oriol6,

do you by chance have a picture you could post? I know a lot of minis have suckering habits, but they should be kept cut back.

As for watering by wick, I'd use the same nylon string in a home-made reservoir and treat it like any other violet.

I'm getting better results with Texas potting. As the pots for trailers are about 3 or 4 times wider than deep I put about an inch of perlite and put the mix on top of that.
I sit the pot in a fairly wide dish (thats the trouble with trailers they take so much room) and put in the nutrient to about half way up the perlite.
I only add fresh nutrient when the container is completely empty and the bottom of the pot is dry.
I have other trailers on wicks (2 x 8 ply wicks per pot but these dont seem to get evenly moist. I should probably use 3 wicks as these are in 12 inch wide pots. However these are standards not minis.

Seems I do have a miniature after all. This is Wee Golly in a 9 inch wide pot. Actually its a saucer with holes drilled in it and it has 2 wicks.

That's a beauty, GCTBA. And thanks for the education - I had never heard of Texas potting. It's given me something to Google! But your saucer and wicking set-up makes a lot of sense, too. I like the way you have it sitting up out of the water on the rim of the tray. I would think this would add humidity to the plant's environment as an added bonus.

And thanks to Taxonomist3 for your reply... you know, I was wondering just how you can tell the difference between a suckering mini and a true trailing mini. I'm just basing my judgement on the behavior of my other minis; they sucker of course, but this particular one is different. It's laying it's stem over and rooting, and the new 'suckering' growth is almost uncontrollable. I've not had a trailer before, so I'm just going with the flow, if you know what I mean, and will give it what it seems to be asking for.

GCTBA,

That is one gorgeous violet you have there. How long does it take for a trailer (standard?) to reach that size?
Looks like success to me.

Oriole, It will be interesting to see how your mini av grows. I've never grown a trailer, but they look magnificent. HOpe yours does well.
Jon

I hope it does well too, Jon. It's a dainty little thing with nickel to quarter-sized leaves. It won't have as much "oomph" as GCTBA's, but it will be an interesting experiment!

Oriole6 -
you are correct - the trailers have longer internode distance - you can actually see the stem between the leaves - and a suckering rosette plant - it looks like a mop - and it is very hard to see stems, they are very squatty. When the hybridizers developed trailers - they used the wild trailing species of Saintpaulia in their crosses, and you still can see a difference- leaves are usually thinner and petioles a bit longer in relation to the size of the leaf.

We have a restaurant chain here - Tokyo's Joe - and I love their black disposable plastic bowls - just right for the good size trailers or Episcias. I drill holes in a bottom, put some perlite and wicks - soil and plant - just like Andrew.

Irina

Jon it took 6 months to go from a pot 5 inches across to filling the 9 inch saucer. At first it looked extremely overpotted but it hasnt suffered as a result.
All it needs now is a lot more blooms, so far its put most of its energy into widening the root structure. Its now a little closer to the lights than the standards and I do use three quarter strength food whereas the standards only get half strength. This pic was taken soon after it was repotted.

Andrew

Sorry the pic didnt go through in the previous post.

Irina, that's an excellent description of what my little trailer looks like. I'll pot it properly tomorrow (after I have lunch at a restaurant with a disposable bowl just the right size). : 0 )

I'm really getting hooked on trailers! I have a "Fancy Trail" that's ALWAYS in bloom! REALLY Easy to start from leaf cuttings.

All good information. I have been growing trailers since 1984 when I purchased Pixie Blue (still my all time favorite violet). Except for the small standard concord I exclusively grow minis & semi-miniature trailers. They grow more my style... kinda wild looking. lol Seriously though I find them more easy to manage. One doesn't need to worry about the perfect rosette.

Larry

Funny you mention 'Pixie Blue'! I started 2 leaves of that a few weeks ago! From Lydon Lyon's. Can you post a photo of your's if it's not too much trouble?