African Violets and Gesneriads: How Bluebird propigates their AVs, 1 by critterologist

critterologist wrote:
I'll bet those plug trays are easier to keep watered evenly than the little 1 inch pots (1 oz. plastic cups) I've been using for plantlets!

I've got some leaves down now in plastic salad trays with holes in the top & bottom for ventillation & drainage. They're the same containers I've used for wintersowing. I've had pretty good luck with mini leaves rooting in the little 1 oz cups, so I think an inch of potting mix is a good depth for starting leaves. The little cups can be hard to keep perfectly watered, and I've lost a bunch of leaves/plantlets to underwatering. I figured the salad container would help me keep the soil evenly moist, not too wet & not too dry. In my conditions, a vented lid seems to work well on leaf pots and suckers that are rooting.

Here are some leaves I just put down in a salad container. There's an inch of moist potting mix (50-60% perlite, plus a little charcoal and some moisture crystals) that I packed down firmly into the container before inserting the leaves.