mL's blog

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2009-06-17 -- African Violets Update

The move really messed me up. I lost a few of the rooted leaves I’d started, but I finally got to transplant some of the ones that survived. Looks like one leaf only had 2 babies on it, while one other had about 6. I cut the leaves off the babies and put them back in the water to see how many more babies they’ll produce.

Since I probably could have transplanted a couple of weeks ago, that means that it took individual self-sufficient plants to grow from leaves in about 4 months. I’d estimate another 2-4 for blossoms. They like to get a little rootbound before they bloom.

One other fascinating thing that happened was this old grandma plant that I thought I was going to lose, snapped back and started blooming after I trimmed it’s roots and repotted it. No more curling, fading, shriveling leaves. I'm not sure what the problem was. Build up of salts maybe? Rotting roots from poor drainage? I’m not sure what the combo was, but it is a very happy old girl now. :-)

A pleasant surprise. A few months back I was given this enormous plant. Started from a leaf, it had not bloomed until now. I love these slightly plain, but very large periwinkle flowers. Not sure I’ve seen one quite this color before..!

Happy plantings!
~mL