do AV's get? Most of mine are rather large plants in large pots. They are doing good. When I look at the pics on this forum, they all look so small and dainty. Mine are all noids of course and bought from various places but they all came in the standard little 2 or 3" plastic pot. I would guess and say that most of mine are in pots 8" tall. Do I need to do something to them? Do they die after they reach a certain size? Is there a world record for the largest AV?lol
How big
There are Micro Minis that grow 2-3 inches and mini's 3-6 inches , Semi-Miniatures grow 6-8 inches . A standard African violet plant starts at 8 inches for small standard and then there are Large. I myself enjoy growing Micor and miniatures plants. But when you have a spectacular Av large I do not mind ! I have grown some Large growing African Violets to 20-24 inches across. I have seen lots of them this size and larger at shows and also people posting here.
A plant that is re-potted and groomed properly can live forever !
Was not long ago Diane posted a plant she had over 7 years stunning !
Trailers are different Miniatures, Semi-Miniatures , Standard..but their size is by size the leaf. The plants can get as large as you want to grow them . They make great ground covering, and fun for hanging baskets !
Thank you! I never thought of trying them in hanging baskets.
Dawn
Violet Treasure is right. Standard sized varieties typically grow 10-12" in diameter when grown as houseplants, and will grow comfortably in a 4" pot when mature. When grown for exhibition, well-grown symmetrical specimens can reach a diameter of 18" to 24", with overlapping leaves as large as one's hand.
In general, good rule of thumb on pot size is the pot should be about 1/3 the leaf span.
African violets if well cared for can live indefinitely. Ethel Champion (grower/hybridizer) recently passed away and still had her original plant 'Superman' from the 1950's.
Who has the world record as far as size? Good question. Would be interesting to know.
Have you ever attended an african violet show? If not, you would love going and seeing all the spectacular show plants.
http://www.maavs.org/
There will be a Mid-Atlantic Violet Society show and sale coming up on Oct. 26-28 in New York state. Click on the link for more information.
BTW Dawn...how is your gorgeous Dragon Wing? Did you ever take cuttings?
Snowrose, It is still doing really good. I hate to cut it. On the other hand I had some more planted outside in a shaded area and I noticed that a pieced had broken off ( in know this was a month ago) I just stuck that in the dirt and forgot about it. Yesterday, I was out there planting something happen to look at and it had rooted kept growing as if it had never been broke. I had no idea they rooted that easy!
When I do (soon I know) I was thinking of potting a bunch up in one pot and then separate them towards the spring. Is this good?
btw, I'm surprised your remembered that.
Hard to forget that beauty! Sure, go ahead and give your cuttings a try. Looks as if they will root for you, no problem. Outdoors in the shade, the humidity is higher so if you take your cuttings and root indoors, you might want to tent/bag with clear plastic. Keep your cuttings out of direct sun. If a gentle tug meets with resistance, you've got it made!
Gonna do it tomorrow. Thanks for the compliment. I think I'd kick myself if I didn't.
I was just going to ask if anyone had read what is the largest AV.
I've still yet to make it to a show to see a truly large 2' one. One day. Denver isn't too far off.
Oh yes I have seen them two feet and bigger ! First time I saw Ann at a show she was perfect 2 ft..maybe large with the perfect layers of leaves and loages of flowers !
I've grown a couple Av's 2 ft. And my C.S.Hisako 2 feet with each leaf larger and wider than my hand and arm !
We had some big shows being the group is over 50 years young with many long time growers !
Old picture but was my first show and I was buying all I could !
Super article by Richard Nicholas on growing large showplants. He entered a collection of which the plants were 30"-32" across.
http://www.lsavc.org/final_docs/GrowingTXSize.pdf
Great article, Heidi, thanks! I'd love to see those monster plants; how glorious!
That is a great article Thanks !
I managed to grow my Guelph's Christmas and EK-Snezhnyi Bars ( Russian Snow Leopard) to 24 inches and they were young plants.
I sold them for $25.00 each to a local Av friend from local Av club. These two plants and few other I have grown large were easy to grow and fun !
I seen a many Tiger plants grown hugh. One is posted some where in the MSN group VV . This grower use's only VF-11 and her plant was only like a year old and 24 plus inches across. During the growing process she even had problems with thrips but was treated with no ill affects and kept growing and growing stunning.
The large plants I saw at shows were so stunning . I know on my two plants above the leaves were as big as my hand or larger !
Fun memories !