I was about to repot this yesterday when I noticed it looks to be 3 plants in 1 pot. It doesn't look like suckers, but since I'm new to AV's, I thought I'd show the pros and find out the best way to divide them.
Debbie
Rob's Outer Orbit repotting
Hard to see all 3 from 1 shot so here's another one.
And from the top.
Nice plant you have there plants :)) You can genlty separate each plant . Each plant looks like they will have their own roots. Plant each plant in their onw new clean 2 or 2.25 inch pot ! Now you will have three happy plants !
Rob's Outer Orbit (8738) 07/25/1998 (R. Robinson) Semidouble dark blue pansy/bright pink spots, white edge. Variegated dark green and white, quilted/red back. Semiminiature
If the pot came like that when you bought it, there may have been 3 leaf babies potted up together -- I always figure that's a bonus!
If you loosen the rootball from the top and side, you should be able to gently pull apart the 3 plantlets... sometimes they'll be connected just below the soil surface like Siamese Twins, and you'll have to gently break them apart. For me, the tricky bit is untangling the leaves as I separate the crowns, but just go slowly, and it'll be fine,
Oh boy! Thanks yal, I didn't think they looked like suckers. I think I have suckers on my Smokey Moon.
Will the little solo cups work VT?
Critter, he came like that. I got him on Ebay. Got nice plants from this seller.
I use 3 oz or 5 oz plastic cups (with holes poked in the bottom) all the time for potting up AVs... I go more by the size of the rootball than anything else... once a larger plant fills the little cup with roots, it gets up-potted to the bigger size cup, and eventually (if it's a standard) ends up in a 4 inch pot.
Once you've separated them, don't be afraid to pinch off additional leaves to end up with a smaller but more symmetrical crown...
I've got a couple of leaf-grown plantlets of 'Rob's Outer Orbit' -- can't wait to see those cool blooms!
Your plants look just wonderful!
Debbie the solo cups will be great ! I keep mine in small pots until roots fill them up but I do like to trans-plant Minis/Semis every 3-4 months even if it goes into the same size pot but I always give it a new pot/cup and soil.
I was amazed the first Av meeting I went to the size of blooming plants in 3 oz solo cups for raffle win. They use to sell raffle tickets and you could win these beautiful plants ! This is when I learned all my plants were in pots too large and I trans-planted them all. What was cool they had the best soil-less mix the group made for sale and pots, and more !
I got a great discount of cost for being a member ! Then a member picked me everything up wholesale and they came to my home and showed me how to mix it as I used too much and even at a discount was cheaper to make myself. It was so much fun !
Speaking of Sports :))
Rob's Outer Orbit (8738) 07/25/1998 (R. Robinson) Semidouble dark blue pansy/bright pink spots, white edge. Variegated dark green and white, quilted/red back. Semiminiature
>>>>> Sported to >>>
Rob's Inner Orbit (9037) 05/31/2001 (R. Robinson) Semidouble pink pansy/white edge. Variegated dark green and white, quilted. Semiminiature
Cool !
This message was edited Dec 20, 2006 10:04 AM
Great Surprise!!!. I have found that if you let the soil dry out just a bit, it is easier to seperate the plants. Be careful then untangling the leaves from eachother. Again, if the soil is on the dry side the leaves don't snap as easily and you will have more of the plant to repot.
Good luck. The plants in the picture look very healthy.
Good tips, Nanna... Yes, if the soil is nearly dry the roots will be easy to handle... but if the root ball is so dried out that it's hard like a brick, a little water will help... and the stems and leaves are definitely less fragile when the plant is a little dry as opposed to right after it's been watered... I always forget that until the freshly watered plant is in my hand, halfway to being repotted, LOL.
I usually forget too. That is until I'm seperating and the leaves start snapping off. Oh, dear!
Nanna, I read that in a 1994 AVSA magazine just a few days ago and thought that sounded oppisite of what it should be. I was gonna flush the soil before I divided him, but didn't just because of your post. Thanks!! I lost 2 leaves and pulled off 2 more. I figured I'd put em down for insurance and possible trades in the spring.
OK, this was totally stressful!! LOL My first dividing, potting and wicking all on 1 poor AV. So here's a few pics to see what yal think.
The one on the right divided easy, but the 2 on the left wouldn't break apart, so I had to cut them apart. All 3 only have roots on about a third of the plantlet.
Here they are potted up. I left most of the leaves on thinking they may start to grow in the right direction now that they're not crowded any more. If yal see leaves that are too messed up and won't fix themselves, let me know. I want to learn.
