A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Starting african violets from leaves 101 part B

This is a continuaton of this thread:

Starting african violets from leaves 101

Anyone have any more questions?

I've got a pot of 'em going from clippings - they're slow but there are three new leaves, so I must be doing the right thing.

My mother plant - it's doing much better - my e pal said she only waters hers every 2 weeks. That's what I'm doing.

Watering depends solely on how "heavy" your potting mix is...if I try to go more than a week without watering, I would have a tray full of limp plants...but I mix my potting soil 50/50 with perlite, so that root rot will not be an issue.

I'm glad you are having good luck!

Hey barleychown,

I read each of the 7 pages of the original thread, and would like to say thank you for all of the information. I especially appreciate all of the wonderful photos to compliment the instructions. I am one that if I can't see it, I have little chance of doing it!!

There was one question in the original thread that never was answered. On page 5 mrsmessy asked Assuming that one begins with a healthy, mature plant, I figure that the answer to that question must be based on how many leaves a given plant has to begin with. If that is true, then I would also figure that the answer would be a percentage rather than a leaf count. Am I right so far? If so, could you give us a good rule of thumb for the percentage of leaves that can be removed from a good healthy donor plant without too much risk of harming it? And if I am wrong, could you please advise us as to how to decide how many donor leaves from a given plant is safe to remove?

Thank you again for all the time and effort you have put into this educational project!!

Robert

OK personally I would not remove more then around 3-4 from teh mother as that will give you several baby plants if they do well and will leave enough on the mother plant to have some in the furture in case soemthing were to happen with the first ones you remove. Whenever i am starttign new ones*or tring too* I only remove at max 3 leaves at a time Right now due to space I have been only removing 1 leaf from each of 4 plants to start new ones.

Good luck this is just a personal way of doing this barly will probably have more information then I have.

I agree with Frisha...the most I would ever take at one time would be 4, and then only off a HUGE plant. Most of us do not have huge plants, more like the standard size sold in stores, so in that case I would only do 2 or 3 at a time.


Sorry I missed this question, mrs. messy! Thank you for pointing it out, beebiz!

Thanks for the quick response. And, I'm glad that I was able to help out a little bit.

I do have another question though. After seeing and reading about the size containers that you all recommend using, I got to thinking (warning: that is a very dangerous thing.... beware... beware ) Have any of you used old ice trays or empty Styrofoam egg cartons to root the leaves in? Or, have you known of anyone who has. I'm just wondering how well they worked or how well you think they would work for containers.

By the way, back several years ago I knew a lady in Shreveport, LA who had African Violets EVERYWHERE in her house. She did something with lots of the mini AV's that I thought was just adorable. When ready to start some new mini leaves, she would carefully break the large end out of the shell of the eggs that she was going to cook and save the whole part of the shell. She would then use a needle to carefully drill a hole in the bottom of each one. Then she would dry them out, paint the outside of them, and place them in "holders" that she made from copper wire. After adding soil and the new leaf, she would sit the whole thing in a plastic jar lid which she had also painted. With the mini AV's in them, those things were as cute as they could be.

Again, thanks for all the great information.

Robert

Well I totally missed the beginning of this one. Nice to see more people in on this thread. For all of you working on this project, please send me pics of your blooms so I can post them on the AV site for pics so others can see them.

Robert, I bet that was really neat to see! I grow several of my mini's in tea cups that I have collected.

Yes, they were definitely neat and cute as could be. The woman was an elderly (in her 70's) woman who had never been married and had no children. She always referred to her AV's as her "younguns." And, treated them with more TLC than most people treat their children with!! She had several mini's in tea cups (both full sized and mini cups) as well. And, they were cute. But, I thought the painted egg shells in their homemade stands were so neat because they were cute and I had never seen AV's in them before and have seen none since.

I know that this thread is about starting AV's from leaves. And, I know that when asked about separating the babies and the leaves you said that such a thing was for another thread. I am also aware that those of us who are starting some leaves have quite a while before such information is imperative. But.... generally speaking, I am one who needs lots of time to "digest" such information before my brain can effectively help my body to use it!! If you don't want to get into that part yet (and I understand if you don't), can you suggest a place that would have credible information and good pictures on this procedure?

Any help that you are willing to give is greatly appreciated!

Robert

Barley,

How do you keep the mini violets from getting their feet wet in the tea cups. I love the idea of having some in teacups but am unsure how to keep them from drowning ( drainage).

Thanks!

Robert, I'm actually sorting through pictures as we speak. I hope to have that thread put together either late tonight or tomorrow.

ShirlS, My violets that are in teacups are in tiny pots suspended above the water in the cup...I will take a picture and post it for you.

Oh that is a good idea Sarah. I was wondering about that as well. I bet you could also line the bottom of the teacup with rocks? or would the roots still get to the water that way? You could also, if you were VERY careful you could use a ceramic drill bit and drill a hole in the bottom of a teacup but I would try on cheap cups first.

