this is what i did. you pull off the flower you'l use for the dad. cut its anthers in half- the anthers are the yellow sticky up part in the middle. rub the anthers over the pistil in the middle of the anthers of the mom plant. nsome plants work better as moms.if your lucky itll take and a seedpod will start to swell up. always lable your crosses that way if you like it you can do it again. according to books a seedpod is ripe when it dries up.

Just to clarify Leslie's response, the pollen is INSIDE the yellow anthers. That is why it is cut in half.

You should cut away the pollen sacs (anthers) from the 'mom' flower as soon as it is open to avoid self pollination. Pollen sacs of the 'dad' should be allowed to mature 5-7 days before being used to pollinate the flower. And, the stigma upon which you place the pollen is usually ready to accept pollen 2-3 days after the flower is fully open. So pay heed to your timing!

Good luck!

Barbara

Be prepared if it takes though. You will have a seed pod with a 100 or so seeds. And any one of them could be the next big winner at a show.
Fred in NJ

can a person pollinate male and female flowers on the same violet? I just want the same violet but many seeds to propagate.

African Violets don't come true from seed. Even if you cross a variety with itself. You'll have more success stripping leaves off an entire plant and propagating it that way. Even if you have to go a few rounds to get into the hundreds, it will probably take less time than growing seed pods (6 or so months), then babying the plantlets for months before they bloom, and then chucking out 90% or more because they are not up to scratch.

I am growing out two seed pods worth of seeds, and I probably have some 200 tiny plants. But they didn't come labelled as to which will be worth keeping. And I am getting to a point where I don't have the space to keep them all.
Still, I think everyone should try it at least once :-)

Karin