Hi KeOsika,

no worries, as long as they are still green, you haven't killed them yet. (and i have a bunch of lost plants under my belt too, we all do probably, - except for Linda ;-p )

Anyhow, if the root systems are small, that means they don't need bigger pots yet. You want them to be in a pot that is about 1/3 of the diameter as the leaves are. If you struggle with the look of that, or if your plants are top-heavy, just place the pots inside decorative containers such as coffee mugs.

What type of soil are you using? Are you blending in any perlite? i find my soil (commercial av mix) tends to stay too wet for too long, so i add a lot of perlite to it - how much depends on your growing conditions and watering habits.

If you are using a light soil, then you are not in as much danger of overwatering / causing root rot.
Meaning your roots will be happy and fill up the pot.
Which brings me back to pot size - if your pot is on the biggish side for the size of plant, it will put a lot of effort into producing roots. meaning other things like leaves and flowers get put on hold for a while.
You can unpot one and see if there has been development in the root department, - if there still arent many, or they are brown and mushy, you'll need to fix what caused it.

As for that 'sunny location' - make sure they don't get direct sun, especially not whilst bagged, that cooks them pretty quickly.
And if you want to harden them off to take them out of the bag, just open it little by little over a week or two, before you take the plant out all the way.

Keep going, and you'll figure it out :-)

Karin

Have you been giving them any fertilizer at all? Some soils have it but others don't and if they do, it only lasts a certain time. Your babies won't grow without food.

If you haven't fed them, you should give them a very weak solution (perhaps 1/8 or less of what is recommended) and only when they are damp, not dry. If they take off, you know that was the problem. Don't overdo it though (seeing orange crystals is a sure sign of this).

As Karin says, don't over pot them.

It sounds like things aren't going so bad :)

Diana

KeO,

The first thing that jumped out at me was the removal from the bags. Any plant that has been grown in 'hot-house' conditions must be 'hardened-off. You must open the bag gradually, over about a week or so, and let them acclimate to their future growing conditions.

A fragile root system is generally from too much water. The roots rot off. Your plant will give the appearance of not enough water by drooping and it is true; they aren't getting enough water because the root system has been compromised. At this point, most novice growers will water, water, water and that just exacerbates the problem. As Karin and Diana noted, proper pot size and a light soil mix is a must.

It sounds as though you are at these plants all the time-potting-re-potting, bagging, unbagging. Grow your leaves in a bag, harden them off and pot up. Don't be at it all the time! Your plants need time to get their roots under them and establish themselves.

I'm not sure what you mean by split. Did they separate into different crowns?

If you need tiny pots, use solo cups or those little containers restaurants serve dressings in. Cheap and easy.

Also, remember, not all of your plants will survive. It's not always you, sometimes it's the plant. Not all plants are strong enough to survive. It's just nature.

Hang in there! We've all helped many turn into people who have far too many violets and are always looking to acquire more...and more...and more...

Linda

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought KeOsika had taken the clump off the mother leaf and potted the whole thing. That is how they "split" and she got so many.

Am I right or wrong there?

Good advice from Linda. I suppose it also bears mentioning that we often have different environments. Some live in areas with high humidity while others do not. Some of us have major changes of humidity/temperature with the seasons so we have to keep that in mind.

Diana

KeO -

some people are more visual, some need to read a manual.

Is there any club in the area where you live? And where do you live? AV people belong to a nice, helpful and large community. May be we can find you a mentor from your area - there are always special approaches depending on the location - water- humidity - air is different from coast to coast.

You need to see how good growers do it near you - and may be invite somebody to give you advice to resolve your problems on a spot.

I am growing my plants under the fluorescent lights - and I am using Cornell formula soil - and my setup is pots on wicks and mats on eggcrate on trays. There some areas where it doesn't work - but works for me. My starters sit under the domes, not in plastic baggies. It is very stable and I do not lose many plants. I understand that it requires some initial investment - but since you do not have too many plants - you can get buy on a very low budget.
It is such a disappointment when yu keep losing plants no matter what - I would say - may be you will start with a very small setup, several plants - and grow them well so they will make you smile every time you look at them. It is so much better to have one happy one instead of 100 miserable.

Best wishes and good luck to you

Irina

I just saw a cupcake tray with transparent lid at the dollar store - I thought that might be a perfect dome for a few starter plants... (I mainly have minis and semis anyways). I just have no extra space at the time...

