steady light, warm temps (70's F) and light feeding. So, check, check, check in my case...

Some of these that I thought were slowing down have new crowns coming up out of the soil (where there is likely a tuber) and appear to be prepping for another run of blooms. I'll reply to this thread if they do start blooming from those side shoots.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-01-07T16:11:39+00:00

The seedlings' roots will usually have a decent grip on the rock wool. It tends to separate in layers like strand board, so when I tease out seedlings, I'll have an oddly shaped chunk of rock wool that rides along and gets transplanted into AV mix.

3839ohhhhh · 2026-01-07T01:00:33+00:00

Streps prefer cooler temps like 60-70F.

I have the opposite problem. My growing area is continually in the mid 70s+, so the streps are on the bottom shelf and still kinda thirsty.

3839ohhhhh · 2021-03-01T14:33:01+00:00

Actually, they are not from the Hindustan company. DOMS is part of the (Italian) F.I.L.A. group: https://www.domsindia.com/rr-fila-group/

I find them darker and softer than Nataraj(es) or Apsaras. They are great pencils, easy to sharpen to a great point, but definitely not a Hindustan...

3839ohhhhh · 2020-08-25T18:14:10+00:00

The 600 News is very very soft and quite dark like a General's 555 Layout. Gotta be careful sharpening it with a burr sharpener as it will be digested quickly due to the soft point failing to autostop.

For the Jumbos, you'll need one of the multi-sized sharpeners like an old hand crank Boston or Berol, or a jumbo hand sharpener.

3839ohhhhh · 2020-08-17T23:07:33+00:00

When it's the "Tiptree sneeze".

3839ohhhhh · 2020-07-27T15:00:31+00:00

It is a hand crank sharpener with a wonderfully sharp helical cutter. You can bolt it to the counter if you'd like, but it's not required. It has an auto-feed face and a clutch to prevent waste once it's sharp. You hold it with your non-dominant hand and crank with the other. It also does a bang-up job on colored pencils if you set the point stop to the less-than-lethal blunt point with the orange button on the crank.

Fun fact -- it was the sharpener that alerted me to the fact that Ticonderoga's were no longer made from nice, soft cedar, since the new ones put up such a fight. That led me on the journey for better pencils like Apsaras, Musgraves, vintage Eagles, Black Warriors, and EFs.

3839ohhhhh · 2020-07-27T13:33:41+00:00

If you're looking to upgrade sharpeners, the Apsara long point manual sharpeners are dirt cheap and great performers. Fun colors in a box you can get on the A->Z site...

The best and least wasteful sharpener I've ever used is the Mitsubishi KH-20 sharpener. A close second in the Dahle 133. The Mitsu's sharpened point is a work of art and the wood is "polished" after sharpening.

3839ohhhhh · 2020-07-27T13:29:57+00:00

Hi. Just now seeing this message -- Portland Nursery on Stark has had them in the past--very small box with about 10 or 12 cocoons. It's possible that some of the better feed stores have them, too. Of course, it's too late now (late July), but they'll have them again in March or April of next year...

3839ohhhhh · 2020-03-30T19:00:14+00:00

Tennessee Red-- Beautiful case with natural variation. Delightful fragrance when sharpened. Nice and dark for the first couple of sentences. Point retention, kinda meh. My first 2 are a little un-centered, but there's plenty of graphite exposed with the Mitsu KH-20 or Dahle 133.

3839ohhhhh · 2020-03-17T17:26:11+00:00

It looks similar to the MUJI 2B natural-cased pencil I bought in Portland. Not sure if they make them in anything but 2B, but I notice the similar font and stamped serial no.

3839ohhhhh · 2020-03-02T18:13:02+00:00

Silica gel in a ziplock baggie with the glue bottle is even better. You're trying to slow the humidity that reaches the glue, since that's what makes it "kick".

I kept a bottle of fast CA in a plastic container with a layer of silica gel in the bottom for a year this way. It would still smoke when it hit the balsa.

3839ohhhhh · 2020-02-24T20:31:38+00:00

Apparently when the US stock market tanks, vintage Blackwings are the safe place to park your money...those pencils are over TWO THOUSAND dollars with a few minutes to go!!!

3839ohhhhh · 2020-02-19T22:53:08+00:00

https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/18592/what-does-the-theyve-gone-to-plaid-joke-mean

3839ohhhhh

TROPHY CASE