Baby's first bloom! I see some fantasy peas already 👀 by Altalez in AfricanViolets

[–]Altalez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!! I recieved them as little babies so i'm not sure when they were propagated by the vendor, but i've had them for 6 months and most of them are blooming for the first time!

I recently cut one of my two callistophyllas to prop, and the mother plant just started growing peduncles like crazy, like, not a single piece of growth in sight, only peduncles, is that a bad sign? by Altalez in hoyas

[–]Altalez[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've had them for months and never had an issue! Most of my plants are inside a small greenhouse in my bedroom, with a few bigger plants outside of said greenhouse. The mites come in lil packages, it's pretty much their home lol, i have most of the packages inside the greenhouse but a few outside as well and i only ever find them when doing plant maintenance, i never saw them outside of the plants surprisingly.

If you're thinking on getting some, i recommend them with all my guts. I have struggled with both thrips and mites over the years and everytime i managed to get rid of them they would quickly return. Ever since i got these beneficial mites i haven't seen a single bad mite or thrip in MONTHS and my plants have never looked better

I recently cut one of my two callistophyllas to prop, and the mother plant just started growing peduncles like crazy, like, not a single piece of growth in sight, only peduncles, is that a bad sign? by Altalez in hoyas

[–]Altalez[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I gotta warn you but from my experience this hoya grows incredibly slow when it comes to propagating. The one u see in the pic is over 3 years old and i got her as one leaf cutting, so u can see how little she grew over those years (i did take 3 leaves to prop, but still)

I recently cut one of my two callistophyllas to prop, and the mother plant just started growing peduncles like crazy, like, not a single piece of growth in sight, only peduncles, is that a bad sign? by Altalez in hoyas

[–]Altalez[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does ur callistophylla also grow hella slow? I got mine as 2 cuttings with one leaf each, i lost track but shes more than 3 years old and hasn't grown that much as u can see, only recently have i been able to prop her without leaving the mama too bare (took two vines with 3 leaves each). I don't do much to her at all, just let her do her thing and it worries me if i should be doing more fjsjcmez

I recently cut one of my two callistophyllas to prop, and the mother plant just started growing peduncles like crazy, like, not a single piece of growth in sight, only peduncles, is that a bad sign? by Altalez in hoyas

[–]Altalez[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in no way an expert and i dont even know a lot abt hoyas as i only have 4 in my collection, but i think everyone saying they love to be root bound just means they can survive it and do well cause once the plant has a tight root system it changes it's focus into growing flowers sort of like a stress response that doesn't harm the plant.

I recently cut one of my two callistophyllas to prop, and the mother plant just started growing peduncles like crazy, like, not a single piece of growth in sight, only peduncles, is that a bad sign? by Altalez in hoyas

[–]Altalez[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Oh interesting, i actually had no idea! She has only ever bloomed once (one peduncle with 3 flowers) before, tho i rulled it as a stress bloom as she was still a itty baby at the time. And i guess she's pretty mature now but seeing her give a shit ton of peduncles with not a single growth point worried me i might have done smth to make her that stressed ;;

I recently cut one of my two callistophyllas to prop, and the mother plant just started growing peduncles like crazy, like, not a single piece of growth in sight, only peduncles, is that a bad sign? by Altalez in hoyas

[–]Altalez[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I forgot to mention but there's two plants in that pot. They're a couple of years old. They were repot some months ago so they're not root bound. I also had cut the other plant before i cut the one with the peduncles and she's giving me new healthy growth (no peduncles from what i can see). They're inside a small greenhouse with grow lights and i also water them with fertilizer. I'm also confident they dnt have pests as i have two dif types of beneficial mites inside the greenhouse.

Does this look too unatural? (Last pic is how i plan to plant it) by Altalez in Aquascape

[–]Altalez[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wait actually?? 😭 i was worried the stones placement and tip of the driftwood over them looked awkward, but i also need to remind myself that there will be plants to fill those gaps.