Like the one on the top right, that little mis-shaped leaf need to come off, but what about the big hole it'll leave? There won't be nothin on that side.
This message was edited Dec 21, 2006 7:28 AM
And here's a side view.
Debbie
They are Perfect ! Great job ! They are perfect beautiful healthy plants ! Yippee ! Congratulations :))
I agree! Give yourself a big pat on the back. Well done!
Well done!
I don't think the symmetry is bad on any of them... I would let them grow out a bit before you took off any leaves. Go easy on the water... remember, they don't have many roots right now to take up water, and they would hate to sit in soggy soil. Sometimes it can be helpful to have the potting mix just barely moist and keep the plants crisp by putting in a high humidity environment (dome or plastic bag works great to hold in a little extra humidity, but if you use a bag prop it up so the leaves don't touch, and leave a ventilation hole or two so it doesn't get too wet in there).
:-)
Thanks for the comments! They still look fine today. Critter, the humidity is about 58% where my plant stand is. Do they still need more?
Will go easy on the water too!
Debbie
HUMIDITY
40% - 50% relative humidity is usually ideal
Way to go!!! Sometimes I keep the divided plants in a plastic bag for a week or two. It seems to help with the trama. But sounds like you already have lots of humidity.
You did a Great Job with them.WOW!! Sitting in their new pots they look right at home and very happy : )
Nancy
That humidity level should be fine without bagging, but if your leaves start looking a little limp you can always pop something over the plant.
What are you using to keep your humidity levels up around your plants? (I figure the rest of your house can't be at that nice level of humidity during winter in OK.) I haven't measured the humidity in my plant room, but the extra water in various containers and trays means it's better than the rest of the house... I think I might try watering alternate shelves on Wednesday & Sunday so half of the plant pots are moist at any given point during the week, which should also help raise humidity around those that haven't been watered as recently.
WHILE humidity IS IMPORTAnt for growing plants and African violets do love it. Yes African violets do love 70 to 80 percent Humidity most likly our home will not have this amount of Humidity. Some sights and books say 40 to 50 percent is ideal. Put AVs are getting 50-60 persent they will be happy.
Group your plants together will incread humidity by 15 percent ! But important do not place your Avs too close together as their leaves should not touch. While humidity is important to give your AV'S enough room to grow and to maintain sufficient air circulation in order to prevent the growth of potentially dangerous fungi . Air curculation is important year round . ALSO many other simple ways to increase humidity Little cups of water. Dampe pebbles . Oh they love kitchens and bathroom running water !
Self-watering device which uses capillary matting, even if you don't want to bottom water, or wick water you can put grids with water in bottom for your plants sitting on top not in just a little water is needed.
A similarand simple solution is to place containers of water around the plants. During the winter some might want to use a humidifier.Understand both heating and air conditioning can dry out the air in different ways to some extent. In the winter, use a warm-mist humidifier so that the increase in humidity does not affect the air temperature. In the summer, use a cool-mist humidifier
Good help is to place a hygrometer around your plants in on stand shelves .
If the level of humidity is too low , lower than 50 , your AVS transpiration rate will be greater than its ability to absorb waterThis will cause slow plant growth, buds won't open foliage will begin to lose it natural luster.. ( Also understand Buds dropping, not opening, no bloom, slow growth can be becasue of Phosphorus Deficiency too )
Transpiration is the movement of water though your AV's and other plants. Transpiration has 2 primary functions . One it distributes water and nutrients from roots to the leaves and other parts of the plant. The other function of transpiration is it provides a way of regulations your plants temperatures especially through the evaporation of water from the foliage. Plants are just like people and need everything we need !
Debbie your plants are healthy, your himdity is good if you wanted just to place a few solo cups of water around plants would increase your Humidity .
By baggie you are taking away from the important gibing your Violets enough room to grow and to maintain sufficient air circulation in order to prevent the growth of potentially dangerous fungi.
.
This message was edited Dec 23, 2006 8:52 AM
critter, I think the humidity is high in that room cause most of my house plants that live outside in the summer are in there and I mist all the B. Ficas Trees, Philos, Spider Plants and whatever else is in there daily. I don't have a humidifier in there. I haven't checked the humidity levels in the rest of the house. I should tho, I have a few AV in the breakfast nook so I may need to use some of Violet Treasures suggestions to raise it some.
ooohhh.... daily misting.... my plants are so jealous! ;-)
Stick some Eleanor's Vf-11 in your misting and foliage feed your plants all of them will Love it !