Hopefulauthor, Sinningias are gesneriads, and the most famous plant in that family are African violets. Their care is similar, with a couple differences. I use a mix of 1:1:1 peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite. I also wick water to keep it evenly moist at all times. They require brighter light than African violets to grow and bloom well. I keep mine in an east window with no sheer curtains and the blinds wide open. These plants have tubers too, and once they finish blooming they should be allowed to keep their leaves for several weeks to put energy into the tuber. The plant may then die back on its' own, or the crown can be cut off. Some people then unpot the tuber and put it in vermiculite in a bag until it sprouts. I just repot it into new potting mix and it has resprouted for me very quickly. Then the cycle begins again. Mark

Hey Barb-- At least the perlite doesnt hurt anything. You should of seen it earlier , what a mess. Im not only into hummers , but the plants it takes that they like. I usually grow from seed , I do buy some , but anyway thats what takes up so much of my time during this time of year. That is also why I dont have many AVs.

Hi Krys, IÂll bet you already know this but just in case you donÂt IÂll say it. There are some varieties of African Violets that are trailing African Violets and they naturally grow in a multi-crowned trailing fashion. ItÂs just the nature of that type of violet. Eventually they will trail down over the sides of the pot as the crowns grow longer and longer. If the violet that you say has suckers is a named variety, look at its description to see if it might be a trailer. Some of the miniature African Violets are especially prone to suckering. It takes constant vigilance to keep them growing as a one crowned plant. I often sit down with a tray of miniatures once every two weeks and remove the suckers that are growing between the leaves using a toothpick. The sooner you remove suckers, the less damage youÂll do to the plant. Some standard sized violets are also prone to suckering. If it is a variety that I want to quickly propagate I will let a sucker grow until it is large enough to remove then carefully remove it and put it in its own pot. Cover with a plastic baggie until it grows its own roots. When a non-trailing African Violet is allowed to grow large suckers, it ruins the shape of the plant. I have to tell you that I cringe when I see a plant in that condition. To me it just looks awful. If you do decided to separate the plant later, it tears it all to pieces and it will be a long time before it ever looks good again. I have even had plants to die from the shock of trying to return it to a one crowned plant. Even though a heavily suckered plant will still bloom its blooms will be reduced and they may have difficulty getting out of the maze of leaves that are growing in all different directions. Best Wishes, Deb

Kim, Do you have Pauline Bartholomew's book, "Growing to Show?" It might be helpful. I have an older version and hadn't read much of it until recently. I hated to disagree with such an expert but when she wrote that "it is almost sure death to pot them in a standard pot...the inch or so of space at the bottom...is unused by the roots, the soil stays wet and soggy," I think I yelled BS! I grew mine in standard pots for years and had no sure deaths and still use a standard pot once in awhile. When I take the plant out, there are roots at the bottom. However, further along in the book, she started talking about 6" and even 7" and 8" pots. Okay. I've never put a violet in a pot that big and I agreed that it would be too deep. Since you seem to gravitate toward somewhat larger pots, you might find some useful tips there. (I have that original pot in white and it is way too big for a violet if it's the same size as mine. I can grow a big coleus in it.) I think your pots around 5"-6" and very nice but not as easy for violets, especially when a plant doesn't have a large root system. Another way to get a bigger plant is to let them get suckers, but I have always grown single crowned plants. County fairs would often have a huge multi-crowned african violet sporting a blue ribbon :). Diana