It's almost impossible to identify an african violet without a name, but that does not look like Pixie Blue which is a semiminiature with rather small leaves and small, purple-blue flowers, reminiscent of a wild violet (to me anyway).

Diana

Diana,
Okay, thanks. :) I assumed wrong in thinking that 'Pixie Blue' was a trailer. Is it possible to tell at the very least, if this AV is a trailer?

Planto

Pixie Blue is a trailer, although I have seen it classified as more of a semi-trailer or shrub-like trailer. It is also a semiminiature african violet which refers to the size of its leaves in the trailer class (confusing?).At an rate, it doesn't really look like Pixie Blue.

It's not always as easy to spot a trailer as you might think. They never act like ivy on their own. However, they are supposed to send off many "suckers" or side shoots so that they form a spreading plant. It's hard to judge from your photo, but I think what you have there is another plant coming up from the ground, not the main plant. It may be something left over from when the main plant was propagated - an extra plantlet that kept growing. Does that seem right?

Some plants will get a lot of suckers even if they aren't trailers but they never develop the trailer habit. Certain miniatures and semiminiatures tend to do this in particular.

You aren't likely to find a trailer in a big box store. I don't know why. You have a nice healthy blue plant there though.

Diana

What a nice looking av, I love the dainty flower.

Oops, I spy another crown there also. You got it at a store, didn't you? Sometimes they are just like that.

I bought a bunch of Optimara minis and some were all suckers. Some weren't so bad.

Pixie Blue has darker and I believe smaller leaves. A well grown plant of it looks a bit like a ball. with rather small flowers. I do grow it although mine isn't doing much right now.

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Sun, Jun 1, 14 at 13:02

Diana,
It has a few crowns, I think three or four to be exact. The "stem" doesn't appear to be coming from the soil (I had to check), but is attached to one of the other plants. I found it at Home Depot. I can't remember the grower, but it wasn't Optimara. One of their HD "specials" I guess. I picked it up because it looked different. The leaves are considerbly smaller than my other AVs, maybe the size of a half dollar at the largest.

Do AVs make suckers that are attached to stems? I know AVs can develop necks over time, but this "stem" with a plant attached at the end doesn't look like a "neck."

Thanks for the information, I wasn't able to find a lot of information about 'Pixie Blue,' but once you mentioned the flowers look more like a wild violet, I looked it up again (pictures) and can definitely see the difference in the flowers.

Do trailers have more... Leggy looks to them, thin peitoles? I was trying to find a good picture of a trailer, but I kept finding these large thick masses and it was difficult to see what a couple individual plants would look like.

Planto

Trailers can look quite a few ways because they don't all have the same habit. Some will happily grow and look just like any other african violet - they don't really sucker much or send out a bunch of shoots.

I do sympathize with your trying to look at the photos. Those have all been "trained" - pinched, poked, sometimes pinned, groomed, maybe had leaves removed, and generally tortured into that big pile of leaves that you see. A young trailer often looks a lot like anything else although it may have a side sucker or two. Or maybe not. I'm not sure what that is on your plant but it doesn't make it a trailer. It may just be another plant.

Pixie Blue does have rather thin leaves and stems but I grow Candy Fountain, which is a standard trailer and a young plant of it doesn't look unusual. I don't bother try to get it to do the real trailer thing, but it does get suckers and I let it.

However, I once got a plant that had been my mother's that my daughter had grown for several years. It was a mass of suckers and I thought it might have been an older trailer. I asked an online group and they didn't think so. I removed the suckers and it was a perfectly nice semiminiature plant that didn't sucker like that for me.

I wish I could give you the answer you want, but trailers really don't stick out so much. Unless Home Depot gets plants from an unusual place, you tend not to find trailers at the big box stores. If your plant was in a small pot, it may be a semiminiature. Often that is a good way to tell.

It has been said that some of the miniatures/semiminiatures have trailer genes and that is why they sucker so much. I don't know if this is true or not but occasionally you will find one that is nothing but suckers. Growing conditions will affect this too.

You might find some photos of small ones on eBay. They will show you the big one but if you look at the auction, they show you what they are really selling and it is a small plant. Look for some of the Rob's trailers, and then some other varieties and maybe you will get some idea of what they look like before they turn into show plants. Violet Barn is where Rob's sells them but it only shows the photos of the end result.

