Put it on top of soil...make sure you take off a couple leaves to root. Get a nice mix of soil that is light. Then make sure you scrape *all* of the rot off the bottom of the plant. Place the raw surface of the bottom of the crown so it is in contact with the soil. Then put the whole thing in a large clear plastic bag and place out of direct sunlight. Make sure it has high humidity by sealing up the bag and don't overwater it. It should sprout roots if the rot didn't travel all the way up through the crown. Any brown/rust color is rot and must be removed. Best of luck! Try going to www.rachelsreflections.com for more (most likely better/more concise than mine) advice.

minibot

Jim -

you are one nice husband - and your wife should be proud of you. Hopefully she will be back in shape to grow her violets soon.

What Minibot suggests is a proper way to do it. The short way to do it is to let it be where you put it - and i 3-4 weeks you will have the roots coming = so you can put it in a soil - just keep to M. advice to cover it in a baggie and keep the soil just wet, not soggy.

Irina

Thanks so much for the advice. I did put the plant in a pot with AV soil mix that I found in the garage and also put a leaf in another pot, both with plastic bags over them. I'm not sure about water because that new soil didn't absorb water very fast. I also put them back in those cache pots with water in the bottom. I did cut a little more off the plant stem and it looked greener.
Best regards,
Jim

Jim,

Do not keep water in the bottom of the cache pot - your violets are still rootless - so they are not capable to utilize the water that is moving in through the pores of an inner pot. You can get into root rot again. Check you soil - and if you see that it is all humid enough - pour out all the water from the cache. Under the baggie they will stay humid much longer.

Good Luck - you are doing great for a beginner - in no time you will be an advanced AV grower - and when your wife will be strong enough - you will start expanding your collection together. And instead of 4 puppies - you will have significantly more.

Irina

Oh, also make sure that the soil used is 1/3 perlite. 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 peat or coir, not all peat and not the AV mix they sell at the store (too heavy too)...that way it will wet easier and keep enough air for the roots preventing future rot. AVs need to be repotted every 6 mos or so, so when you do a batch of mix you can do all four.

minibot

Ok......I removed the water from the outter pots. There are very fine water condensation droplets on the inside of the baggies, looks sort of like dust. The soil surface feels about like a sweaty sock. s'awrite? s'awrite!
Jim