I am so excited!!!! Allison told me how to start these and then gave me a website which was a great tutorial on starting new african violets the easy way....just have to share what i learned with pic. Do I have the little stem and leaf planted deep enough in the vermiculite...she also said in the tutorial to keep about an inch of water in the bottom of the tray.
Excellent ! I don't know about the water ? I know Rachel does this. I have done it in the hot summer before babies arrived, but winter the water will get cold and keep soil too moist ?
I'd keep warm, under lights close, some use heat mats in Winter !
Happy Growing great job !
Allison, I have gro lights in the kitchen....each light attached at the top of each shelf makes the shelf very warm...the african violets that I grow there are getting giant...I think because the heat of each shelf.
I have another question for you....if I propagate a variegated leaf will it necessarily produce another beautiful variegated foliage AV?
I put my finger in the water and it is very warm....do I leave the lights on all night? I think I will.....I know that usually one doesn't, but I will tonight until I can get them on the heating mat tomorrow.
Bettygail,
This is how I propagate my African Violets or other gesneriads. I have a mixture that I use for all of my AVs. It is one-third African Violet soil and two-thirds Perlite. I use this to start my AVs as well as grow all AVs, episcias, streps, etc. in. I have been using this method most of the time and it has really been great. I did try a few other soils in the beginning but nothing has worked as well as what I use now. One time I put down 108 leaves and now I have hundreds of AVs. I hope there are people that want to trade this spring because I have so many to trade. I am in the process right now of taking all the babies apart and putting all of them their own pots.
I will be glad to help you in any way that I can. All you have to do is ask. And the others on this forum are great too. They taught me most of what I know about AVs. I tried this and that in the beginning and finally found what works best for me. I think everyone has their own unique way of doing things but this is the thing that has worked best for me.
Jesse
Bettygail, I'm by no means an expert. I lost almost 1/4 of the first leaves I put down in Nov. I had em covered with a plastic dome and they got too wet and rotted.
But, I'm thinking you may wanna pull the leaves up just a bit. I don't thing the bottom of the leaves should be touching the vermiculite.
Another thing you may try if you have more leaves is to try different methods and see which works best. I got a plant a few weeks ago that 1/3 of the leaves were broken all on 1 side so when I removed leaves to even it up I ended up with 9 good leaves. So I thought, since I'm new to this leaf thing, it would be a good time to try different ways. So I've got some in my AV potting mix, in just vermiculite, just perlite, perlite and vermiculite, and water!! LOL It's really fun when the babies start coming out of the soil!!
Debbie
Gail you did you leaves " PERFECT"
There as many ways of doing them as there are " Growers !!" !!!
you did exactly like Rachel did here on her sight ! And she has been growing I think like 30 plus years !
http://www.rachelsreflections.com/violets3.htm#basket
If you want the leaves close you can put something under them to lift closer to light.
If water is warm a half inch in bottome like Rachel does will not hurt hek she has grown thousands of babies x thousands !
I mostly use a soil-less mix but have use all Prelite, or mixture of prelite & vermic. Or straight vermic.
No soil on damp paper towle in zip-lock bag.
In water
and many more ways all are great ALL work ! Just have fun .
Do not lift the leaves up. Touching the soil WILL NOT ROT THE LEAVES ~
I have put down thousands x thousands of African violets leaves down and have grown them x 4,-6 babies :))
I always cut stem short and leaf always touches soil
A broken leaf no problem NO stem needed !
See here ! http://www.rachelsreflections.com/violets3.htm#broken%20leaf?
Rachel's web sight is one of the best. Check out her index she has growing methods, help with pictures for everything !
Yes a vareigated leaf will give you a vareigated baby ! But use a leaf with all green or the most green you can find on the plant ! Do it the same way.
When my leaf starts shooting up babies I like to give them a drink of fish food or Vf-11 and just keep them close to lights and warm will give you strong healthy babies super fast !!
I have a Strep plant the leaf was too long I trimmed an inch off and placed it into stragith prellite in 2 oz dixie cup few weeks ago on heat mat . It has three little baby leaves already !
Growing by leaf is the most fun rewarding thing life new babies each new baby is exciting.
They are fun to grow and even more Fun and important to Share :))
Happy Growing I'll be watching your babies grow :))
Allison
PS up until last summer I always had atleast 500 plus Av different named leaves down ! I use to put leaves down everyday :)) Cant care for them now but still have a hnadful growing and a friend brought me a few rare ones when she visited !
One Brass Band love the foliage ! Rare Vintage :))
This message was edited Feb 17, 2007 7:55 AM
This message was edited Feb 17, 2007 7:58 AM
PS Gail we ran our lights at night 12-16 hours each day to help keep them warm.
We also ran them at night during the summer so our A/C did not have to work as hard . During the summer we cut them to 10-12 hours each day.
Worked great for us ! Play around to see whtas best for you ! If it works and it is not broken dont fix it :))
Happy Growing !
Gail was just re-reading Rachel method for the many of time, I learn more each time. Keep the water do just like she said what your doing like carefree fun she said !
If it was soil-less mix I dont think water in bottom would be good but never know ?
Have fun ! I'm lookinghttp://www.rachelsreflections.com/violets3.htm#basket forward to seeing your babies !
OH no, my leaves are laying back on the vermiculite this morning....I moved the container to a stand of gro-lights which has a humidity tent on the whole stand.....should i get those leaves off of the vermiculite now......
When mine tip over like that, I put a toothpick behind them to hold them up.
Those Annabelles leaves are thin so you may need to help them like Sharon mentioned above. To me this was one of the marded plants to progate by leaf though I did manage to get many. If one is too old a leaf try re-placing
it with a new fresh cut leaf !!
This morning I used those little tag markers from Park and put behind each leaf as i didn't know that the leaf could touch.....we will see what happens. Thanks for everyone's encouragement!!!!
You will be a whiz at propagating from leaves in no time Bettygail.You have gotten really great advice I see.Never give up.Its a really great feeling when you get to see the babies.It still amazes me.Good luck to you : )
Nancy
I think you will be great at propagating AVs soon too. You will find the way that works best for you and then you will have more babies than you can handle. Then you'll look back at this post and say, "Wow, that wasn't that hard."
Jesse
Plantcrazii, you have a dmail
gail
Have fun! It is such a fun experience!
I got it, Thanks,
Jesse
Gail you did you leaves " PERFECT"
I check them about 3 times a day for fear something will go wrong...oh well,that is how we learn.... My camera is on the blink but I may have to show you how they are today!!!!!! LOL
My only concern Allison is that the leaves are looking a little limp...I took the water out of the bottom at noon today....but I am keeping these leaves very warm on the top shelf of the AV lights.....
Gail
They look good. keep moist. But if these leaves had been broken while they may not do good. A couple look like that but as long as green I've been told never give up. I 'd cut a coule fresh leaves off of plant and re-place the tiny limp ones and these leaves will do better !
Annabells leaves are thinner than others I fount a little bit harder to progate but your doing great !
I put them back in the gro-light stands and zipped up the sides....stays warmer that way....going to start some new ones on Wed. or Thursday.....too busy today.....It took me an hour this morning to clean every bad bloom off and water......this could get time consuming!!!!
It sure can its a lot of work. I just cant do it anymore. I just keep a few what others can water for me.
