lori_15
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:27 pm
Location: south BC Canada, elev 226M (909ft) zone 6b

leaf cuttings growing

my friend rooted six african violet leaves for me and all but one have taken. I have new leaves on all of them and one tiny plant has even bloomed.

my question is.....when should I remove them from their tiny homes
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and transplant into a small 2" pot.
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I live in southern BC. I have continued to water from bottom and fertilize every other week with very mild solution.
they are sitting in east facing window in my kitchen. I tend to keep house relatively cool.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Good for you. African violets actually like a bright light even though they do not like direct sun. They do not like to get the leaves wet either. The easiest way I found to water them is to put a wick in the pot when you plant it and put the pot over a glass bowl so the water wicks up to the pot. Change the water weekly and use filtered or non-chlorinated water. I use a few drop of liquid fertilizer in the water.
https://avsa.org/video-AMwickwatering
https://avsa.org/learning

lori_15
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:27 pm
Location: south BC Canada, elev 226M (909ft) zone 6b

thanks watering is not an issue for me. I have it all under control. tho winter lighting is not the best but it will have to do.

so do I transplant these plants from their tiny wombs in the spring when they are likely to get more light??

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

If you have the room, I would separate them now and pot them up. They only need/should be potted in smaller containers for now anyway. I haven’t done this in a while, but I used to pot them up individually once 4 leaves grew in a rosette and next set was starting. You can cut off part or all of the paddle of the leaf cutting if the size/weight unbalances the baby... lean the stem of the cutting against the edge of their new pot for support.

If there are more than one baby rosette per cutting, you will have to do a bit of surgery — use very sharp fruit knife, craft knife, or razor blade and be sure to include an attached segment of the cutting leaf stem with roots for each baby... or you can simply choose one best among them and cull the rest.

If they start to grow into each other, it’s way too easy to accidentally break the tiny baby leaves, especially when the paddle of the leaf gets caught in a crotch of leaf stems. They are also harder to inspect or take care of when tangled or hidden, spoiled leaf can affect overlapped healthy leaf, etc.

...Oh, if you can, you may want to move them to southern exposure for the winter, though it might be OK where they are if they are blooming.... but sinc the winter days are shorter, sun is weaker and sunny days are less frequent, I used to migrate the houseplants to +1 brightness windows during the winter, and vice versa for the summer. (I say used to because I move almost all the plants outside for the summer now).

Also, when the baby leaves don’t get even light from all directions, they will develop elongated stems and twist around, and won’t form the fully open rounded rosette shape. You’ll have to bear with the malformed leaves until the plant grows enough good leaves to cull them.

lori_15
Full Member
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 1:27 pm
Location: south BC Canada, elev 226M (909ft) zone 6b

happy to report that all the African violet leaves I cut off and rooted in water and put in soil with rooting powder... I had 25 of them and all but 1 has not shown any leaves...tho its in a solid color pot and I cannot see.

soon I will have to transplant all of them into 4" pots and wait for them to bloom to show which colours I have...
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imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I am envious! I have tried to grow African violets a couple of times. I finally did find a decent place for it and it stayed alive with a wick, but the snails found it and it disappeared overnight.

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Gary350
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Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

One winter day 40 years ago I grew African violets is a fish aquariums of potting soil. Soil only needs to be about 3" deep and slightly moist. I cut leaves from a plant that I bought then put about 20 leaves in the soil with no rooting powder. Aquarium had glass top to hold moisture and was in a room with sunlight but no direct sun on the fish aquarium. 18 of the 20 leaves grow roots and made nice plants. When plants were 2" tall I transplanted them to larger pots. Plants got very large and made beautiful plants. Summer came I was no longer a prisoner of the house all the plants died I forgot to water them.

Next winter I tried again but this time 19 out of 20 leaves died. Not sure what the problem was maybe rooting powder would have helped.

I learned my plants were very sensitive to direct sunlight it killed them.



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