Su Thanks for your great photos. Anyway, to respond to your comments on another thread regarding rooting leaves. I tried the Optimara method. Irinia who used to post on this forum uses the community rooting method. You can look up her old posts. She was quite the expert and posted photos, I believe. She even made a video for the AV society. I have not ordered it, though. Anyway, the community rooting system did not work for me. After much trial and error, I adapted a version of what Linda taught me, also on this forum. And others, as well.

I now use K-cups. If you put the K-cup through the machine and rotate it four times, you can poke four holes in the bottom of the cup. I just make one cup of coffee from it, but I rotate the cup to poke the holes. They are the right size.

If I can find really small solo cups, I use those, filling the bottom 1/4 or 1/3 with perlite. After poking a few tiny holes. I used to cut them down, but that is messy and weakens the sides.

In the K-cups, the roots don't get overgrown. Once they fill out,

I move from there directly to the 2 1/4" square or round pots..

I have several domed trays for these leaf pots. They are rectangular and do the job but are not ideal because the bottom is uneven so the pots can tip over and make a lot of crumbs.

Once the green dots or mouse ears appear, I tend to move them out onto a window sill for early morning light.

I got a lot of supplies at garden stores, which have trays only in season. I recently upgraded to The Container Store! I got window sill trays

I got a large clear shirt box that is a drawer set up for leaf pots. I put another tray in the bottom to catch drips and crumbs.

The small plant stage in the 2 1/2 pots are in square trays.

A friend let her collection go and is going to give me her deli containers.

You said you have 70. For me, that was the turning point where I got in more of the correct equipment. But the gardenstore trays are meant more for the garden and hard to find. they are also thin and eventually tear. so I am slowly investing in higher quality materials.

i once had a light shelf with a plastic cover that zipped for travel. but one Christmas we were gone for one week or more. the plants did not get immediate attention upon our return. So i ended up losing a lot of the collection.

I ended up giving away the expensive lighted flora carts.

Joanne

Awwww Su that is such a little cutie! And a clear beautiful white! I don't know if you got my other post about K cups. I can send you some if you would like to try them! They are the greatest things and just the right size for AV leaves!!!!! I have a couple people saving them for me! BTW my Tradition plant is looking better! I didn't forget you wanted a leaf!

Joanne I read you punch the cup several times. I thought about that and the other morning when I was emptying the K cups (I put the grounds and the little filter in my compost pile!) I took my pencil and just pushed it into the small hole and made it proportionatly just a little bit bigger.

I cover my holes in pots with a little piece of paper towel (or several little layers of napkin because they are thinner) just so I don't loose the dirt. By the time the towel or napkin is deteriorated the roots are holding the dirt in and they need to be transplanted anyhow. Works real well!

AND since I water the K cups from the bottom the paper towel/napkin acts as a wick!

Joanne - thanks!1 Love all the info!

Rosie - I sent you a PM.. sorry I've been CRAZY busy lately and hadn't hardly had a chance to even got on garden web!

No problem I just sent a reply to you via pm. Rosie

btw - i am 99.9% sure that this little white one is Optimara Little Crystal. :)

and i just identified this one as Opt. Little Ottawa! it is an older version i believe... as it does not match the Little Ottawa on the website, but if you search for it on google images its the spittin image of some others out there. so perhaps this isthe "un-improved" one?

My Violets · More Info

Well there are two more I love of yours! How pretty both of them! Rosie

Yes, Rosie, I do the same thing. I recently went to the Container Store and got a tray with builtin compartments shaped like a seed tray only much stronger. (It is to insert in a cabinet to store small things.) Each compartment is about 1" square, there are about 25 compartments. Then I got an under the bed clear storage drawer. It will hold three of these trays. I put the K cups in the trays. I also got seed trays from the garden store that are made of cardboard. I cut these apart and put them inside the inserts in the trays. Each cardboard tray has ten or 12 sections. I covered the large bottom hole with a tiny share of paper towel. I also used the small solo cups I cut down to size and put holes in the bottom. I found some other small cups about the size of K-cups and use those, too. Whatever will neatly fill the tray. Now I have an incubator set up for when we are traveling and away for more than three days. The outer storage container is just the right height for leaves.

I have several domed trays, but they tend to fall apart as they are very thin. Some are way too tall as I don't keep plants domed once they grow past the baby stage. I will probably move all my leaves into the new incubator and use the tall domed trays for full size plants when we are away.

