African Violets and Gesneriads: December Photos and Chit Chat, 0 by bsimpson1972

bsimpson1972 wrote:
Thanks Eileen!

Here's the deal with micros: You'll wind up overpotting them because they don't make much of a root system even as a mature plant. Literally a thimble would do and I have seen show plants in thimbles - not thimble pots.

Three or five seedlings per cup is fine. Seven will fit as well. They don't mind repotting one bit in my experience. So, if the pot gets too crowded, just separate them.

As long as you keep them moist, pretty much any standard mix will do. Straight LFS, Violet mix out of the bag with some additional Perlite, straight Perlite - they seem to be able to cope with pretty much everything you throw at them.

They don't need much, if any, fertilizer and if you stick them into a fish tank, you only water them every once in a while.

Particularly S. muscicola is a battle horse. This little plant survived triple digit temps unenclosed and drying out on more than one occasion. It has three crowns and just keeps going and going. I bought the plant in March and these are still the original crowns - dozens of flowers and seed pods later... Well, now it looks pretty ratty and I will restart the tuber very soon. However, the three crowns will go down for propagation and knowing these little weeds, will take in no time and make some more plants for the Round Robin! :)