Extreme vegetative mode?

13 years ago

I bought this violet a month or two ago. It has a ridiculous number of baby leaves and did when I bought it so I'm not sure what caused it. They don't appear to be suckers although I'm new to violets so I might be missing it if they are. Should I prune? If so which leaves? The pot is about 1/3 or possibly a touch too small. Should I pot up instead of pruning? Any advice would be appreciated!

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Comments (10)

pinkiemarie
Original Author
13 years ago
Another view
LunRTwilight
13 years ago
I think you have some pruning and/or surgery to do. Sometimes when you get it out of the pot, you can better analyze what's going on. I wouldn't be surprised if you find at least two suckers in there. My suggestion is to go ahead and re-pot it. Any immature leaves growing under larger leaves can come off. They aren't contributing anything to the plant and are actually sucking energy away from the main plant, hence "suckers".
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pinkiemarie
Original Author
13 years ago
O.o It was scary, I've never grown the types of plants that need drastic surgery before, but I took your advice and I now have eight plants including the mother. WOW!
LunRTwilight
13 years ago
I could see at least two in the picture, but it makes it a lot easier when you take it out and look at it.

I know what you mean when you say it was scary. I just had one like this a couple of months ago that had at least six suckers. African Violets are like stray cats... If you feed them, eventually they will leave a litter under the porch! They multiply before you know it, but how I love them! I asked my boss (an AV enthusiast and vet) if she knew how to spay them. She laughed so hard!
bragu_DSM 5
13 years ago
just think of how frequently you would have to "change the litter box"

bwah ha ha!

ÃÂ. ÃÂ --~

dave
fortyseven_gw
13 years ago
Hi LunR
You are cracking me up!!
My cat was annoyed that they were not edible ....
joanne
pinkiemarie
Original Author
13 years ago
This conversation is cracking me up! Violets seem to be one of the few plants my cats don't want to eat.
LunRTwilight
13 years ago
Dave, I don't even want to think about that thought... I'd probably have at least five litter boxes and have to clean them three times a day if my AV's were cats... And my collection has more than tripled in just a few months. My family is starting to think I'm a crazy plant lady! Which in AV terms means I've arrived. Lol.
PRO
Whitelacey
13 years ago
Lun,

You HAVE arrived! Congrats!!!

Linda

P.S. It's only going to get worse...
LunRTwilight
13 years ago
Linda,

First, thanks, and yes, I know... I'm always looking to add to my collection, but not at the expense of neglecting the ones I have. I'm testing my limits to see how many I have time to care for well before I expand ((A valuable lesson I intend to learn early, but restraint is difficult!!!))).