J

Isn't it too much fun to see how we can do things a little bit better? And recycle to boot????? Sounds like you have a good system for yourself. Yeah, I know the domed lids crack easy, but for the short time they are needed I am just real careful with them and if one breaks beyond use? Well, I just go to Meijer and buy another roasted chicken for dinner!!! lol Rosie

I have found all sorts of creative solutions, some adapted and some store bought items created for the purpose. I have the constant thought that if I had a greenhouse, I would not have to bother with all the separate trays. Life would be tidier and the plants happier. Joanne

Greenhouse sounds good to me! Rosie

Is the cardboard going to get wet at all? I used cardboard egg cartons once (I use styrofoam now) and every single one eventually developed black mold underneath it. What a clean up job!

Yes, I did not think about keeping the cardboard dry! I could keep it dry. It is those little peat pots that are sold in garden centers at this time of year. They look like cardboard, but they are some other type of material. They are not good alone because they dry out so fast. But placed inside a plastic tray, they fit perfectly. Funny you mentioned black mold, because I had some old trays from last year with leaves rooting. I just moved out all the leaves into their own pots and noticed the bottom of the container had turned black. I had not realized it was mold because the climate here is very dry.

Are the styrofoam egg cartons deep enough? Do you poke holes in the bottoms?

Joanne

They work for small to medium leaves but big ones are better off in cups. I cut the tops of my leaves off so if you don't then maybe only smaller leaves would work. Yep I poke a hole in the bottom of each.

Hope you don't mind my input,,,but since I discovered Keurig cups I can't recommend them enough. They are so perfect for violet leaves of any size from the mini leaves to the big leaves. And they are easy to clean out! Compost the coffee or tea grinds and liners, throw away the lid you tear off, enlarge the hole that is already in the bottom of the cup and you are good to go! Set them in a plastic container of your choice.

I have several people saving them for me. I never was happy with the styrofoam egg cartons. Good in theory but not practicality. Too shallow for me. But would be great if you were rooting micro minis or minis. Bigger than that and I like something larger and easier to handle.

Just my thoughts on the subject! Rosie

i've had much luck rooting leaves in fish bowls (perlite or gravel at the bottom, then potting medium, covered or not with food wrap). labeling is tricky though :-p and they aren't an entirely space-saving-shape.....

then i started rooting them in plastic baggies hung off the wall. worked ok, just kept the seedlings small. also a bit wasteful, because i tended to put too much soil in.

Now, i am working with 1 and 2oz shotglasses from the dollar store, burn or drill a hole, add soil & wick, label, leaf, then plop it in a plastic baggie and hang it off the wall. tidier, and appears to produce plantlets quicker than the loose soil in the baggie....

Only problem with that, leaves to root use no space, but once you pot them up - where do they go????

OMG I can't stop laughing at your last sentence! I laughed so hard when I read that! I had that same thought this a.m. when I was taking multitudes of leaves from community pans and putting them into my Keurig cups! If each leaf produces only one baby that matures (and what are those odds?) I have no room for the plants! Oh I will figure something out by then but,,,,,until then,,,,lol lol lol! Rosie

Yes, by then, you will have added a new addition to your home, or move, like we did!!

Hi Karin, nice photos, I love looking at all that green My plant room looks similar, but without the light as I use window light and a lamp in the middle of the room. I have all mine at the leaf stage in incubators, those at the dot stage sitting on the window sill, those at the small plant stage in bins like yours waiting to be converted to wick pots. Those worth of display are on shelves or in there rooms. It is like a classroom, with the nursery, kindergarten, etc. It keeps me organized. I had another shopping session at The Container Store. I can certainly get excited about empty clear plastic boxes!

Rosie, we love your input, your enthusiasm is contagious and your laughter is infectious in a good way!

J

Oh Joanne thanks for the compliment ! I hate to tell you this,,,,but I type exactly the way I speak! So what you read is who I am!!! That could be either good or bad I suppose depending on what soapbox I am on!

Anyway, my true confession, I have no room for the pans of leaves I have started! They are on my kitchen table! One pan wasn't bad. Two to three and he said are those gonna stay there? I said "they are a work in progress so just for a bit". Hah! He bought it. He is such a sweetie. Did I say that my table has two leafs and sits six comfortabley? That is how big it is and now he only has HIS spot at the head of it to sit. And no, we rarely eat there. So I figure might as well use it,,,,right? lol Well, I now have no more room for any more containers of leaves. Hmmmm,,,,,I have been thinking of setting up my flourescent light 3 tiered shelf again. Trouble is it is down the basement. BUT that is also where my dolly dungeon is. Which would be great!!!! My ceramics, paint, kilns, stuff, porcelain doll body parts all waiting to be worked on. So if my plants are down there,,,,no big deal right? I would probably be down there so much more often! Ok, but now that 3 tiered shelf is holding porcelain doll body parts waiting to be painted and finished. So what do I do with THEM? If I pack them in boxes they will never get worked on. I already have possibly more than 100 packed up waiting to be sold as is OR finished! AND I have 2 five tiered utility shelfs of them! It is an old Michigan basement so not a lot of options. Not alot of available room. We live in an old farmhouse built in 1876 and we share with the occasional mouse. Would it eat my violets? I mean after all, I had a bar of soap on my work table where I paint and that little snot ATE it!!! A bar of soap! Not just a taste,,,he ate the entire bar! (I hope he had diarherra til Kingdom come!) I cleaned my brushes with that soap! Geeze,,,I would think leaves and blossoms would be a delicacy!!!!

