I have two varieties, 'Winnie The Pooh' and 'Midget Gumdrop', that just will not stop suckering. On one hand, this is good, as I have bunches of little rooted suckers to share with everyone this spring. On the other hand, I can't get a mature plant to produce blooms... all they want to do is sucker! This is happening with so many of the ones that are getting a little bigger that I don't think it's due to crown damage or anything.
I know some varieties tend to sucker more than others... but with these two it's getting ridiculous!
Any suggestions? Less/More/Different fertilizer? Less/More light?
Maybe the folks who get some of the little babies will figure out the trick for me. :-)
Any suggestions for discouraging suckering?
Not sure but I think it is the nature of the beast, especially with minis and semis. I have the same problem with snuggles little dreamer.
I know that a feed high in potassion encourages flowering. i used to use it with my pellies.
I know that a plant will flower when " it thinks it is in danger". Are your pots maybe a bit big so it provides more room for rooting?
I know that with pelargoniums, peeps usually cut donw on water as well as keeping them in a very small pot for them to flower.
I know some varieties tend to sucker more than others.
Miniature are more prone to sucker. But I like this. When I separating Midget Lilian I had two good size plantlets. they each went into two inch pots. Then I has a tiny little 4 leaf baby size of a dime or so. I put it into a thumb print pot . In no time the pot was full of roots and I had three more good size Midget Lillian. The way I had to breat them off probaly as they got too big in the little pot O ended up with three big suckers no roots and put each in a 2 oz. dixie cup !
Suckers are a great way to get a new plant to share faster than by leaf. Chimeras well the more they sucker the better ! Bells O Ireland is a sukcer maniac. lol
Here they have given me a dozen suckers or so . Great they were sliing $20.00 on Ebay I have more to share :))
If you like Suckers you can take them off and grow more plants if you don't like them take them off and throw them away !
My plants always bloom even with suckers. I took suckers off my Russian Sport a few days before blooming but the plant is full of buds !
I don't know what to say as I like Suckers !
With the little suckers on these plants, I have been putting them 3 or even 5 in a 1 oz thumbprint pot. By the time they get large enough for a thumbprint pot of their own, most have already started suckering!
I like suckers too... easy way to propagage... but not at the expense of flowers or a nice looking plant! I must have a dozen little 'Midget Gumdrop' plantlets and at least twice that number of 'Winnie the Pooh'... none have ever bloomed, and only a couple of them have a decent appearance (and those only after relentless sucker-plucking).
Maybe I need to group them all together & cut back on their water.
If their dry they are going to get scared and sucker even more.
I know when I put the little one of Midget Lilian in the thumb print it grew m three good size plantlets in no time. But I am happy as people were asking me if I had one left.
And Laurie boguth a Winnie the Pooh when in Miami it was a pot full. I took two good size ones for me. Potted each in it's own 2 inch pot ! She still had a pot full !
I also know my minis sucker less in grown on windowsills.
Other than this you just have to keep taking them off.
Hmmm.... if yours sucker less on windowsills, maybe I should try giving my troublesome ones a little less light. ?
Allison, I do keep taking them off... but the plants keep producing suckers rather than getting bigger or flowering or doing anything much other than producing suckers! So I really need to try to change something about the way I am growing them.
i still dont know how to reconize a sucker. can some one polease help?
If your plant seems to have more than one crown, or if you see a little "rosette" of leaves coming from the main stem... that's a sucker! Trailers sucker a lot and are supposed to... other AVs should have just one crown, but if you like the look of your multi-crowned plant, there's no need to chop at it (unless you want to show it).
Just above the big leaf at the bottom of this photo of 'Rob's Cherry Soda', you can see a small sucker forming.
Here's another sucker on 'Pride of Columbus'. Do you see the small leaves forming a little rosette or crown just below the main crown of the plant? A new leaf will generally point outward from the crown. A new sucker that's forming will also have leaves pointing in several other directions, all coming from the same point on the main stem -- that's the point where the sucker can be carefully broken away from the main plant if you want to use it to make a new plant.
I know nothing about suckering and how to prevent it but I just gotta comment on Pride of Columbus, what a beauty! LOVE the variegation!
Perhaps changing the fertilizer to a lower N in the NPK so that it will want to bloom? Just a thought.
maybe cross post to another forum or do you go to local AVSA meetings? I can ask when I go next week.
I think it's something many people have asked for some 50 plus years and I don't think there is an real answer to it. Some varieties are more prone to suckering. Then people want Chimeras to sucker and they don't Pople have to cut them up take crowns off to make them sucker. lol Same with trailers. Then you get plants that you don't want them to and they sucker.
Just have to take them off grow and share them/sell them. Or toss them in the trash . You can even put them into little bags like you do they leaves and send them to people !
I went to Rob's to find the answer and I was right
"The only real solution is to not grow these varieties "
And one was under watering, not proper watering can casue them. Mostly they inherit them.