Diana

Diana,
It was in a standard 4 inch pot, but the pot looked a bit too big for the plant. Perhaps this is just an over suckered AV, at least I know it's not 'Pixie Blue.' Thanks for your help and for the information. Some aspects of AVs prove difficult, at best, but your descriptions have proved helpful.

Planto

It looks like it has a sucker to me, and isn't a trailer. What really defines a trailer from a plant that should be single crowned but has suckers is the length of the internodes. Internode spacing is the distance between consecutive points where leaf petioles (stems) emerge from the main stem of the plant. As such there is a bit of looseness between the leaf petioles along each branch of a trailer, even in the most shrub-like ones. Your plant seems to have very bunched petioles along the main stems leading me to believe that it should actually be a single crown plant. Diana is right in that semi-mini and mini plants often contain genes that make them prone to suckering. Standard violets are basically all hybrids of Saintpaulia ionantha but smaller violets often contain gens from of species of Saintpaulia, many of which have a somewhat trailing habit.

Mark

Here's my 'Pixie Blue'. It's not a trailer.

{{gwi:365326}}

Yes, at least you know it's not Pixie Blue. I do like Pixie Blue and I believe it's been on the Best Varieties list so give it a try if you like its look.

If you happen to live where they sell Anthoflores (Harster Greenhouses in Canada), they produce some small standard violets. I've never seen them say "Anthoflores" or "Harster" but they say "Product of Canada" and aren't Optimaras. My grocery store seems to get them.

Some plants have begun their lives classified as one type and been reclassified as another (I just read about one - think it went from standard to trailer, but I'm not sure). At any rate, you see that it's not always a sure bet.

Diana

Okay, I took the plunge and separated the plant. I found two suckers and a baby that was growing in the potting mix (not attached to the main plant). The suckers were removed and the baby was potted separately.

This is the stem with attached plant I was describing earlier... what exactly is this? It was attached to the main plant.
{{gwi:365327}}

The end result. It looks funny at the moment, but I know in due time I know it will be a beautiful AV.
{{gwi:365328}}

Thanks so much for your input Diana and Tommy.

Planto

Congratulations! It sounds like you've really taken the plunge there. As long as you put them in smaller pots, they should do fine. I know it's a little depressing to buy a "plant" and end up with pieces because I've been there.

I wanted O. Little Crystal so bad and the one I got is one scrawny plant, two more small plants and I could have set more. They had the plastic sleeves and it was hard to see what was in there. We won't mention Little Maya.

If those are roots attached to your "piece 'o plant," I am still inclined to think that it is another baby that didn't get removed and was still stuck on to the other one. I could be wrong. Not all babies come apart neatly; sometimes you have to use brute force.

Whether you grow Pixie Blue as a trailer or not, it is classified as a trailer. Sorry, Tommy. You grow nice plants and it's true that Pixie Blue is kind of a shrubby trailer.

Here is the description from Bluebird Greenhouse and they have a decent photograph section of trailers that aren't big plants, BTW. I think this probably is the official description or very close to it. The year is missing: It's not extremely early - those ones have numbers like 254, etc.

Pixie Blue (L. Lyon) AVSA Registration: 2598. Single purple-blue with darker center. Plain ovate foliage. Miniature trailer.

I will check sometime on the other computer which has FC2.

Diana

I stand corrected! Mine hasn't trailed. My 'Fancy Trail' however is an insane trailer! LOL!

Diana,
It is a little disappointing to think I nad something unique, but as you mentioned, the likelihood of that was slim to begin with, having come from HD.

The piece 'o plant was attached to the main one, but I was asking what it was becuase I've never seen a sucker or any AV for that matter on the end of a stem like that.

I do feel good about having broken it up though. For the long term health of the plant, I know this was the best thing to do! :)

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Tue, Jun 3, 14 at 10:08

I've read you can propagate an av through flower stems, either by being lucky, or using keiki paste. From your image, I'd almost guess it was a flower stem and one of those buds sprouted a plantlet without help...
Just a theory...

Karin