I started a whole lot of AV leaves for babies and put them in greenhouse domes. Well, now they are looking like they are rotting. Any of you don't put the domes on? I just lost my piccaso , which out of all 30 varities I was hoping to grow. Any ideas? I took off the domes to let air in and hope for the best.
These are the varities:(don't know if it makes a difference)
Plum Pudding, Lyon’s Magic charm, Pirate’s Treasure, Rob’s Loose Noodle, Rob’s Boolaroo, Blue Dragon, Kev’s Heavenly Star, Louisana Lullaby, Blue Socks, Sunrise Waltz(trailer), Tropic Heat, Crimson Ice, Rose Garden, Raspberry Glitz, Picasso (which rotted), Outer Limits, Ma’s Melody Girl, Kev’s Heavenly Star,Newtown Gertrude Maribito, Newtown Cheeky Robin,Harlequin, Kris, Rob’s pinky winky(trailer), Emergency, Rob’s Toorooka(trailer)
AV Leaves rotting
Okay, I am not an expert but I have killed a bunch:) When I first started putting down babies I kept them too wet. I do dome them and since I started keeping drier I really only lose the occasional one.
I think one of the experts on here right now can tell you what to do now. To me it sounds like they need to dry out some but I defer to pundits!
Pat M.
I start all my leaves in domed trays but I keep one side propped up to allow ventilation. This seems to prevent the problem with the leaves rotting. If you happen to over water, it allows the extra moisture to evaporate instead of damaging your leaves. It's normal for a fine mist to form on the inside of the lid. If you are getting more than that (a heavy coating of moisture or even water droplets) then you have over watered.
Right now I have many trays of leaves growing like this. They all seem to be doing just fine. Hope this was helpful!
Pat
I do the same as Pat with many leaves.If you don't have a dome,just cover with plastic wrap and leave one edge open to let air in.The rest I just plant without domes.As long as they don't show signs of wilting they are fine.
Lynn
i just potted up quite a few av babies today, worked all morning on them.i usually pot up my leaves & dome them.
mrsbonnie
Rot almost always means too much water. Damp. If you see a lot of condensation on the plastic, take a paper towel and wipe it off...leave it open a crack to dry out some. Bill Price, the guy who grows the great show plants says after you cut them to let them sit 15 minutes before you put them down to root and you will have less rot. Look and see if you can cut off brown places or re-cut the stems.
I use clear plastic deli containers i save from fruit, potato salad, etc. I put in the soil mix ...damp soil mix, put in the leaves with a label, and put the lid on. I check in a couple days to see if there seems to be too much water on the sides and if so, dry it out some.
And isn't it Murphys law or something that the one you wanted the most is the one that won't make it!
Keep trying...once you get the hang of it, you'll have too many plants! tish
My leaf cuttings are taking forever to show babies. I know they are rooting because there's resistance when I give them a tug. Room temps are in the mid-upper 60's. My guess is this is why it's taking so long....
I found around 70 degrees to 75 works best for me. But I have done some babies before since my house is cooler. They do take awhile but do produce.
Is too little lite makes the AV stretch up? (like pic below)
tishrh,
Too little light can make plants stretch up or not bloom,but yours still look pretty good.
lilypad22,
I always cut leaves a half hour to an hour before rooting.There is a lot less rot that way.especially if you don't use hormone or sulphur on the cuts...which I never do.
Lynn
i always forget to wait that i/2 hr before i pot them up, although i don't have much rot with violets, only streps.
bonnie
Not sure if this is right...but I'm thinking at the lecture he said that letting that cut leaf end dry out some before planting it will keep some bacteria and such from causing rot. He said its always there, its not anything you can prevent but letting the leaf set awhile (he saids he waits 15 min) helps alot. I guess having a medical degree gives him insider info, ha. Too technical for me.
I mostly don't wait very long. And when I do, its never just 15. The leaf is usually cut first and then then I have to get the place ready where I'm gonna plant it, find a deli container, get the soil mix in, the label written, sometimes in there I get distracted, get a drink, someone needs something, phone calls, bathroom break, or notice plants I need to water. Sometimes I come back the next morning and remember i forgot to put them down, they are limp by then. Well sometimes I'll just put them down anway and if they are really bad I'll toss them and take new cuttings. If they were more special - I'll recut the stem, soak them a bit to bring them back, dry it off a bit with a papertowel and let it sit about 15 then plant it.
