I cut the largest suckers off this evening and two of them were pretty good sized. Hopefully they'll have flowers on them by summer.

I'm new to the AV forum, and not really experienced with all the African Violet lingo yet. What does "sport" refer to?

Hi Violet Beauregard! A sport is basically a genetic mutation that changes a plant's leaf color or shape, flower color or shape, or any other aspect of the plant. It happens when part of a plant's DNA is damaged, and it is repaired with a genetic code different from the original. Say you have a yellow car. The paint starts peeling off after a few days of really hot weather. You go to the store to get yellow paint to fix the car, but by accident you grab the red paint. Now you have a red car. The same thing happens with plants. You have a yellow flower, its DNA gets damaged in hot weather, by accident it replaces the damaged yellow gene with a red gene, and presto, you have a red flower.

I hope this helps!

damask_rose : )

So much fun! I love variegated. :)

Thank you for the explanation DamaskRose! But it made me think of another question. If the DNA is damaged, but the DNA repairs itself, will the visible changes be a permanent thing or will it eventually get normal DNA again at some point, making the physical characteristics go back to normal? Basically asking if sport changes are permanent.

You're very welcome Violet Beauregard! Some sport changes are permanent, and sometimes they revert back to the original plant. Say an African violet sported to fantasy (striped) flowers that are pink with purple stripes. Sometimes the plant will stay this way forever, or sometimes the plant will revert back to one color or the other. Sometimes only part of the plant reverts back. I once had a rose that gave me a half-white, half-pink flower! Some plants just can't make up their mind : ). If the plant sports to a chimera (pinwheel striped blossoms or leaves) and you try to propagate it by leaf, the new plants will not be chimeras, they will be either one color or the other. You can only propagate a chimera through suckers (offshoots) or through the flower stem (this is difficult). If the plant sports to a fantasy (striped flowers) and you try to propagate it by leaf, sometimes the new plants will have fantasy stripes, or sometimes they will be one color or the other, but not all of the new plants will look like the original plant.

This is not my picture, but it shows half of the violet reverting back to solid purple, while the other half is fantasy striped.

I hope this helps!

damask_rose : )

Violt B, As Damask Rose beautifully illustrated, AVs are incredibly fickle because the newer varieties have multiple genetic heritages. Many of us have been completely beguiled by a beautiful photo, only to end up with something quite different.

Damask Rose, that photo is crazy!!! It is a lesson!

One of the biggest disappointments has been AVs that bloom one color when cold, a completely different color when warm.

Sometimes the name of the AV is a clue. If ordering from an on-line catalogue, read the description carefully.

Some will have 3 or 4 different flower shapes. What was once a flaw, for some, is a desirable trait.

I prefer consistency. Am still looking for a white double or triple that reblooms white and not blue or mottled.

Joanne

Right, but DON'T confuse the issue. if a plant blooms one color and then another, there is another factor that can be involved that has nothing to do with sporting. If white is involved and you notice your plants blooming mostly solid colored in warm weather, and mostly white in cooler weather, this is something else entirely. Russians and other bicolored flowers are VERY temperature sensitive. Take EK Before the Storm as an example. In hot summer weather you will get purple double or single flowers. In spring and autumn you may typically get white flowers with purple tints, and in winter you may get absolutely snowy white fully double blooms. This is NORMAL for that plant. I happen to adore these color changers but a lot of people think they sport and are defective. That isn't the case at all.

Now with that said, the example shown of a pink and purple fantasy flower reverting to purple /is/ a sport mutation that usually won't go back to the original form. Rebel's Splatter Kake is a good example here. Blooms a lovely pink and purple fantasy with a white edge. It is a sport of the solid purple plant known as Rebel's Night Breezes. It is not uncommon for Rebel's Splatter Kake to revert back to it's all purple form without the pink fantasy.

So it's good to do your research into the plant you have and learn whether or not it's a color changer affected by temperature, or if it's an actual sport. I read about people throwing out perfectly good color changers all the time out of ignorance and not know what they are doing. Just like with variegated leaves on AV's, temperature (and sometimes PH) can effect substantual differences in how the flowers perform. Temperature also effects whether your doubles and semi-doubles revert to singles. They'll go back again in cooler seasons so don't be hasty to throw them out. Try moving them to lower shelves on a lower floor where they will be cooler, first. Or vice versa, to a warmer higher shelf or higher floor if they have turned too white.

Hyn I never thought of the color change that way. I understand the difference heat or coolness can make for leaves. I wonder if people are a little too quick to call something a sport when it is simply a temperature tantrum! lol

Rosie. To your point about temperature difference effecting leaf color, I have been wondering something. Not to swipe this thread but I have been raising some leaf propagations from my Lucia. I have about 8 of them or so for around 4-5 months.

Lucia leaves are normally a dark green color, but the violet babies' leaves have been turning a lighter green, which maybe you can see in the pictures. I was wondering if they are getting too much light or is maybe because its very warm in the room they are in? I keep them under a 3300K full spectrum LED plant bulb, but they are on top floor that averages between 72-79F in the summer. Otherwise they seem to be doing ok.

First thing, I think they look healthy. Good growth. If you really want to know, experiment and put a couple closer to the light source and a couple farther back and a couple leave where they are. Se what happens. This experiment should take more than a month in my estimation. Let us know what happens. Rosie