New to Gloxinias

[orchidsarefun]

I see these often at TJoes but I thought they were sold as annuals. Please keep us updated on whether this makes it year-round. Mine is easy as it goes dormant by itself.

[JamesL]

Hi to all : ) Technically Gloxinia's are scaly rhizomes, or scaly tubers. Originally form S. America, there are 8 species of. Glox that are in the markets and greenhouses are hybrids of several. As a tender tuber, they do need a rest period or go dormant for a time. And an adventure to grow. In the greenhouse world there often called grow and throw. We need to keep the benches in production most of the time, except in the very hot summer months. The reference to grow and throw applies to all holiday plants. poinsettia, Easter Lily and others. This doesn't mean you can't grow them in your home. Greenhouse work is all about production and the next crop to grow.. In the Late summer we would start the first crop of poinsettia from cuttings get them growing and bloom for sales that started around thanksgiving. The few days after Christmas anything left there was thrown to the compost pile, because the next crop were Easter Lily's It's all about production. Many a time I've come home with 20 to 50 Easter Lily's the day after easter to plant them In my garden where they bloom again in the fall. But as a tender tuber, like begonias , and callas there worth the time to grow them in our homes...Love to grow and happy growing JamesL

[Gthumbz89]

I was just about to post a picture of my gezy's when I saw this post. First of all your plant looks healthy and very nice. Secondly, I just water when the soil is dry (but not too dry...watch for the flowers to just slightly wilt). Water from the bottom using about 1/4 the recommended strength of orchid fertilizer with a dash of seaweed extract. I flush the soil whenever I remember with RO water. The soil should be 1/3 peat 1/3 vermiculite 1/3 perlite. These have been pretty easy to grow even in Arizona. Good luck! Previous posts have already mentioned this but they eventually go to sleep for a wee bit. I haven't repotted mine since I've received them in July....my goodness I bet they've totally overgrown the pots with a tuber.

[Tindomul]

Thanks for the great tips guys!! Really useful stuff.

[Tindomul]

Hi all,

See this thread for update. I followed Gthumbz89's advice. Thanks!
Gloxinia, florist's Gloxinia?

[merkity]

I have one of these. i can tell all about growing it the wrong way....er the right way, well i might have that down next year. you likely saw the post of mine - bright purple flowers. lets say so far i haven't killed it. it is tall and leggy this year - not the ideal look. I did start a leaf growing when i read that they would do so. I do have mouse ears(new leaves) that have popped up in about a 2 month span. Overall, I find them an easy plant to work with and love the flowers! I also now have a ton of seeds since i self pollinated the flowers this year...

[NYCorchidman]

You got a great deal!
I also saw gloxinia about two years ago at NYBG, but there were sold at $50 or so if I remember correctly.
It was still worth it because they were large and loaded with flowers on top.

I love tuberous begonia and gloxinia, but my condition is not good for them, so I no longer grow them.

They do best with bright but not so hot ( plants will get stressed out and easily become subject to brown rot or powdery mildew among others, and flowers will abort fast and buds will not open) environment with preferably ample humidity.

They go into dormancy during winter, so you want to keep them dry until you see the sprouts in early spring. You can cut them into pieces as farmers do with potatoes. Each cut with sprouting eye will flower the same year.

You can also take leaf cuttings, but do that with rather young (but not too young) leaf in the early summer. The small plant you get from this method will not reach flowering size the same year, but it will the following year.