How to Harvest Rhizomes from Gesneriads

Hi!
By now your Achimenes or Eucodonia etc. should have gone dormant for the year. Here is what to do with them.

One way to proceed is to just let the pot dry and do nothing till spring. Or, you can harvest the rhizomes and store them until spring. I'm showing how to do the harvesting!

You can see that my plants were still growing in tiny 5 oz. Solo cups. When you mail order for new varieties sometimes you only get one small rhizome to start with and a small pot is good enough. But you'll see that if things go well, you'll produce more rhizomes and need larger pots in the spring!

Here's what the pot of Achimenes looks like dumped out.

I dump out the plant, soil, and perlite and get rid of the old material AFTER I sort through it and pick up the rhizomes from the pot.

I also refill the Solo cup with new perlite (the white layer on the bottom) and new soil mix. There isn't much left for a new plant to use in the old mix.

You get in the soil with your fingers and find the little rhizomes. Look to the right of the photo, see the green ones I've already gotten out of the "dirt"? This plant hasn't produced a large amount of rhizomes, but it has made more than the one I started out with in the spring.

I've searched thoroughly a couple of times (you don't want to toss out any rhizomes) and I'm placing them into the solo cup with the new soil mix and perlite. It has a wick for wick-watering next spring. That is not used this time of the year.

 A trick of mine is to put PINK on the pot if the pot has either been checked or I've put rhizomes into it. I won't be confused and think a plant has simply died and toss the whole pot into the compost. You might be surprised how easy it is to be on a clean-up kick and toss out a whole pot of rhizomes. This way I know that even though the pot looks dead or empty, there are treasures under the soil!

Here is a DIFFERENT type of plant. This is a Eucodonia and the rhizomes look somewhat different than the Achimenes from the previous photos.

Also, this plant produced a really great bounty of rhizomes, perfect for sharing or making a very large hanging basket for the porch in the coming spring.

 The plant has wilted and browned. It is SUPPOSED to do that. It's also made some rhizomes on the top of the soil. That's okay too.

 Here is the Eucodonia pot dumped out and you can see the rhizomes crowded in abundance along the side of the pot.

 Wow, that is a nice bunch!

 Again you take your fingers and remove any rhizomes or parts from the old soil. If they break that is FINE, they grow from pieces of rhizome, a whole rhizome or even an INDIVIDUAL SCALE from the rhizome. All the bits will grow happily in the spring when they break dormancy. That is typically when they darn well feel like it ... just so you know.

 ONE little 5 oz. Solo cup had this many rhizomes in it. YAY!

 I once again put the rhizomes in the pot. I do cover with a bit of soil so they do not sit out and dry out. I mark the pot with a bright color, ... I use pink... and they are set to store.

Not all rhizomes look the same! Here are some that are part pink and part yellow and green. Some are teeny tiny and some are as huge as an angle worm. They are all just modified plant stem material that is used by the plants to reproduce itself. They aren't seeds but a different way the plant can insure it survives and reproduces.

I store my harvested and cleaned cups on the bottom-most shelf on one of the plant stands. They are not under lights and they do not get a regular watering like the plants on the shelves above it.

They are kept a TINY bit moist occasionally so they do not shrivel up and dry too much, bu they also aren't kept wet. If too wet they will rot. Pretty much, you leave them alone and in March or April watch for any signs that some of them are starting to grow. When they show any signs of growing in the spring take them off of the dark shelf and water them well. Then put on the light stand under the lights so they will start to grow strong and non-spindly. If there are an abundance of rhizomes in the little Solo cup, leave one or two in the small Solo cup (if you choose) and put 3-5 rhizomes into a larger pot (or pots) depending on how many rhizomes of that variety you have. Remember to label all the pots, it's so easy to forget that and not know what variety it is.

When the rhizomes begin to grow they look like any other seedling. Small and green and in need of being kept nicely moist but not drowned. Keep them in bright light (under the plant lights) so they don't get long and "leggy". If you keep some plants outside in the summer remember to keep these in partial shade and transition them to the brighter outdoor light and partial sun gradually. Enjoy!

Questions??
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