I've recently gotten hooked on propagating AVs from leaves. How do you know if you have more than one plant? If you do, do they need to be separated? I think MsC said she separates them when the leaves get about the size of dimes. The plant in question now is a mini, and I think I have three plants (because there are three places where new leaves seem to be forming-- three separate rosettes). The leaves are about the size of dimes, so shall I go for it?? Does this really mean there are three plants? This is the only chance I have with this mini, so I don't want to mess it up. Thanks for any advice!
--DanaK
Separating AV Babies
Thanks for asking the question Danak. I have a mini that I thought was going "bye-bye" because the leaves were all twisted and growing funny. Now those leaves have all dropped off, new one are growing in and I THINK I have two plants! I only have one thing to add to your question: Since all my standard AV's do so well as long as I just leave them alone, can I just leave these two plants in one pot and not divide them? It's a 2" pot with a wick. By leaving alone I mean I sit them in a bowl of Optimara AV food inhanced water for 1/2 hour once a week, and turn them in the window so they grow evenly. I just visit them daily to admire the blooms, but am careful not to touch them. *grin* Less is best with my pale green thumb!
Pati
danak - it sure sounds like you have three plantlets. I tend to leave babies on for as long as possible because I would rather have a good chunk of roots to divide, as well as a solid cluster of leaves. My rule of thumb is for the biggest baby leaf to be about half the size (in width) of the parent leaf. But, even rootless babies (or even a baby leaf) will grow (but just a bit slower), so I don't think separating early risks much.
In my propagation pics in the other thread, all the minis are ready to be removed from the parent leaf. Some of them have a habit of creating only one baby (check out the rosette in the bottom right of the first pic, or the group of three in the second pic) - but I can usually put the parent leaf down again and grow another rosette. I will probably divide most of the standard ones too, although the biggest leaf will probably stay put for a while longer.
Pati - sounds like yours "suckered"? Suckers can be removed and rooted if you want nice rosettes of leaves or another plant, but otherwise it's fine to leave them together. The only thing I would look out for - and I can't tell from your post if this might be an issue for you - is dead roots in the pot. If a big portion of the original plant died, the roots on it could also die. After a while, you could have a pot half full of dead roots, which is bad because they will rot. But this might not be a problem in your situation - it's hard to tell without a picture. So, I would leave it alone but watch the pot - if the roots rot, you should be able to tell - it will stay wet for longer and longer becaure there aren't enough roots to soak up water.
Thanks so much. I'll watch the pot for excess water. Until that happens, I'll just let it stay undisturbed. It looks so happy and is really growing fast. If I ever get my !@#$ camera to cooperate I'll try to take a picture.
Pati
Thanks, Keyring! I think I'll try separating them-- since it's a mini, the dime-sized leaves are approaching the size of the parent leaf. What fun to get three plants from one attempt!
Good luck with yours, too, Pati. :)
--DanaK
Hello,
Update: For a week now I've had three separate minis, and I was able to replant the parent leaf. The baby plants are all doing well, and hopefully I'll have more later! Thanks for the advice.
--DanaK