The spectacularly beautiful gloxinia with its huge, velvety, bell-shaped blooms is not difficult to grow in your home. It is a member of a large family of plants called gesneraids, all of which are particularly interesting to grow for unusual color and growth habits.

GROWING GLOXINIAS FROM TUBERS

The size of the bulbs does not always indicate quality. Varieties from Belgium, and many standard varieties grown in this country, have been bred not only for flower and plant quality, but to produce larger tubers. Some of the new varieties do not produce larger tubers, but performance is just as good and flowers come up to the descriptions. In all sizes we offer, only number 1 tubers or larger.

Plant gloxinia tubers in either Park's Grow Mix or peat moss. A minimum of a 4 inch pot should be used, or a better plant may be produced in a 5 or 6 inch pot. Put one inch of pebbles or broken crockery over the drain hole in the bottom of the pot. Fill the pot to within 1/2 inch of the top and plant the tuber very shallow, allowing the top surface to be exposed.

Occasionally, it is difficult to determine which is the top of your new tuber. The bottom is usually rounded and the top generally has a slight indentation.

If your tubers have already sprouted, be careful not to break off those sprouts.

After potting, place in a sunny window or under a Park's fluorescent Gro-Lamp. If the latter is used, place the pot under the lamp with the tube 5" from the surface, and light to 16 hours a day. As the plant grows, raise the tube, keeping it at least 3 inches away from the plant at all times. Too little or insufficient light will cause the plant to grow long, leggy stems and be a very poor specimen. Too much light (only a problem in summer with long days and higher light intensities) cause the foliage to have poor color and to drop over the sides of the pot.

Once your plant has started, you will need to satisfy its basic requirements as follows: WATER: water sparingly until active growth begins. Do not water until the soil is dry on the sur- face. Too frequent watering is harmful. Use lukewarm water, applied until it starts to run out of the bottom of the pot. HUMIDITY: The air in most homes is too dry for gloxinias during the heating season. Spraying the plant with room temperature water from a "Mist"-ifier twice a day will improve humidity. Several plants grouped together will maintain a higher humidity. A larger group of plants can be placed on a tray of moist pebbles or gravel.

TEMPERATURE: Normal house temperatures of 70-75° are suitable for gloxinias. However, less than 60° could be harmful. Plants should be taken off window sills on cold nights. FEEDING: As the plants develop, they should be fed regularly with Hyponex or liquid manure. Use Hyponex at the rate of 1 tsp. per gallon of water. Feed weekly. Monthly flush soil with water to carry excess salts away.

INSECTS: These are not a serious problem with gloxinias and can be controlled with a regular aerosol house plant spray. BUD BLAST: Buds that turn brown or fail to open may be caused by low humidity, overwatering, or too much fertilizer. LEAF SPOTTING: This is usually caused by getting moisture on the leaves when light intensities from the sun are too strong, causing sunburn and conditions conducive to entrance of disease. Cold water coming into contact with leaves may also cause spotting in these contact areas.

Your plant will bloom in 3-4 months. A 5 or 6 inch pot will support a much larger and heavier plant with more flowers than will a 4 inch size container. After plants have finished flowering and growth begins to slow down, they should be rested by gradually withholding water and allowing the plants to die down. Some recommend cutting off the old flower stem above the lowest two good leaves, then continue to water sparingly for another month. If no new growth is seen, stop watering en- tirely until the leaves wither. If new growth does appear, let it develop into a second cycle of bloom and stop watering when blooming ceases.

Store the pots in a cool, not cold place (50-60°). Water just enough, about once a month, to keep tubers from shriveling. Overwatering will rot a dormant tuber. A better method for caring for the tubers during the rest period would be to remove them from the pot after they die down, dust with a good fungicide, and store in dry peat moss in a cool (50°), dry location.

The rest period may vary from several weeks to several months. When a new sprout appears, your tuber is ready for a new cycle of growth and should be repotted in fresh soil and brought into bloom as already described.

GROWING GLOXINIAS FROM SEED

It is easy to grow gloxinias from seed; however, they are quite small and must be given careful attention during germination. Sow the seeds on the surface of Park's Grow Mix that has been pre-moistened before placing it in a flat or germinating container. As the seeds are so tiny, the trick is to sow them evenly and sparingly over the surface and not all in a bunch.

Do this by folding a piece of paper and placing the seed in the fold. Tap the paper so that a few seeds fall off while the hand holding the paper moves over the medium.

Germination temperatures should be in the 65-75° range, and bottom heat is very beneficial to producing a good stand. The starting medium must be kept moist at all times and not be allowed to dry out. Watering is done by placing the plastic starter box in a shallow pan of water until enough is drawn up through the bottom holes to dampen the surface of the medium.

In one or two weeks, the tiny green specks of sprouted seed should appear on the top of the medium, but do not be impatient if it takes a longer time. When plants have four leaves, transplant them to 2 1/4" Jiffy Pots. After the roots begin to penetrate the walls of the pots, transplant to 4, 5, or 6 inch pots to be grown on and cared for as described for growing the tubers.

DOUBLE GLOXINIAS FROM SEED

It is now possible to grow some of those giant, double-flowered gloxinias from seed and expect them to produce up to 75% double flowers from those seeds. The remaining 25% will produce huge single flowers of the same colors.

GLOXINIAS FROM LEAF CUTTINGS

You can also produce more plants from leaf cuttings if desired. Select mature, healthy leaves, remove from the parent plant with a clean sharp knife, and with the petiole intact with each leaf. Plunge each petiole carefully into unmilled sphagnum moss after first dipping ends in Rootone to insure better and quicker rooting. A small tuber will develop in about 3 months on the end of the leaf petiole. These may be potted up and flowered as described for tubers.