Problem with separating babies

I am having a problem keeping the tiny little babies alive when I separate them from their mommy. I will have like 3 good size ones that do fine but the tiny little ones that are left die if I try to separate them. So do I include those with the new plantlet, leave it with the mother plant until it is bigger, or what do I do?

Jesse

I try to leave the little ones with the mom if possible. But, sometimes you can't save them all. You just do the best you can. Sometime you can get a piece of the mom to go with a couple of the little ones. That helps.

Thanks Nanna. I think that I will try to do that in the future. The tiny babies always die so from now on maybe I should leave it with its mom if possibe.

Jesse

I think that will work. I know it is so exciting to have babies and want to transplant them, but the longer you wait the better. I remember reading that the leaves should be at least 1/2 in long before transplanting and there should be 4 leaves per little plant. That should give you a beginning point.

Jesse, I'm having somewhat of the same problem with a few of mine. They were at least the size nanna recommended above, but the newest leaves have died on just a few of mine. I'm wondering if I set them in the potting mix too deeply. A couple of them have bounced back and seem to be fine, a couple died, and a couple are still in limbo. Either way, if I'm in doubt at all anymore, I'll just leave them with Mom a while longer.

Here's another trick I have found that works. The little guys, once seperated don't like to be too wet, but they do like a little humidity. If you have a cover of some kind you can put over them it helps. At the nursery I go to they have plant trays with covers. They are used to grow seedlings, etc. I think the set is about $3 maybe $4 at the most. They work very well and hold about 24 to 30 solo cups of leaves or babies. They are high enough that the small plants have a home for at least another 6 to 8 weeks.

Jesse, I recently separated 11 babies from three different mama plants. Alot of the babies I thought were foundering came back, so dont lose hope. I planted my babies in those self watering pots and put them under grow lights for 12 hours a day and they responded very well. Granted I did lose a few, which made me sad, but the majority came along very well. Like Nanna suggested I had also used those seedling trays on some leaves I put into soil, and I even got some plants from those. Its slow going, but completely worth it. My small babies were not planted very deep in the potting soil...really just deep enough to keep them upright. The leaves which touched the soil eventually died off, but the bulk of the baby remained intact. I think alot of it is trial and error; violets are like people sometimes...what works for one does not necessarily work for the other. It sounds like you are on the right track though. Good luck! :)

You could always try putting them in a terrarium type container after you separate them for a week or so. I have excellent luck doing tiny babies this way. Go easy on the water at first too. Of course I always drown everything so maybe that isn't the case for you??

MsC

ditto what MsC said - I treat the new babies like leaves, because they don't have a lot of roots yet. They do better with humidity for a while, so I basically just put them back with other leaves. I also use potting mix that is damp, not wet - just as I do when I put leaves down. In a couple of weeks, they are usually ready to move out of the humid environment into regular room air. I usually give them a boots of very weak fertilizer and rooting agent then.

Oh and just a note... remember when you get ready to remove them from the terrrarium set up, to do it slowly..lol You can open the lid, bagie or what ever you have it in for a day or two and then open it more after that. I try to take about a week to acomplish this but...............................

Shame on me....I just toasted a cute lil plant by removing it to fast. }:>/



Hang in there....

MsC