I need to grow my collection for my Trade Bunny's sake. Yeah, that's it! That sounds good! LOL
Where is the best, and (pretty affordable, I've almost spent all my Christmas money! LOL) place to get leaves? Or do any of you have any that you'd be willing to send to me? Getting the ones from Allison has given me the confidence to try more. Our weather for the next week doesn't look too horrible (lows in the upper 30s, which is about the best we're gonna get this time of year), and February is usually when we get our coldest weather, so now might be a good time to try and get some to put down.
If any of you have any to share, I don't have any leaves or plants to trade yet, but I can do postage with a promise to share mine later on. *sweet smile*
Anyway, if you have suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks so much! Hugs to you all!
I want more leaves to put down...
Many places sell leaf packets but I usually don't buy them unless it is something I can't find anywhere else.
It gets expensive and there is no gaurantee the leaf will root.
I would be happy to send you some leaf packets if you would like.
Are you looking for any particular kinds?
You can put a leaf or two down from the plants I sent you also !
Box of leaves is on it's way to you tomorrow :))
Amy I think the only place that may ship now is Bluebird Greenhouse if weather permits. They sell leaves one for $1.75 I think ? And Russian leaves one for $4.75 plus shipping.
Violet Gallery takes orders now and starts shipping in May /maybe April if warm. Orders ship in order they come in. I have my Spring order placed and Lorry, Jill
and others have placed their order. This is a great option for you too . You can go to their web sight pick out what you want email it , or mail it pay by Check or
money order. If you pay by credit card they don't bill you until they ship.
Then there is Ebay most sellers ship leaves now .
I have a box of leaves on their way to you . Enjoy !
Allison
Lorry, I'd love to have some leaves from you. I'm not picky, but I do like blue blossoms, speckled blossoms, and variegated foliage. Anything is great though, so I'd be thrilled with any of them. :o)
Allison, I wasn't sure if the AVs I got from you were too young to take leaves from or not. I'll look at them tomorrow and see if I'm brave enough to take any from them. They're just so beautiful the way they are! LOL
You're so sweet to send more leaves to me! I'll get everything ready to put them down.
No Russian leaves for me right now. That's too rich for my blood! I'll check out the others, though, but seems like I recall your saying sometimes it's a better value to just buy the plant and take leaves from it. I forgot about that till now.
Thanks so much for offering to feed my addiction - oh wait, we've been through that, I'm not addicted...it's my *hobby* LOL
Sorry to late . Some Russian and rare leaves are packed for you ! I only buy special and rare plants
I use to buy just leaves by the hundred. But then many
sellers sell one leaf. And if it dies gone. So sometimes
I buy plants and take them apart :))
The mini's most you can take a leaf or ywo..some you may have to wait a month or two ..always good idea to put leaves down of each plant you get for insurance if it does not get use to your enviroment. Then for sharing and trading.
African violets are fun to grow but even more fun to share :))
Allison
She's hooked. Just a week ago she told Bob no leaves. And I said no everyone gets leaves in their boxes ! You need to have the joy of growing by leaf :))
It's fun, adds to your collection, and even more fun to share all your new babies as most often one leaf is going to give you at least two babies maybe 3,5 even 7 :))
A box of leaves is on it's way Amy ! Have fun !
Allison
I have a thing for variegation also..so I am sure I can hook ya up :)
Give me a couple of days to get a package together for ya!
RainGazer, I don't have enough to send you any right now, but when I get some, I will send them your way!! Question about leaves: when you take a leaf off a blooming plant does it hurt the blooms> I have two plants that are blooming and have some extra leaves. I want to cut them off and plant them, but I don't want to hurt the blooms on the mom plant. Should I wait until they are not blooming? : ) Have a good day, everyone.
You won't hurt the blooms hun!
I actually like thinning my leaves now and again!
Taking a leaf from under a new bud is supose to be the best leaf to progate with :))
I've been staring at my leaves, channeling positive energy to them. I'm convinced that will make them root faster! I even got brave and repotted that first little mini that started all this. Glad I did, too. Yuck, the soggy, peaty mess it was in. :oP
I'm going to check out the plants you sent me, Allison, when the other leaves get here to see if I can find a leaf or two I feel comfortable taking off to put down. Is it bad of me to have been sort of happy to find a leaf that had broken off one of my noids? Put that one down right away, I did! LOL I've got a bag of MG potting mix and perlite all fixed up, sterilized, in a ziplock bag so I can put them down right away. I made extra the other day just for that purpose.
