You've got me beat. My longest was a leaf I put down last October that just started to show some green about a month ago. It's Sorano Sheer Romance, in case you were dying of curiosity. :0P I bought a collection of leaves on ebay - 13 varieties in all - and Sheer Romance was one that I was really looking forward to having. I had three leaves from it. Two of them died, and then this last one just didn't do anything at all, long after all the leaves from the 12 other varieties had either died or grew new babies. Then all of a sudden last month I spotted some green, and voila! Now I have babies.

I can't wait for this one to get bigger and bloom. I think it's going to be amazing.

"Sheer Romance (6752) 11/02/1987 (S. Sorano) Double pink star/white edge. Medium green, ovate. Large"

{{gwi:371707}}

I put down 6 NOID leaves in February 2007 and it took over a year for 5 of them to produce babies. The babies tried to make up for lost time: they sprouted blooms before they were even big enough to be separated from their mothers! However, eighteen months later the sixth leaf is still thinking about whether or not it wants children! These were the first AVs I tried to propagage after reading how easy it was. I was not a believer! Thank goodness other named varieties have produced babies much faster.

Wow!
That bloom is beautiful!
I might add that to my wish list.

Dora

Well, on the opposite side of the spectrum, I started leaves of Princess Jade (a semimini with girl leaves) and something like a month later, I had babies sprouting up all over the place. Also, the Snowy Sky leaves that did not take over a year to start sprouted lots of babies while in a baggie under a CFL that I haven't gotten around to putting on a timer due to the funky electrical situation in my room (can we say "only one outlet", folks?) so apparently good humidity and lots of light can accelerate this process. Actually, the Snowy Sky leaf that did take over a year was placed into a baggie earlier this year and is under a CFL (which is on a timer), so it seems likely it decided to take action only after getting what it wanted : )

I am on a massive propagation kick right now for some reason. I have so many leaves started; what will I ever do when these actually grow to a proper size?

Well, it seems that taking forever to start is more common than I thought. Good to know. I kept reading about people getting results in two months, and I was wondering if my Snowy Sky leaf would ever do anything. Goodness, I hope I like Snowy Sky after all this : ) I've been trying to see what it looks like for about two years now!

"I am on a massive propagation kick right now for some reason. I have so many leaves started; what will I ever do when these actually grow to a proper size?"

I'm the same way! I have (*goes to count*) over 50 babies in solo cups rooting out right now, and most of them are large sized varieties. I had only wanted one of each variety! I'm thinking that once they get a little bigger and stronger I'll bring them to work and let people take them home. :0)

Ha! I'm not even going to count mine, cuz it's probably something similar. I'm actually using those little condiment cups that also get used as plastic jello shot cups; they root faster and take up less space, and come in sleeves of 250... dangerous, I know : ) I'm thinking I might trade mine for non AV houseplants... just for some variety in my house! Well, actually I have a lot of space for those nice rewarding plants that don't need to sit right by the window, like philos or ZZ plants and the like. Places I wouldn't put an orchid or AV without supplemental lighting, but seem to need something cheerful.

"I'm actually using those little condiment cups that also get used as plastic jello shot cups; they root faster and take up less space, and come in sleeves of 250..."

Yep, that's what I'm using! I have other plants in other areas of my condo, but the rest of the condo really gets no light at all, so even low-light plants don't flourish. It's a weird floor plan.

Um, you know you are at least a tiny bit obsessed when part of your decision making process in searching for a place to live is: good windows with good lighting. Basically, my major criteria for a place to live was: allow cats, and good windows. I didn't even care if they were pretty windows. Just enough of them and facing a good direction. Somehow, I got what I wanted without going nuts about it.

Yup. Obsessed ; )

Personally, I think my longest was 3 months to see first signs of babies. One thing that I've found helps speed them up is to shorten the petiole before putting the leaf down. About half an inch of petiole is good for standard leaf cuttings. The idea is that the shorter petiole lets the cutting move nutrients between the roots and leaf faster and more efficiently.
Adam in NH

It has to be Seafoam. I paid $15 plus shipping for 2 leaves and they took more than 9 months to start showing babies. Seafoam is vintage and unbelievably beautiful.

ItsDeb

Hi,

The longest it has taken a leaf to sprout babies for me was around nine months. I think though that I had an older leaf and it was over the winter where I didn't have a warm place to propagate it. The age of a leaf can make a tremendous difference in how long it will take to propagate as does the temperature around the leaf. I have heard of people putting there leaf cuttings on top of their TV sets to give them a little extra heat.

Larry

To Adam in NH,

Did you know you have an AV club in Derry? The meetings are on the first Thursday of the month.

We also have a club in Maine, in the Kennebunk area, which is closer for some NH people. Meets the first Wednesday of the month. If one plays their cards right, they can get to two meetings in the same week!!

Barbara

Barbara

Barbara,
Thanks, but I do know about those local clubs. I've got lots of excuses why I haven't made it to a meeting yet. I'll probably make it someday.

Adam in NH

Adam,
Let me encourage you to go. We recently had a male join our society and his presence has made the most wonderfully dramatic difference in the "environment" of the society.

You probably have something wonderful to contribute to your local group. A wise person once shared with me, "Look for reasons TO DO something instead of excuses why not to." (no offense intended)

Dora