Question: I have a couple of violets that always seem to get extra sets of leaves growing from the center of the plant. Eventually, I have to divide these plants when they get bigger but the problem will reappear. What can I do?
http://www.robsviolet.com/faq_page_8.htm#crown%20suckers
Sometimes, however, suckering occurs even under good cultural conditions. Since this habit seems confined to a few varieties in particular, our guess is that this trait is genetic in nature
Question: I've had problems with compound crowns in trailers, also occasionally a compound crown sucker in a miniature. This occurs even in plants that haven't been subjected to any unusual stress. Also, leaves from these plants will produce offspring with this same habit.
Read answer
http://www.robsviolet.com/faq_page_9.htm#crown%20suckers
Question: The crown of my plant stops growing and divides into 3-4 little sucker-crowns. The plant seems to be dividing at the crown and I can't seem to distinguish which one is the true crown. I had a plant do this previously, and when the two crowns were large enough, I split them and got two plants
To read the answer once again go to Rob's at Violet Barn :))
http://www.robsviolet.com/faq_page_6.htm#crown%20suckers
So, I'm a bit confused, why is a trailer called a trailer if a standard will sucker too and could it start trailing?
does that make it a trailer too.
or I guess what Im trying to say is why is a trailer called a trailer? Isn't is just a suckering AV?
help!
No but Robert's sleeping he wants me off line . lol Go to Rob's trailers or I will explain more tomorrow :))
Laurie I started a thread on tips for trailer growing and also explained how trailers have natural branching habits growing Multi crowns.
And reg. Av plants don't grow multi crowns they grow suckers which are deformities, caused by stress or genetics.
Please add other tips on African violet trailers !
Thanks, adding that to our sticky page. (which I worked on earlier and will try and edit tonight)
Great ! Thanks Laurie :))
I have had a great glob of Suckers on my beloved 'Rob's Argyle Socks.' I think, accordning to Allison's posts, I let it dry out too long between waterings. Heck; I will transplant it and watch the watering, then have some to share in future.
Kenton
Critter I'd be happy to take some of those pesky suckers off your hands any old time! LOL!
And Kenton, that's a beauty!
Yes you can mail suckers just as easy as a leaf !
Kenton take those suckers off and grow some new babues ! Your plant is the most gorguous 'Rob's Argyle Socks ! Then it will bloom for you !
April, I think everyone I trade with will be getting some of these "pesky suckers" in their box! LOL
Well I have got to find something to trade with you because I think those "pesky suckers" would make a great addition to anyone's collection. You are the lucky one. Another idea, you could give everybody on your Christmas list a new AV!
Thats a good idea too April. I like the article Ryan on VV wrote about Sharing Suckers it was really nice !
Gosh a lot of people would not have got fancy lant from me if not for the suckers. Some are rare, hard to find and expensive too. You figure most nice size plants are around $ 5.00 plus shipping. The three suckers I put down last week or so of Midget Lilian are getting really big already :))
I love sharing suckers. A friend in Canada sent me a Chimera sucker in the mail tiniest little thing and it had a happy trip :))
Don't get the idea that I want to discourage all suckering on my plants... they're an easy way to propagate. But on these two varieties, the problem is that I have a small main plant and a zillion tiny plantlets, and nobody is growing, and nobody is blooming... all they want to do is sucker!
Wonder if you upped the nitrogen on the fertilizer a bit, would that change things? I do agree w/ Allison's comment regarding the need for the right ph in order for the plant to be able to use the available nutrients.
Upping nitrogen would make more suckers
Alllison which one is responsible for blooming? That would be the one to increase, wouldn't it?
No keeping number equal is best !
Each Nutrient has a special purpose
Once you become acquainted with each one of them you'll have a better appreciation of their impotance of properly feeding your African violets.
" Thought middle number is Phposphorus increases flowering as reading above this food has other important functions. If you are growing to show they will use a bloom booster after de-budding for weeks just a few weeks before to bring on and increase bloom. This is not recomened use all the time. Study has showed African violets food is best with close or equal numbers "
Rob from violet barn recomends never using a large middle number or bloom booster. He says his 25 years of experience and has never used it.
He says clost to even numbers always is best.
I don't think pH is the issue... even newly repotted little plantlets of these varieties are suckering. I'm going to skip their fertilizer for a couple of rounds, then switch to a "bloom booster" formula to see if that helps.
I figure if I use diluted bloom booster fertilizer, that will give them the phorphorus they need while delivering less nitrogen with it... just another experiment to try with these guys!
ph it's not PH and bloom booster won't help either . May mess up your plants. Rob has a lot of information about suckers and about plant food and not using bloom booster.
Right. Well, nothing else has worked.... so it's time to start experimenting... I certainly have enough to work with! LOL Actually, I noticed today that some of the little ones in one of my boxes (with lids) are starting to come along and shape up nicely (still very small, so we'll see)... maybe the extra humidity is helping them.