Rising Streptocarpus: Planting Too Deep

The frequent recommendation for rising streptocarpus is to plant pretty shallow. Soil shouldn’t go a lot greater than the highest of the foundation ball, or the plant will rot and die.

Nonetheless, you’re additionally advised that to propagate the plant vegetatively, it’s best to take a leaf or a part of a leaf and plant it an inch or two deep. I normally plant these leaves about an inch deep, and so they develop simply nice.

Streptocarpus are additionally recognized to kind plantlets from roots, deep within the pot. These develop underground for fairly a very long time earlier than the information attain above the floor of the soil.

How can all of this conflicting info be appropriate? Is that this one other Streptocarpus fable? I made a decision to check the declare that planting deep will trigger Streptocarpus to rot and die.

What Occurs When You Plant Streptocarpus Too Deep?

To start out with, we do need to outline the time period “too deep”. I feel most would agree that having greater than 1/2″ of soil above the highest of the roots qualifies as too deep. Most growers say the crown must be clearly seen above the soil line, and roots develop on the base of the crown.

To check the declare that vegetation buried too deeply rot, I began taking vegetation and planting them at varied depths to see what occurs. I’ve tried depths at effectively over 2″ deep.

The next are a few of my experiments to point out what occurs when vegetation are planted too deep.

Experiment Particulars

All exams have been completed in my develop room, the place I develop a number of hundred streptocarpus. My soil is Promix HP with about 20% to 25% perlite added. The pots are 9 oz plastic consuming cups, that are watered from above. I exploit artificial fertilizer at 100 ppm nitrogen in every watering.

The check vegetation have been saved with my common assortment and handled identical to my different vegetation.

Experiment 25: Repot Experiment

Streptocarpus RP193 had been rising effectively, nevertheless it shaped a really excessive crown. I’ve discovered that when a crown is just too excessive, the plant stops rising effectively, exhibits poor high quality leaves, and leads to a lack of roots. By the point the experiment was began, the crown had nearly no roots and fell aside into 3 items.

The items have been planted about an inch deep, positioned in a plastic bag, and left to kind roots. A month later, all items had rooted. There was no signal of rotting, however they did lose a number of the older leaves.

Experiment 31: Deep Planting

A discarded seedling was used. On Dec 31, flowers and buds have been eliminated. The remaining plant was planted greater than 2″ deep. The smallest of the three leaves was utterly buried, and the opposite two leaves confirmed above the soil floor.

On February 19, the plant had 2 flowering stems with a complete of 4 flowers. One leaf was droopy, however that could be resulting from an absence of watering on my half. A very good root system was rising, and there have been no indicators of rot.

By the tip of April, the plant was doing effectively. A few older leaves had died again, however rotting was not a problem.

Experiment 32: Excessive crown

My Streptocarpus PK Samba tends to kind a excessive crown. I divided the mom plant on January 2 and eliminated one piece with a really excessive crown. It nonetheless had some roots connected, however the crown of the plant was about 2″ above the soil stage and the beginning of the roots.

It was planted very deeply, in order that even the decrease a part of the leaves was buried.

On April 2, the plant regarded excellent and had made a number of new leaves. It additionally had a really robust root system just like different vegetation in my assortment.

Rooting Streptocarpus Keikis

A keiki is a brand new plant that begins to develop on a flower stem. This type of propagation is frequent in orchids and likewise occurs repeatedly in Streptocarpus.

Rooting streptocarpus keikis is completed by inserting the brand new plant deeply into the soil. The flower stem won’t root, however roots will kind on the base of the leaves if they’re touching soil. That is proven and defined on this video.

Can You Plant Streptocarpus Deeply?

I’ve now examined about 6 vegetation with additional deep planting and have had no rot. In every of the above experiments, the plant not solely survived however thrived as soon as it bought used to its new depth. There was clearly an adjustment interval after planting, however that’s frequent with any plant that loses a big quantity of roots.

Deep planting places the roots within the middle of the soil, the place they don’t accomplish that effectively, and I believe that they most likely begin dying off. New roots are made greater up within the pot the place they’ve higher entry to air. As soon as that occurs, the vegetation develop effectively.

When planting and transplanting my very own assortment, I don’t fuss an excessive amount of about planting depth and have seen no in poor health results. If a crown is tending greater, the plant is transplanted deeper. If a division has a poor root system, it’s planted deeper in order that the soil helps assist the plant.

Some growers use a wick watering system. The above experiments don’t present any perception into how planting deep impacts vegetation on this watering system.

I’m not suggesting that deep planting is the popular remedy of Streptocarpus. However I do imagine that a number of the recommendation and warnings about deeper planting have been exaggerated. The above experiments counsel that if a plant rots, it isn’t as a result of planting depth.

It’s at all times greatest to plant on the identical top because the plant was rising earlier than. But when there are good causes to plant deeper, go forward. It gained’t hurt the plant.