Joanne,

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean immature leaves while the suckers are still on the mother plant or after they have been removed and potted up on their own?

And are you trying to determine if you have gotten all of the sucker off of the mother plant?

Linda

After they have been removed, potted, and growing. Yes to second question. Thanks, j

Hmm, my suckers usually only have two leaves (plus a hint of new ones to come) when I remove them. They are tiny at that stage, most root ok though (optimaras duh). I think the smallest one I planted was 5mm across both leaves, and it has doubled so far :-)
I haven't paid much attention as to what happens to which leaves, i think usually the two first ones grow for a while, but go yellow once the plant develops a few new leaves.

Karin

Joanne,

Suckers will grow just as the mother plant. I have some that have developed leaves that were not true and were removed and some have not.

If you have not gotten the entire sucker from the plant, you should be able to see the bits that are left. You can rub them out with a pencil point. If there is some of the sucker left, the sucker will sometimes sucker.

If you want the sucker for another plant, let it get a bit bigger so it is easier to see when you remove it.

If you are not sure if you have a bloom or a sucker, again wait for a few days and it will become obvious.

I hope this helps!

Linda

How do you remove the suckers? With a pencil, forcep etc., l would recommend using the " sucker plucker" tool, it has worked really well for me and makes grooming plants easier and faster.

When I have suckers, they start off with just two leaves and then grow larger in size over time.

Cooks

Joanne,

Violets grow in a three leaf pattern but this is in a whorl. They don't all emerge at the same time. Each circle on your violet will usually contain three leaves but they will be slightly different in size as they grow out one after another. When three leaves have grown out, another row will start.

I also use the sucker plucker. It's a great tool.

Linda

Thanks, Linda, and Cooks,
That helps to clear things up. I guess the first mouse ears must be those immature leaves that will eventually be removed and appear as a pair.
Perhaps after that, the three pattern starts.

Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Sun, May 4, 14 at 22:59