Rooting and Propagating African Violets

If you find somewhere African violet that is especially beautiful, or if you just want few more plants of the variety that you have, you can simply cut a leaf or two from it, without damaging or jeopardizing the plant. You should always look for green healthy leaves from the bottom of the plant, not from the middle, so that plant looks just as good as before cutting the leaves.

Then, take some yoghurt or jam jar, put some nylon or waxed paper over top, fix it with rubber bend or duct tape, cut two holes, one bigger than the other, put the stem of leaves in smaller hole, and then fill the jar with water (not fresh water of course). Water should cover almost entire stem of the leaf.

You can, although it is not necessary, add a drop of liquid fertilizer – or add one or two pellets of solid mineral fertilizer. After that, put the jar in location with enough light and wait 6-7 weeks until roots appear. Then plant the African violet in suitable pot. If you put leaf in the jar without nylon, leaf's stem fill touch the bottom of the jar – when roots start to grow, any movement of the jar could damage them.

It is also possible to cut a leaf and directly plant it in the pot.

In that case, you should keep the soil moist all of the time. You will not notice the roots, of course, but within 2-3 months, small leaves will appear from the ground. You can than repot the plant or simply leave the plant in that pot. Don't water it much anymore. Usually, if I find a broken leaf, I put it in the same container with mother plant. If it roots and grow new leaves, great, if not, no damage done. In most of the cases, I have new plant to give ...

In both cases, main leaf will die with time, and it should be then removed – again don't water the plant more than 'grown' plants any more.

Main leaf can be 'removed' before it dies and can be reused for rooting of another African violet plant. It just needs to be removed at the 'right' moment - young plant is strong and big enough and main leaf is still healthy.

Then, after at least 6-7 months, You can hope to get nice small African violet plant that can be repotted, given as present or simply left in original pot. If you have decorative ceramic pots, leave African violets in smaller plastic pots, and when their bloom is at peak, put them as needed when and where you want. It is always joy to watch :o)