Sinningia leuchotrica

[Eric Williams]

I am growing this plant as a house plant for some Autumm interest. I have read that about this time water should be withheld to allow plant to go into dormancy. At the moment the plant is in full vigour and I am loathe to stop watering. What would be the result if I tried to keep it growing. Thanks

[purzo]

hi Eric
I've had one of these in the greenhouse, it keeps some leaves through the winter and I do give it a bit of water every now and then. I've noticed that leaf sizes seems to have reduced year on year. What compost are you using, mine is quite gritty?

[Eric Williams]

Hi Gary, I use my normal C&S very gritty plus Tesco finest, for this plant over the years. I have never brought it into the house before, and have always previously withheld all water from Oct. All foliage falls quite soon after, and I give no water until March /April. Wonder of the smaller size leaves are a result of you not letting it go tottaly dormant ? My plant is quite old, but the leaves are about six inches long by three inches across at widest point. Cheers will try to get a pic.

[Eric Williams]

Here you go Gary. Cheers

[Mal L]

I am growing this plant as a house plant for some Autumm interest. I have read that about this time water should be withheld to allow plant to go into dormancy. At the moment the plant is in full vigour and I am loathe to stop watering. What would be the result if I tried to keep it growing. Thanks

That's a very good question Eric. I've also always stopped watering about now, and allowed them to go dormant for winter, even though the leaves look quite healthy and are showing no signs of senescence. As I have two plants of the same size and age maybe I should try different regimes for each and compare how it goes next year.

A reduction in leaf size each year may also be a consequence of reduced nutrients, Purzo. Do you repot frequently? I renew the compost every year, in late winter/early Spring, before restarting watering.

[Eric Williams]

Hi Mal, a good idea as you have two plants, and also a correct assumption re feeding. I have also read that over potting is of no value. In my case when re potting I put the tuber/corm into the same size pot. Cheers

[esp]

I've kept watering mine a little until they go dormant, rather than totally withholding water to try to force dormancy. They seem fairly forgiving anyway, so maybe it doesn't matter.

Dormancy seems rather irregular or absent in first year seedlings, they may keep growing all through winter.

For what it's worth, they aren't very frost hardy! On the back of a report, somewhere on the internet, that they could cope with a reasonably hard frost, I kept one in the cold frame last winter. A night down to -4C killed it very dead. I think it probably coped ok with -1 or 2C

[purzo]

A reduction in leaf size each year may also be a consequence of reduced nutrients, Purzo. Do you repot frequently? I renew the compost every year, in late winter/early Spring, before restarting watering.

Thanks for the suggestion Mal, I have to admit I don't repot regularly although I do feed with low nitrogen feed about every other watering. I'll get it repotted during the Winter. I seem to remember that when I first got it the leaves were large, as Eric described, but recent years they've only been around 4 inches long by about 3 wide.

[Eric Williams]

Thanks for all the help guys. The internet states that Gloxinias tubers ( very close to Sinnigias ) do need a dormant period for the tuber to rest and recover from flowering. Cheers

[Astro]

I keep my older plants frost free (more like > 3 C) with an occasional splash of water over the winter (dry within a few days).

I ended up with more than I have space for due to an overly successful sowing experiment, so I've tried a few different approaches for growing these. Surprisingly or not, I get the best results from seed by treating them like tropical plants. I leave them in a bag in constant humidity in pretty rich compost (standard big-box 'cactus mix') year round for two years in my light box (never drops below 15 C, can be 30-35 C during daytime). After 6 months many have a 1" caudex, 8 months for first flowers for some (on juvenile stalks). I have 2 not-quite-two-year-old caudices more than 3" across (repotted twice so far, they'll warp a small pot in no time). In contrast, my older plants living outdoors are 6 years old now and maybe 5" across.

Once I move them out of the grow box (they take up too much space) growth tapers off dramatically. I think night time temperatures outside (where they live) are too cold (usually around 10-15C), and maybe the humidity isn't quite optimal either. My older ones flower every year but they don't grow very fast. I have a younger bulb earmarked for permanent residence in the light box in a baggie as an experiment, just to see if the tropical conditions work for an older plant as well.