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

Here are 3 shots of my starter leaves a week laTER. Are they looking like they should? They look good to me.
Jimmy

Guess better try again here we go I hope



Same plants different shot.
Jimmy

Lookin' real good to me, Jimmy!

Looking good so far Jimmy!

Wow Jimmy you really did get the av addition!!! They look great.

Great looking leaves ya got there, Jimmy!

Thanks glad to know I did this right so far.
Jimmy

I'm not sure if you covered this or not, but how much and how often are you guys watering?

I put up named leaves back in Sept. It took about 3 months for the babys to show up ( some longer, some less). So, patience is definately a virtue with this.

Something that worked very well for me was to make a terrerium environment for the leaves. It ensured I would not over water them. I used Ziplock bags, put a couple of planted leaves in each one and away we went. I watered before I placed in ( not drowned), the humidity in the ziplock worked like a mini rainforest. I am also using a sheet cake container. One that my SD's birthday cake came in. It works wonderfully too!

Shirl

Amber mine are bottom watered. I put water in the palstic container you see and they take up what they need I check in about twice a week to make sur eof the water.
Jimmy

Jimmy- I just seen your post now (there's so many pages I keep missing stuff) I'm having some trouble with my ruffled leaved AV (not the leaves I'm rooting- the plant I took them from) so i'm REALLY hoping this works, cos the ruffled AV I've got is pretty sick, and I've done all I can think to do to it, so we'll see if she makes it!

But if she makes it, or if the leaves grow into bigger ones, I would GLADLY give you a few leaves!

A couple of my leaves I can water from the bottom (as I have them in a plastic container thing too) and I think I might do as Shirl suggested and put the other few in ziplock bags, cos I REALLY gotta make some of these work, since my big AV's I overfertilized, and I think only one may make it!

So if I use the little 'condiment' cups and poke holes in the bottom and then place those cups in a 'cake pan' I should pour the water into the cake pan and not into the little cups. Right?. : ) Then put the lid on the cake pan to make the terrium/rain forrest effect. Next Q.. I have a terrerium with tree frogs and such.. do you think that I could put a few of the small cups in there? The leaves wouldn't be toxic if on the frogs decided to eat it would they? I don't think they would, but I don't want to hurt teh frogs or the plants. Thanks for teh input.. I'm really looking forward to this!

The leaves really do not need to be watered much until you can see babies...until then the idea is to keep the soil barely moist, because if you get it too wet the leaves will rot.

That is why the greenhouse effect of the cake pan works so well...it keeps the leaves from drying out, yet doesn't keep them too wet.

I'm not sure if AV'a are toxic or not...maybe if you google it?

jdepoy11 I did a google search on African Violet Toxic leaves took me to the American Cat Assoc. web page and they have a bunch of non toxic plants listed for your home. You might try that and see. Also what is your frogs diet? Are they native to where this plant grows in the wild? A lot of things to consider. I go by if it is not good for human babies it is not good for any baby.
Jimmy

Well my Walmart finally got av and I just couldn't wait until the middle of Febuary to have at least one...So I brought home my first av today here is what it looks like (Now if I can just keep it alive):

Very pretty , Comfrey . I hope it does well for you .
I bought one from WalMart last year . It has white blooms with a purple edge and/or purple blotches . I couldn't resist getting it .

I would have bought the one that was white with purple edges, but my mom has one for me already. I am going to visit her right after Valentines day and she is going to load me up on av, but I just couldn't wait to get one. She has tons of them.

Comfrey those are very pretty.
Sarah do I need to not put water in t his container then just keep check make sure not drying out?
Jimmy

That would be a good plan, Jimmy!