Suckers are little 3-4 leafed growths on the plant. Most often it is on the main trunk, near where a leaf joins the trunk.

Suckers that remain on a plant take energy from the plant.

The only suckers we leave on African violets are on trailer type violets which may have any number of suckers.

Suckers can get so large they become the same size as the violet and cause leaves to become unsymmetrical.

Nancy

When you remove a sucker you can plant it and make a new plant of the same AV

Hi,

We had a discussion about this on a previous thread. Here is a link to it below.

Larry

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on Suckers

Thank you all for the wonderful information. I will check out the ones I have for suckers. I think they may have some.
Lucy

I'm fairly new to Av's also and who knows, I probably have a bunch of suckers on my plants and don't know it. I have a picture here of some of my Av's. Are the little leaves in the middle of the plants suckers? or do they grow on the sides?

http://image28.webshots.com/28/1/82/3/2240182030064262119urivGf_fs.jpg
http://image57.webshots.com/557/5/95/94/2335595940064262119nFtHAT_fs.jpg
http://image59.webshots.com/759/2/3/52/2576203520064262119sLXvfA_fs.jpg
http://image28.webshots.com/29/3/92/70/2772392700064262119sMwQMT_fs.jpg

Look here for a good picture of a sucker. http://www.rachelsreflections.com/crown.htm Remove it at the base of the plant by teasing it away from the base. Be careful not to damage other leaves or the main stem. You can root the suckers for more plants. http://www.rachelsreflections.com/suckers.htm

smithjm. I looked at the violet in your picture and I have to say it has some interesting leaves! It reminds me of curly cabbage or something! I don't have leaves anything like that. I have 3 varigated with pink on the leaves of 2 of them. I also have belle shaped flowers on on of my no-names. But, I don't have those weird leaves.

Hi Smithjm,

I don't see any on your violet. There is a small bud forming, but it is hard to tell what it is going to be at this time. All suckers look like buds in the beginning. Again, it is somewhat of an art to be able to tell what it's going to be until it grows a little larger. Those are very interesting leaves. What color are the blooms?

Larry

LOL! I was just going to make the cabbage comment, too, but somebody got ahead of me! :) They are pretty cool looking!
Britta

By the way...I doubt you need to worry about suckers, because I own the Maui sucker of doom. It grows another plant so quick I've given up removing the babies. This is 1 plant that grew a second through the little rooty-looking stem thing you see on top of the dirt in the center. See all those ugly baby leaves that are shaped wrong and the extreme necky-ness. Yes, it is an unappealing violet, but oh well. I love it anyway!

{{gwi:377735}}

I'm assuming you guys are talking about the first 2 pics? if so the flowers are Semidouble pink pansy with darker top petals, often with a green wavy edge. Is called Apache Sunburst, below is a picture of the the plant in bloom. I bought this one from pj's violets in ebay.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230041419635&ih=013&category=75640&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1

To Smithjm,

In looking at the first two photos of Apache Sunburst, I am wondering about the one leaf that is facing the cell phone in the first pic. It is showing the underside of the leaf, not the top side. This is one of the things that I look for when on a sucker hunt. It can be a good clue to the presence of a sucker.
Or, you may just have a leaf marching to its own beat. But I would take a real hard look at it again. It's so much easier to tell when you have the plant in hand in front of you.
Can you take a photo of that area as close as you can get?

Barbara

Lucy,

You mentioned you used a 1560 watt light for 10 hours. I think this must be a misprint. Usually growers use 34 or 40 watt. I have been tempted to try a 60 watt florescent tube but haven't bought it yet.

Nancy

Hi:

I still have a problem identifying suckers. But I am learning from all you good people!

Thank you

Barbara, I would take a picture but that leaf is no longer there. It so happens that my sister-in-law knows quite a bit about AV'S. We don't visit each other often (she lives pretty far) Over the weekend she came and saw my violet and took out the leaf. So, your saying that's one of the signs? if the leaf is not showing the top side and it's kinda tilted or in my case totally facing the bottom? Can suckers grow on the top of the crown? or do they always start on the sides of the crown?

Smithjm,

I suspect your sister-in-law knows a sucker when she sees one!

In the normal world of most AVs, new leaves emerge from the center of the plant and face up, and form somewhat of a rosette. Suckers are simply leaves that emerge from the stem or side area, frequently between older leaves. Given enough time, they will actually start to form a new rosette. People sometimes call these 'faces'. That is why you will see leaves with their face turned in the opposite direction of the original rosette. If the variety is a trailer, desirable. Otherwise, out it goes.

The leaf we talked about certainly was facing the wrong direction, and that is what led me to suspect it was part of a sucker.

Some confusion arises about suckers because of what we learn about other types of suckers on plants. If you have ever seen suckers on fruit trees, lilacs, or roses, you are familiar with a long twiggy branch erupting from the lower part of the bush or tree. If you try to equate that with an AV sucker, it doesn't compute, does it? Maybe AV enthusiasts need to come up with a term that is more specific to AVs than other plants. On the other hand, once you know it, you know it forever.

I am at the tail end of repotting my entire collection and putting everything on wick watering. If I come across any suckers, I'll take some pics and post them.

I hope this helps.

Barbara

Half this game is ninety percent mental."
Philadelphia Phillies Manager
Danny Ozark

Thanks Barbara, I would really appreciate that. I don't think i'll ever get this right. For my violets sake I hope I do.