Ah, sorry I made a mistake. This grower removes the lower layer of the leaves off once a month, not weekly. Here's the article, if anyone is interested: http://www.thehouseplantguru.com/2016/05/29/grower-talks/

All sellers of AV leaves remove them from the bottom. This is because those mature leaves will die first as the plant grows. These, of course are the source of income. They can either be sold or used to propagate more salable stock.

AV's continue to grow new leaves whether the older ones are removed or not. My post simply asked : How does this grower know that removal stimulates new growth ?

A simple study could be made : Take two plants grown from the same leaf; remove bottom leaves periodically from one, and leave them on the other. Then see if one of them produces more new leaves than the other. The result will tell you what you want to know.

I believe show growers routinely remove bottom leaves. A prominent show grower came to our club's meeting & groomed some of our plants. The first thing she did was strip off a number of bottom leaves explaining that growth would be stimulated & along with disbudding will help produce large show plants. More leaves isn't always the objective, just larger ones. Works for standards, anyway.

Terri

Terri - was nice to meet you in person - Conventions are wonderful! And AV people are the best!

1. the most brutal stripping of leaves is actually done to the trailers. It opens them up and creates a light access to the stem - that stimulates secondary crowns, shaping of the plant, new fresh leaves and bloomstalks. If you plan ever to show trailers - or just interested how to make them grow the best - purchase a DVD from AVSA store -

African Violet Trailers by Bill Price

this is so good - you will always have the best trailers in a Show.

2. When you grow a rosette for a show - you need to disbud it for months and let it grow large and full of energy. When the plant matures - the leaves increase in size, you will need to get rid of lower row of leaves that are not so large - they are leftovers from the time when plant was younger. Yes - I would agree that you shouldn't remove them all at once - may be a row in 2 weeks. If the plant throws a row of baby leaves - they should be removed as soon as you can see them - so the plant will fill the gaps. AT the very end - when you are ready to take your plant to a how - you will look at it again - and may be remove the bottom row - or not - your call. If it is semi-mini or mini - you will need to comply with the size - minis - less than 6", semi - less than 8" - so if it is bigger - remove a row of leaves.

During the growing for show - you break off bloomstalks, suckers, baby leaves - so plant gets enough growth hormons from this damage.

When you start your growing for show - you strip the bottom tired row or 2 of leaves and repot the plant. Your experienced grower was right. After that - only if needed. It takes long time to grow a large leaf and it will feed the flowers - so you do not want to close the factory just because.

3. When I start leaves - standards or larg semis - I cut the tip of teh leaf off - stilumates growth of teh babies instead of growth of the mama leaf to the size of rhubarb.

4. When you get plants from a seller - and see the stubs of the removed leaves - most of the time these leaves end in a trash. The large stiff outer leaves do not pack very well. There is a reason why you cannot buy show plants and ship them across the country to arrive in pristine condition with flowers intact. That's why sellers send you starters, not blooming plants. You will get an AV coleslaw in a box. So - the theory about a greedy seller taking leaves of my plant so he can resell them - it is an urban legend. Good sellers keep mother plants. They select the best of the best, blooming to the description - and propagate only off this one. If you propagate off the leaf of the sale plant to sell again - very soon you will get a genetic drift to the point - it is not a sort, it is a sport. You can do it to the species - or you take tip cuttings of the trailer - but off the leaf - watch out.

Irina, it was a pleasure to meet & talk with you! Thanks also for your insightful information on the above topic. We can all learn from it.