Wait until the leaves get bigger. I wouldn't separate them until there are at least 4 leaves on the baby, and most people around here will say the leaves should be about the size of a dime (I've cheated before and separated when they were slightly smaller). When I do that I pot them up in little solo bathroom cups. I've never really bagged mine. When I separate them, I toss the leaf, but you could use it again if you want to grow more.

Are you fertilizing your others?

Congrats! It's like having a kid, isn't it? LOL

In my experience (which is no more valuable than anyone else's) the longer you wait to separate, the healthier the plant's root system is. I like to wait till the "mouse ears" are the size of a dime and then take them apart. Sometimes, you'll get more than one plant off them but for sure, the root system will be more developed.

Got pictures?
Dora

Congrats Ann,
And you thought having babies was going to be a painful experience.....lol.
Fred in NJ

Fred wrote: "And you thought having babies was going to be a painful experience.....lol.
Fred in NJ "

That's funny, Fred. good one.

dora

Yeah, it's not. It was really easy. I'm not sure what women are always complaining about.

I left the mouse ears in the bag with mother but I am keeping an eye on them. It is exciting to watch them grow. I hope they will bloom since I don't remember which violet they came from. I need to fertilize my others but at this time I can't find anything that doesn't have uretha in it. I have Shultz right now. For one or two times will using it hurt them? They are all growing such pretty leaves. I turn them a 1/4 of a turn each day to keep them all flat. I love the wicking method. Thanks to all that explained this method to me. So can I use the fertilizer that I have for now?
Ann in So Ut

Ann,

I know people talk about the urea, but I've used Shultz for over a year with no ill affects that I'm aware of.

THANKS SO MUCH Frank I have been afraid to use what I had for fear of permant damaage and since no one has died and all are growing beautiful leaves I didn't want to jinx anything. Do you fertilize every other watering? I am now off to give my babies a boost. Thanks again
Ann in So Ut

I am wicking my AVs now. I'm not very strict about fertilizing. Sometimes i'll fill the container up with fertilized water, other times I'll use non-fertilized water.

Ann,

Just mix up a gallon of water with fertilizer in it but cut the dose to 1/2 of the recommended amount. Use this everytime you fill the reservoir. This way, they get fed on a regular basis, just like you and I!

Barbara

Well I fertilized three that needed water and will add fertilizer to the others as they need water. Will let you know how this does. I really hope I get flowers, some I don't even know the color as I bought them not flowering and the others I have forgotten as it has been a while since I saw anything but foliage ( well since March) this should be interesting. i will report when and if anything with color shows up.
Ann in So Ut

HiLuv. Just discovered this site yesterday. It was fun reading your posts because I just separated two leaf babies. According to Frank, I think I did it too soon, but so far they are doing OK.

Glorie

My little mouse ears are growing, still attached & in the baggie. I have everyone now on 1/2 strength fertilizer (still now flowers) but I really like all the beautiful leaves and how big they are all getting. Some I thought were maybe minis but leaf span and size of leaf are saying otherwise. I am just happy that no one has died, wicking is going great I love this forum and all you wonderful AV additcts.
Ann in So Ut

take it from me, i'm going to have a baby girl in september. being pregnant is hard work. i'm going to buy some more parks seeds and this time i'll keep them in the bathroom, where the stupid cat can't knock them over.

My little av leaf just did the same thing. Quite exciting.

Hi Ann,
Urea free fertilizers are available from Optimara. Cape Cod Violetry sells it also. I also have used Dyna-Gro which is a liquid form of fertilizer which has no urea. This is also available from Cape Cod. I also found Jack's Specialties in Home Depot a couple years back, however, I don't know if it is still available. Jacks Specialties I believe was concockted by the person who made the original Peters AV food and then sold it to Miracle Grow. He since went back to his original formula and renamed it Jack's Specialties. I'm not sure if this info is correct about Jack's but I am sure that the urea content in the above mentioned formulas is nil.
Fred in NJ

Thanks Fred I will check it out.
Ann in So Ut

I use the Dyna Grow - Grow and am very pleased with the results.

Dora

Hi again,
I have used Dyna-Gro with great success, however, if you do purchase a bottle unless you grow commercially, buy the smallest one. I mention this because eventually the fertilizer will cryztalize in the bottle and what is left from all that evaporation is more likely than not stronger than the original. Furthemore the remaining crystals cannot be reconstituted easily and for this reason it too will not be the same strength as the original.
Fred in NJ

What am I doing wrong? I tried to start leaves in a Pot. I use an AV soil with extra perlite added to loosen the soil. Dipped in rootone put into soil.watered and placed all in a baggie. In about 2 weeks all leaves rotted. I usually have good luck rooting in water but wanted to try this method. HELP

Bj, I am no expert but I followed the advise from a lot of folks here, especially the advise about starting plants from a leaf.

I didn't water mine after setting in the ziplock bag, I started w/moist soil.

Use an old leaf, using a razor blade, slice about 1/2 of the stem away about 1/2 way up the leaf stem. Kind of like peeling a carrot.

Cut the top 1/3 of the leaf off.

Put the cut leaf into a 1 oz. solo cup that has 1 part soil, 1 part orchid bark and 1 part perlite as the potting mix and set in a ziplock bag, spritz w/VF-11, zip bag part way closed and blow into it to fill it up with air then seal the bag.

Lable and date the bag then set away from direct sunlight, not in the shade but no sun hitting it, as I have read it will cook the leaves.

I did this with 10 leaves in April, mine don't have mouse ears yet, but my sisters do and mine are very close. To date we haven't lost a single leaf.

HI BJ,
Email me and I can send you a sheet on propagating leaves.
Fred in NJ

BJ, Don't give up! If I can do this so can you!

If your leaves rotted then you just had things too wet.

Put soil in bowl, container of some kind large enough you can get your hands in to. Add some water and mix with hands, spoon whatever, *just enough water to make soil moist. Add soil to pot (small solo cup with hole). Whatever pot you use it should have drainage. Slice leaf stem at an angle an inch or so from leaf. You can make a hole in soil with pencil sick in leaf stem at an angle and secure stem with soil. I don't use rooting hormone - some do, some don't. *Don't water*. Place pot w/leaf in baggie. It should be fine. If you check several days later and there is condensation open baggie for awhile or wipe it out with paper towel.

I don't like baggies. I got so sick and tired of opening them to check on things etc. I use clear plastic deli/salad containers. You can fill one up with several solo cups and it's easy to check just lift the lid. Someone here suggested clear plastic shoe boxes. Works great and that's what I use now.

Sometime after several weeks - depending - soil may become dry. I would water with this great little plastic syringe you can get from any dentist who does extractions or an oral surgeon. It puts out a very thin controlled stream of water. If leaves weren't coming up on their own after about 6 weeks I would use a very weak solution of fertilizer. Remember dryer is better. If your leaf tip starts to turn gray and shrivel cut it off far enough into healthy margin of leaf.

That's it. Basically do everything you did before, but just keep it on the dry.

Good Luck.