Propagating Africa Violets

My grandmother always had African Violets in her house when we visited, and I never resisted touching their fuzzy leaves,  still to this day it intrigues me. I must touch it!

Don’t judge me. 

 The plant-  The pretty violet, or even pink, blue and white flowers are simple to care for and look too cute to resist . There are a few things to keep in mind when having the pretty compact flower in the house. 

Care

Indirect sunlight

Moist soil, never soggy, always well draining

Pinch off spent flowers to encourage new blossoms

Repot when needed 

Repot when a baby violet starts growth or it gets too crowded in the pot. 

 Pretty easy to care for. Keep away from heating vents, with enough sunlight and proper watering you can enjoy the plants for years, infact I have had the same plants for over seven years now! 

Something I’ve found that always happens with these flowers is their leaves break off with a simple accidental knock at the plant. My kids sometimes play rough in the house and even if it’s not allowed- it happens. The plant falls or knocks over, some leaves get snapped off. Several years ago I would have just tossed them now though I know better. You can take those broken leaves and grow a whole new plant! 

How to Propagate Africa Violets 

Usually you want healthy strong leaves to propagate with, the stronger the better but that’s not always the case. I’ve been able to propagate with pretty much all leaves unless it was far too gone to save, and that was wilted far past saving. What you need

Little green house container ( even a milk jug over a plant container would work)  

Cuttings

Rooter Plugs- these are sponge like dirt plugs that hold a form. You can use dirt, I’d go with the finest you can get and you’d have to be extremely careful about mold growing . It needs air, the plugs are sponges like so air moves in and out created the perfect environment for a root system to grow. I have done it with dirt but if you want a sure way to grow the roots- buy the plugs. You can get them at any nursery and or home and garden center.

Plant tray that fits into the greenhouse container

Trim the cuttings if it has a long stem, if it broke off closer to the leaf just snip to create a better cut. No stem? Don’t fret, don’t give up!

You’ll want to take the plug and tear it open a little, just making a slit or an opening for the stem and leaf. They come with small holes meant for a seed or branch, but I find better success when I place stem and bottom leaf into the plug. 

Place your stem and leaf into the opening you made, close it and set it into the tray and greenhouse container. The plugs should be kept moist at all times.

I don’t normally have to ever water these. Inside the greenhouse the moisture build up keeps it the plugs in good shape. If it does look a little dry soak it a bit and cover back up. 

Roots should start forming after about 2 weeks, maybe less depends on how healthy the cutting was. Sometimes it takes longer, as long as the leaf looks green and holds a firm shape ( not drooping)  it’s going to work. It’s taken a month for some to grow roots even longer, all depends on the conditions. 

This leaf was damaged when it fell, cracked and broken oddly with no steam what so ever.  I immediately set it to the rooting plug and after three weeks there’s roots galore!  Few more weeks there will be new growth and can be potted like the others. 

New grown looks just like a shoot, a sprout, once it gets to be about half the size of the leaf cutting itself you can replant into a small container and not have to worry about the greenhouse . 

 

Soon enough you’ll be looking at your brand new plants pretty blossoms! 

 

Enjoy your plants!