Leave the baggies on till the baby leaves become at least the size of a quarter. Its best to transplant baby leaves when they have become mature and strong. That way they will survive in the long term. If you transplant them when leaves are still tiny, they will take longer to grow and also susceptible to dying and temperature change diseases.

Hi and welcome to the board :)

A general rule of thumb is to wait until your new baby leaves (we affectionately refer to them as mouse ears) are the size of a thumbnail or larger.

Since mouse ears vary by the variety, another general rule of thumb is to have 5 or more before transplanting. A "standard" mouse ear wouldn't have any trouble being the size of a quarter but a mini could grow for years and never have a leaf the size of a quarter.

Once you have 5 or more and they're at least a fingernail size, you can safely transplant.

Beware....that's when the fun begins :)

Dora

Lol, I'm already way too involved in this!

I have one ... it's a trailing variety, and it has 13 or 14 leaves, though none of them are very big. Is each one a separate plant, or will it become obvious which leaves each form a plant?

I was so excited just to see one, and when I looked at it today, I was ready to do cartwheels (which I can't even do, haha!) This is my first time doing this, and of the 4 leaves with little mouse ears, this one has the most.

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Congratulations on your babies Mom!

No, each leaf isn't a separate plant. You probably have 1/2 dozen or more plantlets forming now. A pair of leaves growing like mirror images is probably one tiny plantlet. When they get bigger and grow more leaves the plants will be much more obvious.

Please keep us posted on the progress!

Well today i checked everyone out, and found that 7 of my leaves are surrounded by little mouse ears! So out of the original 14 I've bought, half are sprouting!

My little army of leaves. I usually have plastic baggies on them, though I took them off for this pic. These ones are all sprouting:
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This one is Baby's Breath. I was rather intrigued to see the roots growing out of the soil, and now the leaves are too:
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Allegro Appalachian Trail. I have another leaf of the same type, planted on the same day, and no mouse ears yet.
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Irish Flirt:
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Rob's Dust Storm:
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Another Irish Flirt Leaf:
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And this one is just poking up. Kermit:
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I have one more, but no matter how many times I copy the pic, or upload it ..it brings up a different picture. Oh well. I do have another question though. I have a leaf that came in last week, and I've noticed that it's pretty limp now. The leaf is healthy, except the limpness. I've read you can soak them in water. How long should I soak it for?

When the leaf is limp, it indicates it has lost water from within the cells. Soaking may restore that, but not always. I place limp leaves in warm water, and replace the water every so often with warm water again. The larger the container, the longer the water stays warm. You can also try putting a very small pinch of sugar in the water. Soak until it has regained its crispness. This will usually be no more than a day.

Sometimes a leaf is just too dehydrated to recover. Give it a gentle kiss, thank it for making the effort, and give it a toss into the garbage.

Barbara

You have one leaf with mold. The plantlet will likely die.

I suspect your soil is too heavy and is keeping the soil too wet.

Most growers use one third each of peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. When you transfer the babies, put them in a fresh soil less mixture so they won't become overwatered.

Wow! You have had excellent results with your leaves. They must have been taken from the second or third row of leaves from the mother plant.

Nancy

13 out of the 14 I put down have produced plantlets. I ordered them all offline.

The second bunch I ordered hasn't seem to do as well, and I repotted them with the peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. They hadn't even started rooting yet.

I lost one of them. Rob's Sticky Wicket. My friend had ordered that one, and she got two leaves, and gave one of them to me. Neither leaf survived.

Sometimes there are just "dud" leaves and they won't make it. Those get trashed and are part of the overall experience of growing AVs.

Some leaves (especially those that are pulled from the 2nd and 3rd ring of the plant) grow healthy, quickly and well. Some leaves can produce baby ears in 2 to 3 weeks and some take a month or two. We can help the health and speed by choosing healthy leaves and providing optimum growing conditions.

Sounds like you've done that and now it's time to just relax and wait.

PS. Did you "bag" those starter leaves after you started them?

Dora

I bagged them up when I started them. I thought about taking them off, but then they started sprouting, so I thought I'd better leave them alone.

I am completely jealous of the luck you are having with your cuttings. I've tried a few from cuttings from my mom's AVs and have only ever had marginal success. I was curious as to how you are doing it. I understand the plastic baggie but am confused by the straw. Also, do you water the cuttings regularly? I am thinking of ordering some cuttings online but wanted to learn how to start them correctly before I order so I have a better chance of success. Thanks!

Well, honestly I'm still a little floored at my own success with them, and I'm hoping they will survive. I ordered them all from Reed's Greenhouse. He sent me directions, and I just followed them to a "T", except I dipped mine in rooting hormone. The straw is just to prop the baggie up instead of the leaf. I ordered some more this month and I planted them in the peat moss/vermiculite/perlite mixture. It doesn't hold as much water as the African Violet soil, and that's what I shoulda planted the others in, but I didn't know that then.
I've watered them approx 3 or 4 times the entire time I've had the leaves down, and honestly I can't even remember when the last time I watered them was. They don't need to be watered much at all. You can pick the cup up and tell if they need watered. But I've read of other people who water when they first plant, or even wet the soil and wring it out, then don't water again.
My house stays around 74F and it's not humid in here. The leaves are in a tray on a TV tray in front of a west facing window. The blind on that window is closed, or cracked once in a while.
I've done a lot of reading since I've planted, and it seems that the smaller the pot, the better. I have a friend who put her leaves down about a week and a half before me in pots about 3 times the size of mine, and though they're well rooted, they aren't sprouting. Yogurt cups, or something like that. And like others have said in this post, make sure they're from the 2nd or 3rd row of the mother plant. Good Luck!

