You could remove older leaves and plant them deeper buring the long stem which will produce new roots and help them grow even faster. They grow new leaves from the top so your long stem will be a permanent eyesore until you do it. And it will not affect their health.

Good luck

Irina

Thanks Irina.
Maybe a silly question, but am really new at this. Do you mean to plant the older leaves in another pot, or the one they are already in? If I have to plant in another pot, and do not have room for more violets, shall I just remove the older leaves, and hope the new ones coming with grow properly???

Hi, graefer,

What Irina means is to go ahead and remove the lower leaves that have the long stems on them. If this results in a long 'neck' of a stem, you can then repot the plant and bury the plant deeper into the soil. If you scrape the brown area of the stem like you would a carrot, this helps new roots form in the scraped area. If the old stem is too long to fit into the pot, cut off some of the lower part. We call long main stems 'necky' when the lower leaves die off naturally or they are removed, and you end up with a long 'neck' of a stem. Ideally, the leaves are just barely above the soil, so use that as a guide for how deep to replant the plant. Now for the leaves that you removed, if you want more plants, pot those up in seperate containers. Go to Racheal's Reflections for great instructions, it isn't hard to do at all.

On the other hand, if there are just a few leaves to remove, you may not have to repot. If you think it is necky, repot it.

Good luck.

Barbara

Here is a link that might be useful: rachels reflections

This one, Graefer? :) Christy

Thank you Barbara, for your information. Have also checked out Rachael's Reflections, and have bookmarked it. Will try one plant with your method, and see if I manage successfully!

Well, Barbara & Irina, have repotted three of my African Violets. We will see how well I follow instructions! Keep your fingers crossed that they survive and begin growing like an AV should! Thanks again for your help.