And then there's some with beautiful foliage, all of which have about 10 bloom stalks beginning to peek out from under the second row of leaves.....

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Mac's Pygmy Pyromaniac

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Teen Rainbow

And here's another bloom about to be fully open:
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Little Chatterbox

And because I couldn't stand to look at these Optimara Little Kunzite in this condition anymore......I did some grooming :)

(there were 4 plants to begin with)

From these:
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Came these:
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And I turned it into this:
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It took about 25 minutes and I felt so good to have it accomplished since it was about 5 months overdue.

I really don't like how these plants sucker so much.
Dora

Wowee! 15 suckers to pot up! How did you manage to sort through it all? I had one plant with 5 suckers and I found it really tough. Looks like you did a great job with it. Do you sell the plants at shows or give them to friends?

WOW - that's quite a nursery!

Minis have a species trailer (Saintpaulia shumensis) in their genes - that's why they sucker more.

2 variegated violets have a gorgeous symmetry - but if the buds are not out yet - they won't be open for the Convention. I got burnt with it - the variegated are slower. I was grooming Denim Halo for a Show - and 9 weeks before the show - I had a bloomstalk out - so I decided - I have a ton of bloomstalks coming from under the leaves - I can get it out. Guess what - in 9 weeks not all the hidden bloomstalks were up and open, and I just didn't have enough bloom count for the show.

You will enjoy them a lot in your house and home, take them to your dining table when they will open!

Get well and running soon - the suckers are taking over !

Irina

My goodness. That's a lot of suckers. Good job with the division. Yes, what do you do with the extras? No, I'm not asking for any, just curious.

Larry

I repot most of those suckers which grow into plants which I share/sell.

I am definitely open to sharing with others here.
I have plants that I would like to move out of my house that are in excellent condition. Our local club has a sale every spring and fall and we didn't have one this spring because of the DAVS convention being so close location wise.

Now I have all these plants that I would like to move. I'd say that I have about 100 that could go out. It's 2 plant stands full.

As a side note: I got some leaves from Travis Violets in 2009 at DAVS in Chattanooga, TN and all of them were standards. They are full and expansive and taking up lots of room on my stands. I must say that the quality of his leaves was/is fantastic. I brought home over 40 leaves of 8 varieties and only 1 leaf out of all of those didn't make it. With all of them making it, I need to thin out the population some. I'm going to have to get another stand if I don't thin things down.

This year at DAVS Convention in Athens, GA (last month) I purchased 2 plants from him. Here is what they looked like last week after being repotted/wicked and adjusting to my set up.

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Natchurley Naw'lins on the left and Bob's Serbin on the right. (I hope I spelled those names correctly, I"m not getting up to look)

So......if you are interested in some of the plants that I have - in all phases of growth, then let me know.

Dora

@ snappyguy - I like to share. There's no joy to be experienced hoarding it all to oneself :)
How did I manage to sort it all out? Look at the picture of me holding the dirt ball with all the dead leaves and wilted trash leaves and crowns going all which-ways....I stuck the cutting side of the sucker plucker into that hole and cut the stem of each of those crown....then I gently pulled that crown (with everything attached) away from the main plant/root ball.

Once I had all the crowns cut off, I took each one individually and from the underneath side, began to trim off the leaves moving up towards the crown until I got it to the level/appearance that I wanted. If the stem remaining was too long, I cut that with an exacto knife. All the removed leaves went directly into the trash.

@ Irina - the symmetry is incredible....not a leaf out of place. Convention isn't a worry for me - my health doesn't allow for me to travel right now since my surgery. I'll have my own convention and share the pictures here.

One thing I would like to ask to those who are seasoned and those who judge....I notice in the Teen Rainbow and the Mac's Pygmy Pyromaniac that while the symmetry is excellent and the leaves are all healthy, there is a wide color variation once you get beyond the 3rd row of leaves. The older the leaves, the more the varigation fades. If I were entering these plants, assuming they were in full bloom, would I leave those solid green/faded leaves on or remove the leaves up to the good variagated colred leaves?

And you're right...I've got to get well and tend to these plants. I counted about 40 plants that need to be divided and repotted. Just a guess, but if I saved every single crown that I separated, I'd probably have over 100 more plants. I will not save everything...but I don't see any reason why I couldnt take some crowns, groom them to the condition like the Little Kunzite ones, place that crown in a zip lock bag with something to keep the stem moist and then ship them out to others so they could have a plant.

Dora
ACKK!!!

Dora -

I had Bob Serbbin before - and it is a small standard in my conditions - lovely plant. Natchurly...is going to be a space hog.

If your plant is variegated - you are supposed to have at least a little bit of variegation on each leaf. You will be punished more (3 points) for the gap, than for a totally green leaf. It is your call to remove a whole row of leaves - usually the very bottom leaves look tired in any case.

Judging can vary from judge to judge - some of them more generous, and some try to find as many faults as possible.

But if it is the only issue - blue ribbon plant will be still blue. It is harder with crown variegated plants - they just totaly lose variegation in summer - so if the show is in fall - it is not worth taking them.

Irina

(learning here)

why does variegation fade in summer? I haven't noticed that with my plants. Is it because I keep them at consistent temps and growing conditions?
Dora

Dora,

Variegation tends to be stronger under cooler conditions and can completely go away when it gets hot. I once had Rob's Love bite in a terrarium. The terrarium was pretty warm, maybe around high 70s. The plant was completely green. Not a sign of variegation.

Larry

Then that's why mine don't lose their variegation....we keep our home at a constant temperature and my growing culture is consistent.

Dora

Hope you feel better soon. I still owe you a plantlet. It's looking good. I'll pack it the way I used to pack plantlets to ship out, so it should make it safely this time.

Hi,
Ideally violets need a ten degree difference in temperature at night to maintain their variegation. I keep my variegates on a bottom shelf where its a little cooler.
Fred in NJ

Hi Fred,

Do mean a 10 degree drop in temp at night?

Larry