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Re: stuff/gloxinias

At 08:58 PM 6/18/97 -0500, you wrote:
>-- [ From: nonayobusiness * EMC.Ver #2.3 ] --
>
>What do I do about this?  I have a couple of gloxinias  that I've had for
>about ten years. For the last several, instead of growing the way you   see
>them in the stores, they  have multiple crowns, and they trail  down over
>the sides of their pots and  go all over the place.  They get LOTS of
>flowers, but I kind of wish they grew the  way they originally did. How do
>I convince them to do this?
>
>		Lauren B. Zn6, New City,  NY
>
Lauren:

You can grow florist gloxinias under two-tube lights but you have to set the
pots up on something so they are right under the center of the bulbs and up
close.  Move them down as they grow.  Once they set buds they don't seem to
stretch so badly.  They should be grown single crown.  I thought they looked
great with all those leaves but when the buds got heavy they leaned over to
the sides and the center was bare.  

Take off the extra shoots and root them like cuttings.  Some will bloom as
soon as the original plant and some will form tubers and go dormant for
awhile.  Big old tubers can be cut up like seed potatoes, leaving a sprout
on each piece.  Let the cuts dry or dust them with sulphur before planting
or they may rot.

I plant my tubers in pots just an inch larger than the bulb and transplant
them into larger ones when the leaves grow over the edges.  That way, if
they start to stretch you can take off the bottom leaves and bury the plant
up to the crown.

Hope this is clear.  If not, holler :-)

Ruth
Ruth Zavitz                                     
rzavitz@execulink.com                            
Freelance Writer & Gardening Consultant, zone 6 Southern Ontario
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