Hi Terry and WELCOME to the forum.

Are your AVs Standards, Semi-Mini or Minis? The answer to that question will determine what kinds of pots could/should be recommended.

Looking forward to sharing with you.

Dora

Terry - welcome to the group - hope you will be with us for many years to come.

Look around - may be there are AV clubs in your area - nothing can replace real show and tell.
http://avsa.org/LocalClubs2.asp?RegionID=10

for propagating - the cheapest and most practical solution is using plastic 3 oz Solo cups. They sell them in Walmart, King Soopers etc.

for pots - the cheap plastic azalea type pots (width more than height) - look at the vendors in AVSA site - I think everybody buys from Cape Cod violetry.
You would need - for standards - 3, 3.5 and 4". You start your leaf in a solo cup, you repot the babies into individual solo cups - and when they are large enough - move them into 3 and then 3.5. If it is a large standard - 4" and up.

Oyama pots - everything grows in them so well - if you have an ambition to grow 26" wide violet - you will need 8" pot. Othewise - the 6" pots you bought - I would look into other gesneriads - kin to your violets. Or you can just stick any large enough house plant - and it will love it.

Do not forget the soil - as you know after looking into FAQ - the base soil is 1:1:1 - peat, perlite, vermiculite. If you use Oyamas - add 1/4 of perlite to the mix.

Hopefully you will get a great blooming from your happy violets in a New Year

Good Luck

irina

Thank you for the welcome! To the best of my knowledge all my violets are standards. I have one I'm not sure of that is no longer named. The original plant had the word "Irish" in it. I'm dusting off cobwebs but it seems like it was called Irish flirt. I gave some leaves to a friend, mine died and she gave me some leaves back to restart another plant. It has small leaves and produces green flowers.

I picked up some Peat, Perlite, Vermiculite, and rooting powder today at Lowe's and some plastic dixie cups at the grocery store. I picked up a disposable roasting pan - it has a clear plastic lid that I think will serve as a mini green house. It's tall enough to hold the dixie cups and small plants.

Terry

Good Job Terry!

You possibly wouldn't need rooting powder. If you put down leaves - better go without it - if you reroot the violet - you can dust the stem a bit. I use rooting powder to root roses in violet soil. It works.

Irina

If you have standards, the general rule of thumb is that the pot width should be 1/3 the width of the plant width.
I prefer the green plastic 4" pots that are made for violets (shallow). I personally want them to all be planted the same way because I am somewhat anal about consistency...but that's just me.

I have used Cape Cod Violetry as a source for supplies but there are numerous suppliers on the internet. I recently recommended that a violet lover look on the AVSA site and find out about suppliers from there because those suppliers would be reputable and not risky (or much less risky). I included the link below. Cape Cod does not have a website, only a catalog but I've been pleased.

I think the best source for supplies is your local society. YOu put your hands on the items until you learn about exactly what you want over and over and you get it right then with the help and recommendations of those there in the flesh.

On the growing leaves and the mini/semi minis, I use the white solo cups that I get in qty of 150 from Kroger. I use my saudering iron to make holes for ariation/drainage/wicking and then rest them in baby food jars and then put them on my plant stand.

One of the things that surprise many people is that there is such a variety to the depth and scope of this hobby. Hundreds of $$ aren't required to get started but there are supplies that one can aquire that do cost money - it's up the the hobbier (is that a word?) on how deep and to what degree they dive/swim. You aren't required to have several plant stands with lights and lots of stuff. You start where you are and go where you want as fast as you want. It can be addictive so consider yourself forewarned :)

When I first started, I had all standards that were NOIDs that I got from others and home stores. I've loved them for decades and used to grow many of them. Then I got out for a few years and then got back. I pretty much cut back on my standards because of space; however, one thing that I am pretty strict on now is that I will only add "named" varieties to my collection and I prefer mini/semi minis.

I don't have a problem with how other people do their hobby and I'm continually open to learning from others and this place has been a good space for me to be as my collection has grown from 7 to over 150 now and that is only since May 08. Yikes!

The plant that you have is called "Irish Flirt" and here's its stats:
Irish Flirt 7577 11/07/91 (S. Sorano) Double bright green and white frilled star. Medium green, wavy. Semiminiature

Here is mine back in August:
{{gwi:382820}}

Dora

Here is a link that might be useful: AVSA Vendors

Thank you so much for all the great tips! There's a lot more to this violet growing than I'd imagined. I have a lot to learn. There is a violet club in the Little Rock AR area which is about 30 miles from me but I haven't been in contact with them yet. They advertise a show/sale once a year in the spring. That's where I got my original Irish Flirt a few years ago. I'm going to need more shelves.... :)

Terry