I have pretty good track record rooting leaves. But I did get a lot of av species leaves at the gessie convention that rotted - pretty disapointed about that.. And one lady in our violet club brings violet leaves to meetings and I've lost more of those than I've rooted...not sure why...I know they are the outer leaves she cut when she trims up her plants, so maybe that has something to do with it, but I use those leaves myself from my plants and don't have a problem. "?" .
tish
hey tish;
i have lots of violet leaves i could send you if you want.let me know if you are looking for any in particular.
mrsbonnie
mrsbonnie, that would be wonderful! I am not picky since I am a new collector. If there is anything that I have on my have list that you would like in return just let me know. or for postage .
Tish:o)
This message was edited Nov 29, 2009 12:13 PM
thanks for the tips everyone! I just cut and stuck in the soil though I did use rootone. I think also what I did wrong was that it got too much light in there and not enough "ventilation". My other ones that I start just to see if I could grow, did well but I never put covers on them. (these were just the common ones you get from stores)
Do some varieties stretch up? And some stay down? I have some plants in the same place but some stretch up (like picture posted before) and some look fine...
Tish,
Some AV's do grow more flat than others,but in general reaching up usually means they need a little more light and leaves curling under often means too much light or too much light from below.Violets have so many different types of foliage,everything from ruffled,spooned, girl,wasp,bustled and many more that no two grow exactly alike.Minis,variegated and dark leaved are supposed to require more light.....but take that with a grain of salt,because plants don't always do what they are predicted to do LOL.Experiment with lighting and move them around from time to time.Rotating plants also helps them grow much more symmetrical.
Lynn
I don't know how helpful this is but I have found that my plants have very different light needs. I have one that needs a tremendous amount of direct light and another that droops her leaves and hugs her sides anytime she gets close to the window. I do have one that seems to curl down a bit even if it's in dim light and another that seems to reach a bit even when it's in very bright light. Maybe as you said these are just the characteristics of the plants.
thanks just moved it for more light. (to see if it does better. Does the pot shape or size have anything to do with it also> I have heard sometimes if the pot is too big it can stretch.
I honestly do not see how the pot could affect it unless it wasn't even with the top of the pot of course so it had to reach up. It took me months to figure out some of mine and it can take weeks for it to really show that it's happy with what you did. There is one other possibility I'd forgotten and it sounds odd. My neighbor told me this and it turned out to be true for one of mine. If the leaves are reaching up but are sort of hovering over the crown tightly it could be that it is too much light. I had one I thought wanted more so I moved it to more light and it got worse. But I think that is not as common.
Hmmm....I will have to check out my pot and make sure i have it up enough. If it doesn't get better I will move it more away and see what it does. Thank you!
Hey Tish,
The first thing I learned after joining this forum was pot size DOES matter. If the pot size is too big it can rot the plant. The pot size for an a.v. should be 1/3 of the size of the a.v. measured across. If the violet measures 9 inches across and you divide it by three you will come up with 3 so that would be your pot size. The shape doesn't really matter and even though I only have a couple of square pots, I like them better because they don't fall over as easy as the round ones. I have also wicked mine and a lot of the members here do the same. It provides constant moisture for the plant yet it doesn't over water them.
Connie
Thanks aspenjocop! I knew I heard something about it. I will have to look into wicking them. This is something I haven't done...yet.
You do have to be very careful of the mix you use when you wick though or you can really overwater the poor things. If you try it remember to try only one or two plants for awhile and see how it works first before doing it with all of them. I am not sure it would have anything to do with reaching though but others would know more than I do.
I don't think wicking would really have anything to do with the reaching up either.I would also be careful and start with a few plants first to make sure your soil doesn't stay too wet.You can always adjust the soil mixture or the size of your wicking cord if needed.
Connie is so right about pot size.If the pot is too big the plant can very easily soak up too much water.