I learned through experience that if I dampen the soil when I first plant (mine gets dampe when I spray the Phyton 27 on the leaf and top soil to moisten the Marathon granules) and I place the starter cup/leaf in an airtight container, I don't have to water it at all.

Dora

Well, all of my leaves now have mouse ears. Last one finally decided to stick it's little ears up today. Yay! Anyway, I'm also starting to be able to distinguish the separate little plants in each pot.

I do have a question. I have Wrangler's Winterhawk, and it's a full grown plant:
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I gave a friend a leaf off of it a few weeks ago, and the leaf didn't survive, so I just gave her a new one earlier this week. Am I doing the right thing by giving her the leaves with the most green on them, or does it matter? This pic was taken a few weeks ago, and I chose the two leaves with the most green on them. The plant has quite a few new leaves growing on it now, though they're still pretty small. I'm also a little concerned because I gave her leaves from the outside of the plant.

Abigail -

first I am going to disappoint you. It is not Wrangler's Winterhawk. Winterhawk has a pink variegation and very ruffled leaves.

Anyway - you have a very pretty variegated plant. I wouldn't cut any leaves from it right now - it is way too white and it needs every green spot for itself. It is slightly overpotted so it needs to catch up a bit. I would start feeding it with a half strength fish emulsion and let it pick up.

Yes - you were right - only the most green leaves root - the best for rooting was the right upper corner leaf.
You have a sucker coming from the bottom - so you just wait until it gets bigger - then you can carefully remove it - provided it has enough green on it - and root it for your friend.

Variegated leaves are harder to root, it takes longer and sometimes they are susceptible to rot - especially if they are bruised or if it took more than 5 min from cutting the leaf to planting it. I am not kidding- some varieties are very tender.

good luck

Irina

Here is a link that might be useful: Wrangler's Winterhawk

I agree with Irina they do take longer to have babies and sometimes if they dont go through a rest period they will die i learned the hard way , I would tell my friend to wait a while for another leaf or two your mama has to rest and produce more green leaves.

Irina - I'm actually not the least bit disappointed to find out the plant isn't Wrangler's Winterhawk ... I'm actually glad you told me. When I bought it, it wasn't flowering it, still hasn't, and I just bought it for the beauty of the leaves. Once I got home, I looked up the tag online and was like, Ok, so this is what it will look like. I'd love for it to bloom, but right now I want it to put all of it's effort into producing leaves. Now I'm wondering if the other violet I bought at the same time was mismarked as well.

This one was labeled Buckeye Colossal:
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Oh, and I forgot to ask. Where do I get Fish Emulsion at?

Abigail -

if you have a nursery around - they will have it - as well as Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware etc. There are brands that are stinky, and brands that are less stinky - but they all work.

Now I am looking at your plant - and it seems more wavy and variegation is pinkier than on a previous photo. We will see how it works when it matures. Mine is good size satndard - and it has grey-pink variegation. And I actually like the leaves better than the flowers. Flowers are good - but the leaves - are something else.

Irina

A. -

Sorry - I was mistaken -

I thought it was the same plant - I have Buckeye Colossal too- and it is blooming right now.

What I was going to suggest - you have quite a production going - leaves, babies, variegated and non- variegated plants. How about using wicking and lighter mix? 1:1:1 as most of us uses? It saves time, increases humidity and really makes plants grow faster, more vigorous, juicier and bloom all the time.

Irina

I found the fish emulsion at the greenhouse. It was cheaper than I expected, and I'm excited to give it a try.

Actually, I do have all of my adult AVs wicked. The pictures where all taken before I wicked them. And they're in the 1:1:1 mixture as well. My leaves that I have pictured above are all in straight AV mix. I didn't know about the 1:1:1 mix when I potted them, and now I just keep hoping they'll all survive. Knowing what I know now, I'm really amazed that all 14 sprouted and seem to be doing fine. My newer leaves are potted in 1:1:1, and I plan to do the same with the leaves I'm expecting tomorrow or Friday. Yes, I've developed a healthy addiction.

This is my first AV in it's wicked pot. It's gotten so beautiful here lately. Right now, it's my favorite.
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Wow!! I can see the difference - vibrant leaves, perky flowers!

Cool pots you have as well - where did you get them? It is so much better than deli containers - those get green inside - and this combo is really nice looking.

Irina

I got them from www.reedsgreenhouse.com along with all of my leaves. They're $2.99 a piece and come with the wick. I love them.

I just got more leaves in the mail, I'm getting ready to pot up!

Steve Reed is a great guy and he has a lot of neat stuff. An these pots are super neat!

I.

i have my leaves potted up and some are wilting what should i do thy only been in the 2 oz cups for 4 days any answers will be thankful, I don't know much about soil rooting. I am going to inter these if they make it in a local contest but they have to be soil propagated.....HELP !!!!!