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement. It's nice to hear that I may not have screwed up after all, lol. I checked the bag of African Violet soil I bought at Giant and found that it wasn't the right blend… So I went to Lowes today and bought some different soil that was perlite and peat, and got some small pots for them. They've all been repotted in the correct soil and their new pots, and placed back in their bags. And that's where they're staying. No more potting for these guys!

What I've decided to do is leave them in their bags for a week just to let them adjust to a new pot on the half wall in the living room (where they will get light without "cooking"). After a week, I will open their bags and let them readjust to the new room. and gradually remove them from the bags :) Hopefully they'll do much better now that they've got the right kind of soil and the right size pots!

I've included a picture of my plants. The biggest ones have some really neat ceramic pots made for african violets. There are two parts to the pot: the outer round part and the pot part that settles inside. It supposedly self waters so I'm interested to see if they work well or not :)

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@Karin: I found the commercial mix was also staying wet too long. The new perlite mix I bought today seems to be much lighter. As per your advice, I've put them in smaller, more suitably sized pots, so hopefully that helps :) And I'd seen someone do that with the cupcakes you can buy at the grocery store that come in the plastic boxes! It seems really convenient :O too bad my house is in diet mode, at the moment haha. Thank you for the support!

@Diana: I haven't, mostly because I wasn't sure how much to give them, nor if the soil I was using already had fertilizer. I think once they're weaned off the bags, I might give them food. I'm certainly done potting them :P Thank you for the tips on the fertilizer :) And in response to your second post, I think that's what I meant? I took the plants off the mother leaves and found that it had split into multiple crowns in one pot, and repotted them.

@Linda: I didn't realize that you had to let them get used to their new climate (though I should have, given that I own an aquarium). I'm more confident in them now that they're in a lighter mix. To answer your question, yes, they split into different crowns. After I cut the parent leaf off, I noticed they'd split into different crowns so I removed them from their pots with the intent of cutting them apart. For the first time since I've had AV's, the different crowns just… fell apart. I removed the plants from their first pot and all I had to do was tug on the crowns gently to get them to come apart. The second pot, well, they just kept coming off! I was almost starting to get annoyed by how many there were, haha. I suddenly went from (what I thought was) 2 big AV babies to 7 much smaller but very much independent babies. I'll give solo cups another try if I need another pot size for my tiniest ones and the local stores are out :) Thank you so much! Your advice has been really, really helpful and I'm gonna keep hanging in there! (PS I always want more more more, haha)

@Irina: I don't know if there is a club in my area, but I'll consider looking into it. You all have been really pleasant so far and it's been really nice to meet such kind, knowledgable folks :)

KeO,

Your plants look good! When you pot up a violet, try for a pot that is 1/3 the size of your plant. Your pots are a bit big but since you have been potting them over and over, I would let them be. Just be careful with your watering.

Many growers do not use potting soil with fertilizer in it. You have no control over how much your plant is getting and when it is depleted. Your new soil sounds much better.

As for fertilizing, the standard is weekly, weakly. Or weakly, weekly whichever you prefer. This translates to about 1/4 of the recommended amount of fertilizer every week. Some growers will feed for three weeks and use plain water for the fourth.

You will have to experiment with your growing conditions. Every time the seasons change, I have to re-adjust my growing practices. It's just part of the game!

Growing a particular plant usually comes down to growing conditions not the grower. The grower must have the knowledge of what the plant needs and try to provide it. But, if the proper conditions can't be met, the plants will fail to thrive. So don't assume you can't grow; just arm yourself with the knowledge and start working and re-working your growing conditions!

Linda

I was looking at buying some of those exact same pots! But then I couldn't decide which of my violets would go in them, so I let it be...

KeO,

It looks like you are doing better. I never tried "fancy" pots but there is a podcast called "All About African Violets" and she put one in a self-watering pot and it did very well. I watched many of them while I repotted my plants.

This is hard, but just because you have 7 baby plants, you don't really have to keep 7 baby plants... Annie, the woman who did the podcasts, only keeps the largest. I only keep 2 or maybe 3 or 4 if they're special or questionable (a variety known to be unstable).

I did mention the fertilizer because my babies took off when I fertilized them. 1/4 is often used but some people use 1/8. I also had some problems with over fertilizing so I err on the side of caution with the babies. There is no added fertilizer in my mix (usually).

Congratulations on your success. There are people who just can't seem to start plants from leaves, so they say!

Diana