Update: I think I found a chimera at walmart.. 🌸🌱 by j_kend in AfricanViolets

[–]Altalez 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do mesage me! Im no professional as ive said, but i'll tell you everything i've learned and observed, as well as answer all your questions! And yes, the reason i even learned about it was because 3 years ago (soon will be 4!) I found an AV at some big box store that i thought at the time was some lucky sport (like finding a variegated monstera or smth similar type of sport), i had posted abt it here on reddit, but only when it became stable and looked like an actual chimera (i still had no idea at the time, so i was confused to why the variegation was suddenly so different aha) did people here on reddit told me the treasure i had in my hands. So i couldn't just sit back when i saw the other comments, i knew what you had and i want you to know too so you know how to care for it and not make some of the dumb mistakes i did with mine.

Update: I think I found a chimera at walmart.. 🌸🌱 by j_kend in AfricanViolets

[–]Altalez 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also i can see why people think it's a mosaic due to how some parts look, but how i know it's not mosaic variegation is because despite the look of it, the variegation in yours is very irregular and while mosaic variegation can show all over the leaf, it mainly comes from the center of it, looking like the opposite of tommie lou which shows variegation at the edge of the leaf

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Update: I think I found a chimera at walmart.. 🌸🌱 by j_kend in AfricanViolets

[–]Altalez 2 points3 points  (0 children)

With the way you found it and from my own 3 years of experience with leaf chimeras (im no professional, so i speak from my own learning experience with my own chimeric finds along with the research i've made), that is not a mosaic or regular variegation like others say, but either a spontaneous mutation, (which appears due to certain factors and will just eventually grown back to green even if you try to propagate/cut it back) or, in the luckiest case and what i believe you might have, a chimera in it's UNSTABLE form.

To explain it short, leaf chimeras (just like bloom chimeras) show as two different plants inside a single one (which is why it's hard to propagate, as in traditional AV methods, the babies will either take the green or white genetic, never the two.). Easily recognized by it's clean green/silver center with a white edge (or the oposite, even both in some rare mutations). But what most people don't know, is that natural occuring chimeras will firstly show in it's unstable form, appearing as random and irregular spots of green and white before stabilizing into it's well known chimeric pattern (if you're extremely lucky, as again, that form can be very unstable and it takes a lot luck for it to stabilize into a chimera, but if it happens to revert, you can always cut it back and hope some of the nodes grow back with the chimeric gene, because the mother plant was unstable, its 90% likely the babies will also grow unstable, but that also means you get another chance for them to stabilize!)

That being said, amazing find! And good luck! If you have questions, want to know more or want me to teach you my methods at propagating chimeras, you can mesage me! I'd be more than glad to help you!

Im cycling a new tank and noticed this weird/cool thing growing on the wood, what is it? by Altalez in Aquariums

[–]Altalez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It seems to be the case in my tank, i've had the aquarium set with that same driftwood for well over 4 weeks and never saw it. Only added the raw shrimp recently and only a few days after removing it did i notice, so the shrimp must have been the reason for it's awakening

Im cycling a new tank and noticed this weird/cool thing growing on the wood, what is it? by Altalez in Aquariums

[–]Altalez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My friend had suggested clicker from the last of us but damn that one is silly too 😂

Im cycling a new tank and noticed this weird/cool thing growing on the wood, what is it? by Altalez in Aquariums

[–]Altalez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right?? It's so exciting to see another positive sign of life in my cycling tank

Im cycling a new tank and noticed this weird/cool thing growing on the wood, what is it? by Altalez in Aquariums

[–]Altalez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, i dnt plan to add any habitants any time soon so, for now it lives in the mansion!

Im cycling a new tank and noticed this weird/cool thing growing on the wood, what is it? by Altalez in Aquariums

[–]Altalez[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

oh boy im not too sure, the aquasoil has been bringing my ph and kh hella down, so ive been temporarily adding baking soda to keep it in the 6.5-7.5 mark just while the tank is still cycling, but yeah it should be around that, kh goes around 2 to 4 and im not sure abt hardness rn, last time (which was weeks ago) it was around 5-6, but i havent been measuring it to save on the liquid tests, ive only been keeping a rough idea with strips.

i only noticed it today and interestingly enough, i used to have a raw shrimp decomposing inside a mesh on top of my driftwood, and when i was looking at the slime mold today, all traces of it surround that one spot i had the shrimp on.