Water only about every 7-10 days.

Nancy

Too much water! I've heard of keeping them in wet perlite with water on the bottom, but I imagine this would be a lot like rooting in water (a problematic technique). I've also heard of keeping them in wet soilless mix and not enclosed, but I don't know how successful that is. My method is the most common, and for me the most successful. Feel free to experiment.

I put them in soilless mix that's *barely damp*, put the little pots in a clamshell container (used to hold grocery store pastries), and stick it under lights. The clamshell holds enough humidity to keep them happy, but not so much it gets condensation. This method gives me 99% success (there's always one...); when they're well rooted I take them out and treat them like any other plant -- they seem happier this way. And again the clamshell is moderate enough that I don't have to transition them.

Lacking a clamshell, a baggie does a good job; seal it closed and watch for condensation, opening it up until it clears.

Good luck.

Korina
~embrace the confusion~

I think a lot of problems you have comes from too much water. You have to keep thinking Damp, not Wet. Less water is better. If your leaves are enclosed in a baggie or anything that is keeping the moisture in, you won't need to water. I use those clear plastic deli containers too and have a very good success rate with this method. If there is a lot of moisure droplets on the plastic, I know there is a little too much moisture in there and will open the top and dry off the water drops with a paper towel and close it back up. If I notice the soil looks a little dried out, I add a couple drops of water. Too much moisture means rot. Too little moisture means the leaves will get a little droopy but add a little water they will perk back up. A rotted leaf is a gonner. Less water is better.

Take some of your plants/leaves and your concerns to that violet club meeting. Show and tell what you did and what you feel is not going right and the club members will help you with their advice. It is easier to give advice about a plant when you see the plant, the soil, the moisture.

Don't give up. If you have ever grown other houseplants, you can grow a violet.

Hang in there. tish

I guess everyone has a slightly different method. I usually bag for two weeks then remove the bag and water with a mister everyday or so, try to keep them moist, but in some kind of light either sunlight or artificial. Im even trying one now with pure compost to see what happens , I was wondering if it would produce babies quicker or maybe not at all. I started some others at the same time in soilless mix, time will tell.

I tried different ways too. I started in sand, but that seems like water roots to me and it would have to grow the soil roots, I dont know for sure. I didn't fertilize then so I doubt sand has much nutrition for new roots either. then I went to pure vermiculite, most leaves did fine but then I was losing some, more than i wanted. A violet club lady said pure perlite, that didn't work well for me, so I tried perlite/vermiculite mix and that wasn't much better. Lately I've been using a volkman bros mix my violet club bought and I almost never lose a leaf and they were rooting and getting babies really fast. Now that could have been the time of year, (or maybe I accidently started some leaves at the correct moon sign? ). Course there is the factor of the leaf and type of plant, some root fast, some slow. I got antique yellow bells (I think thats its name)-2 leaves back in Oct, early nov and they just now started to have little bitty ears. I was going to keep them as long as they were viable, and I was getting worried they would never do anything. It's fun to try different methods and see how they work. There are many people rooting them many different ways. I only have sunlight. If I had to remember to mist them everyday I would surely lose a lot..brain is getting old! I was also experimenting to see how many times I could reroot a leaf to get more babies and I had one leaf down 5 times but the 5th time there was only two scraggly plantlets that really havent done too much.

Hi all,

This is an interesting string for me as I am new to AV fever and my first purchases were leaves. That isn't to mention I have a long list of about 30 more varieties I have on my wish list. This seems to be an affordable way to get started with some neat plants. Since I am paying for these leaves, I want to give them the best possible chance to propagate. Mine are in a soil-less mix. I'd like to try the baggy technique. It sounds interesting. Can some one give me a bit more specific info on doing it this way, ie. lighting, fertilizer, amount of "soil", etc.

I'm also interested in using the wicking method for keeping the plants. Is there a good site to go to for reading up on this?

Thanks,

gootziecat

gootziecat; lighting is the same as your other AVs (bright indirect), fertilizer is unnecessary as leaves have no roots, amount of soil is up to you; I put several leaves in a gang pot, and seperate them when the babies are large enough (or they outgrow the pot); leave enough room between leaves for babies. That's about it.

Good luck.

Korina
~embrace the confusion~