So, anybody got any bright ideas I have not covered yet? Oh yeah and my doll molds are also down there. They cannot be moved. Too heavy and no more room! And they have to be available for me to pour them! In other words,,,,the basement is my center of ceramic/doll operation--hence Dolly Dungeon. Oh dear,,,but you know, I will think of some way. I always do! But I will consider all suggestions! Rosie

Rosie,

In my house, at one time, no flat surface was safe from being covered with rooting leaves, especially dining room tables. I used to get the same kinds of comments from guests, but not from DH. To my eyes, a leaf rooting is just as intriguing as a blooming plant. Back then, we talked about it a lot on this forum, so I took the hint. So I try to look at it through eyes and not take advantage of shared living space. If I had a greenhouse, life would be so mud easier.

Many people in your part of the country do use their basements for their plant collections. Even with famous, noted hybridizers, some have reported that they are not allowed to have plants in the house by their spouse, could be either a wife or a hubbie, unless for display purposes.

Most growers have spouses that are not too into it, that is normal. Or the hubbie might build the wife a greenhouse, or the wife allows the hubbie to use the basement, or in California, the garage. If both spouses are into it, then they can make a business out of it instead of just a hobby. But even as a business,people still usually need another paying job.

It would be a treat to get a doll from you for my Granddaughter and nieces. Do you have a website or do you sell on Etsy?

I am off to work now but will check the forum tomorrow.

What have you got against feeding starving mice!? Maybe you need a kitty ...

I don't know about mice, but cats are known to nibble on AV leaves.

Joanne

Oh my husband is a great guy. He knows he married someone [46 years ago] that has a trillionkajillion hobbies and interests!

I have no problem feeding starving mice at all! I put out plenty of warfarin for them to eat. And if they want to also eat soap, well, I just hope they don't take a looooonnnngggg drink of water afterward! Can you imagine if they would burp????

No a cat is not an option. I am terrified of 2 things in this world....Cats and snakes in no particular order. I have a couple of friends that have cats and they know I will never visit them. And snakes? Well, 'nuff said. Did I mention I have 2 dogs????

I don't actively sell my dolls, but I can see where I am going to have to do something. There are just too many of them. I am going to PM you about a doll,,,,ok?

As far as violets go,,,I now have some beautiful mini's and micro mini's !!! I never thought I would have a mini again. I think I explained before that I struggle soooooo much trying to keep off the suckers that I killed the plant! I just didn't have information at my fingertips like I do now.

And I love my violet leaves also. You are absolutely correct. It is a process. Get a leaf, plant it and sit there and stare at it until something happens. And when it does? Oh my the feeling! And who to tell? No one but the great people in this group! My violet friends!

I am still excited that I got Optimara Modesty a few days ago!!!! I just keep looking at her.

Well, today I will go outside to the flower bed. 3 days of constant rain creates lots of weeds!!!!!! AND it is supposed to rain again!!!!! TTYL Rosie

i enjoyed reading these posts... i am a bit obsessive about my violets. case in poimt. i have killed an hour of time laying in bed reading this forum! lol. i am always touching the leaves and soil... blowing on the plants to check for bugs... thinkimg aboit WHO i can give one more violet to... mixing soil... looking wistfully at my trays of baby leaves, wishing they would grow faster! this forum is so good... i can talk about violets without getting chuckled at... and i can post pictures without anyone rolling their eyes! :-P my man is so sweet about it... he also has a hobby (wood working) so he understandss how hobbies can be... as long as it stays a hobby and doesnt take over the home, bank account, and conversation! :-P he likes plants in the house.. he built a beautiful desk... and it just happens to be in front of an east window... and so i take GOOD care of the desk and wipe up any spills and keep rounds of flannel under all the pots! he doesnt mind. ;)

Oh Su,,,to funny. You sound exactly like me! I do those things also! lol lol The only thing I can't do is wonder who I can give a violet to. There's NO ONE around here that I know that cares about plants, let alone violets! That's ok,,,,,,at least I have this forum!!! Rosie