All these other plain jane houseplants I've got are gonna have to go! They're taking up precious AV space...
hadfield, that sounds great! Thank you so much! I can't wait til I have enough to share with everyone.
Here's my Walmart AV that, with Allison's help deciphering the label, I'm assuming to be Ultra Violet Flash. It's a bit washed out in this picture because of the bright flash.
And here's the noid I got. The label says RII I Y. Don't have a clue what that's supposed to mean. It's pretty anyway, I think. I got two of each. Yes, I have down leaves of both. LOL
It's beautiful. But does not look like a Mini ?
How many inches across and what size pot. Yes over watering is number one reason Av's die :((
Allison
Yes Ultra Violet Flash gorgous but is large growing plant.
The other one is most likely Ultra Violet, or Rhapsody/Optimara.
I'm thinking Rhapsodie Dolly
All four of them are in 4 inch pots and are between 8 and 9 inches across. I need to repot them, but haven't yet. I'll do that while I am putting down your leaves. I sure have found a lot of standards I like, so I certainly can't say I don't like or don't want standards. I think what draws me to the minis is that on some of them the mass of the blooms is actually larger than the plant itself.
Second thought if you got it same store as Ultra Violet Flash//could most likly be Ultra Violet Meteor
FC
I just looked it up, and was about to post that it looked more like Ultra Violet Meteor. The blooms aren't as frilly-looking as Rhapsodie Dolly.
If I'm looking at the pictures at AVSA and I see one that I like, where can I go to find out if it is a mini, semi-mini, standard, or trailer?
http://home.earthlink.net/~sestes1373/avsearch.html
African Violets Search Page
Keep in mind plants from Nurseries are going to have heavy soil not good for wicking and can easliy get over watered. I take all the soil off and change it.
Going by the 1/3 rules helps with potting. Mini's grow about 3-6 inches under is Micro mini's ...semi-miniatures are 6-8 inches , then standards and Large. Now theses are measurments of a mature plant not a baby.
1/3 rule is the pot should be the pot is1/3 the size of a plant. So a 6 inch plant in a 2 inch pot. Mini's and Semi;s never need to be in a larger pot than 2" or 2.50" inch pot. I grow some in one inch pots ! Yes mini's sure can bloom !
9-12 inches a 3 nch pot.
12-up 4 inch...most African violets will never use a pot larger than 6 inches.
I like low pots. I like using Pan Pots ( bulb pans) for trailers, Streps, Chiritas, Epsicas and more :))
In our sticky if more info where to buy pots, pot sizes, transplanting !
Excellent! I'll use that link a lot! Thank you, Allison!
Yeah at least then you can read the info on the plants. Now you must get First Class :))
RainGazer, it has been a hectic day at work. I just sat down and read what I wrote at lunch. The way I put that was totally wrong. I said I don't have any extra leaves yet, but I have extra leaves. Ha! I am so sorry. What I meant was....I need to put a few leaves down for the Bunny Trade: ), then I will send you some. Several people have sent/offered to send stuff to me. Great people : ) Glad you are here!!!!!
I understand what you meant, hadfield. :o)
Thank you!
I got the box of leaves from you today, Allison! Some of those leaves are huge! So pretty! The foliage is as pretty (or more so) as the flowers on some of them. I can't wait til I have time to look up pictures of all of them. I'll put them down a bit later this afternoon and will let you know how I do.
Thank you so much!
WOW Super I will Dmail you info on them ! I sent you some rare Russian leaves too !
Many Babies ! Enjoy ! Allison
I didn't forget about you hun!
I am going to pluck some leaves this weekend and mail them out :)
I wasn't worried a bit, Lorry! As much as I nag and ask questions around here, how could you forget me? LOL All I ask is that you let me know when you send them. I don't go to the post office every day as a general rule, but if I know I have a package like this on its way, I make a point to go first thing every morning. Don't want them sitting there any longer than they have to. :o)
Thank you so much, Lorry!
I will be popped them out on Monday morning before work...along with Pam's Bougainvilla *SP?*
I should habve quite a little collection for you! I am also going to attempt to send you some a couple of plantlets and see if they make it there safely.
My house is over run with them at the moment!