Good morning, Debi,

After looking at the pics of the mother plant, it doesn't appear to be in distress to me. However, you can see a definite 'culture break' where there are the lower leaves, a space, and then a pretty symmetrical rosette of similar sized leaves. That gap really won't fill in, so if it were my plant, I would repot it. Take it out of the pot, remove those longer lower leaves, looks like 14 of them. You will end up with a bit of a neck on it, and will need to go down a size in pot. The advantage of doing this now is the plant will be nice and symmetrical as it grows, and no neck from having to take those leaves off eventually. You shouldn't have to disturb the root ball unless you have to trim some off the bottom,

I would bag the babies for a bit to reduce the transplant shock to them. Leave those leaves on for the time being unless they don't recover. It won't hurt to let them dry a little between watering, damp is ideal, but not wet.

Good luck, and good growing.

Barbara

Hi Barb, Thank you for all the good advise, that's why I like this place so much, everyone is always so nice and willing to share. . . even tho some of the questions are asked over and over again.

I did take the mother out of the pot, cut off the bottom leaves, had to cut off some of the rootball as it was longer than I thought. I put it back in the same pot cuz I don't have a smaller one. I looked for a smaller one before I repotted it the first time and couldn't find one anywhere, this is only 3" is that still too big? Any advice on where to get a smaller one if I need to?

As for the small babies, I did put them in a zip lock bag, is direct sun ok/no no? I have a south facing window, which I read is ok for them but to watch to make sure they don't dry out, how much direct sun can they handle? Do you spray the inside of the bag for added mist? Or will that cause a mold issue?

Here's a pic of the mamma with her new haircut lol. Did I do OK?

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No direct sun if they are in a bag or other type of enclosure. Heat will build up inside and cook them! Bright light only.

Pots are hard to find except online. Did you try a nursery? Solo cups come in various sizes so you might try Wal-mart or Target.

The photo didn't post, please try again.

Barbara

Sorry, I did some rearranging on my photobucket page and messed up all the pics, here they are again. . .

Mamma before her haircut

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The premmies I started from her
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Another premmie

I accidently hit post message instead of preview, I'm really not usually this blonde when it comes to this sorry. . .

another premmie
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Mamma after her haircut

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and a side shot of her showing her w/out her "neck"

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Thanks again Barb for all your help, anyone else who wants to take a chance and jump in here, sorry the pics were moved. . . and thanks to all for your patience. Debi

Debi, you did a super job following Barbara's excellent advice - Mama looks great!

The only thing I would add is that when you take off outer leaves to also remove the stalks (petioles) back to the crown. In your side view it looks like there are several stubs. If you put her into a smaller pot take them off then (and bury the new neck too).

Those were some BIG suckers you got from her. She should be really happy now that she isn't supporting the kids. I bet you'll see buds before long. Please post pictures after she blooms.

Thanks Donna, she's my 1st AV and I want so bad to see her reward me for all my stress and effots I've put into her... I hope yer right and she will put up some flowers soon. Everyone makes it sound so easy... I disagree. She is a healthy plant tho, I think I've done somethings right. I did start some of the leaves, just to see if they will do what their supposed to. I love a challenge and this one fits the bill. All of my other house plants are beautiful, I even got my orchid to bloom, but this one... and to think I bought three more just to see if it was me or them... lol

Great job, Debi,

This plant should just take off now, no whiny kids to support, fresh hairdo, new clothes......

See where that gap is at 2:00 o'clock in the picture? You can try to move the leaves on either side to fill it in slightly. Use a chopstick or other thin stick to train it. Put the sticks in the dirt such that it puts just a little pressure on the leaf to move it towards the gap. Be gentle and don't try to move it too fast. Move the sticks every 3 days or so until you're happy with the result.

Barbara

Oh, that's a nice trick, Barbara! I didn't even think of the possibility of training a leaf to move over like that. But then again, no one sees my AVs but me, generally. Something to keep in mind, though, for a rainy day.

Oh Barb...I didn't even notice the gap, you must show your AV's. The first thing I thought of when I read that was "I AM not gonna fuss over a leaf..." Then my second thought was..."wht not, after all this work she deserves to look perfect. So next step plastic surgery LOL.

Thanks again for all the hand holding and instruction. Specially Barb. You WILL get to see some pics... soon I hope. How long do you think it will take? Ya know I'm gonna be checkin her everyday. lol

Oh Barb...I didn't even notice the gap, you must show your AV's. The first thing I thought of when I read that was "I AM not gonna fuss over a leaf..." Then my second thought was..."wht not, after all this work she deserves to look perfect. So next step plastic surgery LOL.

Thanks again for all the hand holding and instruction. Specially Barb. You WILL get to see some pics... soon I hope. How long do you think it will take? Ya know I'm gonna be checkin her everyday. lol

When I look at an African violet plant, the first thing I notice are the blooms if there are any. The next thing I look at is the shape of the plant. Knowing that a symmetrical rosette is the ideal, I try to see if that is somewhere in the plant.

One night in Fay Wagman's growing room, sitting on a bucket of dirt, I watched her repot some plants. She looks at the plant from above, says 'there is a perfect plant in here somewhere' and then proceeds to remove outer leaves until she has that symmetrical plant. I was in awe!

Some people will use sheets of paper, laying them over leaves to get them 'out of the picture' so they can see the symmetry, or at least as close as possible. Some people use their hands to gently cover the leaves.

Sometimes, especially on a younger plant, you won't have a 'round' symmetry, but a triangular result. Leaves come out in threes, generally spaced equidistant on the plant. The next set of three will be offset from the first, and so on, until the plant is mature enough to appear round.

No, I don't show, but I go to shows whenever I can. The Bay State show is next Saturday and Sunday, and I'll be there to work, observe, dream, lust, shop, make new friends and greet old ones.

I have ONE more plant to repot, and I will have completed repotting all my plants. I am pretty ruthless when I repot, and rarely move plants up into a larger pot because of the leaves I remove. I also 'culled' my collection somewhat, tossing out some that just never did very well. Now I'm down to 133 that are 'independent living' on wicks and reservoirs. (I have probably another 100 that are under humidity domes for a couple of weeks, and about 20 trays of stuff that needs to be separated.) I should have taken some pictures of befores and afters, for there were some amazing transformations from butt ugly to absolutely perfect. For me, I can get absolutely weepy when I see that perfect symmetry.

And sometimes, you just have to live with an out of kilter plant for a while.......

Barbara

Hi Barb, if I get this thing down, wanna share some leaves? I think I wanna try the minis. I saw one (I think) the other day. It was in a tiny tiny pot and had flowers on it and lots of leaves for such a tiny pot. It was priced much higher than the standards. And... it was at a flower/plant store not a box store where they get mostly no names and generics. I think she was $8.00 and the standards were only $3.00. Could be wrong tho, I didn't pay much attention as I was on a mission to get a standard for my sis.

Have a good weekend, Debi