Thanks so much Barley. I just read the "African Violets 102...What to do now that you have babies" post and the information and pics are wonderful. By the way, the two light green leaves are from one of my sister-in-law's AV. Any way, here are the pics:

First, I removed the lid from the carton. Then, I used a piece of wire that I heated in a candle to melt drainage holes in the bottom of each egg compartment.


Next, I dated each compartment. Would have added the name, but don't have that information!


Next, I put in the potting soil & perlite mix.


Finally, I planted the leaves and watered them in. If you notice, I did not put leaves in each compartment. I started to, but quickly found out that the leaves would touch and figured that it would make it too easy to spread something from one leaf to another.


I then took the lid that I removed, turned it up side down and placed it under the part of the carton that the leaves are in. I figured it would be a good tray to catch any excess water that might drain out.

Okay, what do you all think? Did I do alright or not?

Thanks in advance for any input or advice you have.

Robert

I like it! One question, though...do you plan on doing the greenhouse effect for them?

Well Barley, that's a question I was contemplation the whole time that I was planting the leaves. About 20 minutes ago I came up with the only thing that my tired brain could think of. It was this:

greenhouse.jpg" alt="[Linked Image]" class="post-image" style="height:auto!important;max-width:100%!important;"/>

It's one of those mini greenhouses that Wally World sells. My sister-in-law (the donor of the two light green leaves) gave 6 of those things to me about 2 weeks ago. She said that she had had them for several years and had never used them. I figure she must have had them a while. The price on them was only $3.64.

I know the AV leaves look awfully lonely in there, but I'm sure I'll have something else in there with them before long!! Considering how large the container is and how little moist soil is in it, I was afraid that it might actually work against keeping the soil moist. So, I added about 4 tablespoons of water to the base of the mini greenhouse in an attempt to raise the humidity. The water and soil do not touch each other. It is just there to help up the humidity in the air inside the container.

Good idea or not??

Thanks for the help!

Robert

Thanks Barley!

I look forward to seeing your pictures. DH and I are getting our first digi Cam soon, and then I will post pics up of my babies. I started them back in Sept. My lil Straniero and green lace are still with their mommas. They sure took a long time to come up, and grow. The rest are moving right along though!

Thanks for starting this topic. It came at a perfect time for me, because I had just split most of my babies off of the parent. Have a wonderful day!

Triss if you try the drill bit let us know ok!

Robert, your greenhouse looks great! The leaves should be just fine, you will know that it is humid enough by some condensation. Take the lid off for a little bit once in a while, as you do not want mould on yoru leaves or soil. Nice site you have! I signed the guestbook, good luck in reading it though, I was not thinking when I chose the colour


Shirl

Robert...that should work just great! As ShrilS said...watch for condenstaion, and if the top gets foggy, open it for a few minutes to let it clear...too much humidity will increase the chance of rotting.

You are doing great so far! Now for the hardest part, at least for me...the waiting!

ShirlS, I posted pictures of a mini in a teacup in the african violets 102 thread.

Isn't it amazing how some with some varieties, the babies just pop right up, yet with others it can take forever?

That is awesome Robert. Great idea there on the starting in egg cartons as well as the greenhouse. A perfect place to start other seeds as well!!

It is most definately amazing how long some of them can take. Good thing patience is something I have learned. I get excited about them growing up and blooming. Who knew there were so many different types of blooms and colours? Not me!

I looked for the teacup picture, but did not see a teacup. I did however see the plants in the little med cups, I guess that was what I was supposed to find. May I ask where you found those little med cups?

Shirl

Shirl, thanks so much for the kind words about my site. As for the text color choice you made, I'm sure that lots of folks will be able to read it. My eyes are not that great, so I had to figure something else out. I just highlighted the text and it gave me kind of a "negative" view and I was able to read it with no problem!

Guys, thanks for the suggestion to watch for the condensation.

Robert

Gosh, ShirlS, I'm so blonde sometimes! I guess that's what I get for doing these posts late at night.

Here ya go...

The cup that plant is in is actually a condiment cup...that one is 4 ounces.

I start my mini's leaves in a one ounce cup, my standards in a two ounce cup, and when I separate babies, they go into a two ounce cup for about 3 months.

I get the cups from my local "cash and carry" store, like a united grocers or resturant supply store, in sleeves of 100+ cups for about $4 per sleeve. I like them because they are cheap enough for me to write on them and toss them instead of trying to reuse most of them.

Welcome to my world!

How cute is that tea cup setup!! I thought I was losing my mind when I looked and looked and did not see anything ( cup). You have been a busy lady with these postings, it is easy to miss some things. Thanks for the info on the condiment cups also. I will have a look around here and see who sells them.

Thanks again!