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THE TIME NEEDS TO BE RIGHT
Hybridizing Episcia is not an easy task. The pollen is plentiful and easily seen on the anthers. The stigma is ready only for about a two-day period of time. If a successful pollination occurs, one will see an oblong berry that reaches its full size in about 2 to 3 weeks. The difficulty is producing the correct environment for the berry to form. Episcia seems to need 50% to 80% humidity before the plant will produce a berry. I would think those in Singapore would easily be able to hybridize Episcia.
The berry is on the plant for about 60 to 85 days before turning brown and papery. It will split open on its own, but one may remove the shriveled pod and put it in a piece of folded paper until it dries completely. When dry, one will see little black seeds that have white tissue connected to the seeds. Some refer to this as "albumen" such as the white of an egg. It is not necessary to remove the albumen before planting the seeds.
The seeds are sown on top of the soil medium, preferably on moist, not soaking wet peat mix. No additional soil is placed on top of the seeds. A clear container with a lid is necessary as the Episcia seedlings need high humidity. It takes about 2 to 3 weeks before the seedlings sprout. Episcia seedlings respond extremely well if transplanted often. I transplant the seedlings every 2 weeks for the first 8 weeks, even if only lifting them up and putting them back into the same container. A light fertilizer is given in the water at the rate of 1/8 teaspoon per gallon of water. At the age of 12 weeks, I remove the cotyledons and plant the episcias deeper into the soil, up to the next set of leaves. At this time the seedlings receive fertilizer at the rate of 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water.
See the photo above with 4 containers of seedlings. All of these are exactly the same age. The two containers on the left have been transplanted every 2 weeks for the first 8 weeks. Then their cotyledons were removed. The container on the right received transplanting every 2 weeks for the first 8 weeks, but the cotyledons were not removed. The cotyledons are yellowish on those plants. The container in the middle is the original seedling container. Those small seedlings are the siblings to the larger ones. It truly makes a difference when one fusses over the plants and transplants often!
EPISCIA BREEDING PROJECT There is currently a project to determine flower color dominance in Episcia. I started this project for the Gesneriad Hybridizers' Association. There are people helping me. Episcia 'Suomi' has a stunningly wonderful, yellow flower. It turns out that selfing Suomi results in the majority of the seedlings' flowers being orange! Only one person out of three got a yellow flower by selfing 'Suomi'. What a huge disappointment! When 'Suomi' is crossed with a red or orange flowered Episcia, all the flowers are orange, but some show streaks of yellow. In addition to 'Suomi' we are working with the white flowed 'Panama White', the pink flowered 'Pink Panther', and finally with the blue flowering 'Blue Nile' and 'Blue Heaven'. My cross of 'Blue Heaven' x 'Suomi' resulted in seeds but no sprouts. If you have a variety of flower colors on your Episcia and are interested in helping out with the project to determine flower color dominance, please contact me via this link. ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR Dale Martens joined the Grow 'N Study Gesneriad club in California in 1986 after attending their shopping mall show and sale and being impressed by how much fun the members were having. As a speech pathologist working with elderly stroke victims, she brought violets and unusual gesneriads to work, using them for therapy to stimulate language. She began hybridizing gesneriads in 1990 just to see what was genetically dominant and if something turned out pretty, that was a bonus. She has produced some very interesting hybrids, including the intergeneric xPhinastema 'California Dreaming' and a number of Streptocarpus and Smithiantha hybrids. Dale is now retired and living in the midwest U.S. She is the editor of CrossWords, the newsletter of the Gesneriad Hybridizers' Association and an AGGS Master Judge who teaches judging schools in Canada and the U.S. In addition, Dale is the current moderator of the AGGS Discussion Forums.
Green Culture Singapore is extremely grateful to Dale's contribution, as she had rushed it out for us in the midst of her busy schedule.
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