Re: Suckers and Sucker removal with pictures

10 years ago

Found this article, thought it was interesting. May be useful for those who are new to african violet suckers and sucker removal from plants.

http://www.babyviolets.com/blogs/whats-wrong-with-my-african-violet

Cooks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Suckers Sucker Removal

This post was edited by cookie_grow on Mon, Apr 28, 14 at 10:05

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Comments (10)

fortyseven_gw
10 years ago
Hi Cooks,
Thanks, this article you referenced provides helpful information. The following section in the article has two incorrect words, the words routing should be replaced with the word routine.
How to prevent African Violets from suckering?

Ensure basic routing care of African Violets to prevent suckering. Keep the plants watered, fertilized and repotted in fresh soil and suckers will not form. Many times, if the suckers are continually removed from the plant, this will also prevent future suckering. Routing grooming of the African Violet plant can ensure that it maintains good crown growth and breaks the habit of suckering.

The article states at the end that if a plant has too many large suckers, it is best to get rid of it and replace it. Because the plant is a living organism, it might be kinder to the plant to take leaves to start new plants and allow the parent plant to live. It is also possible to remove larger crowns and restart them so that the original plant may survive and have a second chance. If removing crowns results in a long neck, this can be potted down. This is also good practice for those new to the growing and care of AFs.
Joanne
fortyseven_gw
10 years ago
Good basic information, a keeper
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The only plant i have ever overwatered is a zz plant. With this AV, I pulled it out hoping to repot it into a smaller pot, but the roots are definitely filling up the whole pot. I much prefer growing in clay pots, too- but this violet's soil is quite sandy. A combination of sandy soil and a clay pot may be overkill on an AV. It took only 2 or 3 days to go from slightly moist to dry enough to wilt- I waited for it to wilt. I like to know the wilt point on my plants, with the exception of more delicate plants (my batflower) and succulents. I have to say, AVs are the easiest plant for me. I have always found peace lilies to be easy, but AVs are perfect. I've learned it's not about buying 'easy care' plants. It's about finding the plants that respond best to your care. I dont think many people understand that. (while they are killing cacti, and throwing their hands up in the air...)
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When I lived in Miami, I used to remove small suckers from clustering palms with a high level of success. There were probably more but I remember working with Arenga, Chamaedorea, Cyrtostachys, Ptychosperma and Rhapis. It is easiest to work with potted plants because you can move them around for the best angles. It is best with shoots just large enough to have some small roots developing. Rooting hormone did not seem to help but wrapping moss around a large, unrooted sucker (an air-layer) was sometimes helpful. Keeping the newly removed shoot in a humid, windless, shady spot in a greenhouse until they established a new root system did help tremendously. Generally, my first concern was to keep the parent plant alive and healthy so I kept the cuts as small as possible.
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Mostly correct. Especially with cherry plants. The only thing I disagree with is the "blocking sun" thing. That's not really a consideration. Tomato fruit actually need some shade from the foliage or they're prone to sunscald. People who prune plants heavily have to be careful of that, especially in strong sun areas. A big problem with later-season fruits if you've had a bad season for disease is that you often lose so much foliage to the disease that the fruit start getting sunburned. In addition, more foliage = more opportunity for photosynthesis, and more photosynthesis = more production and better flavor. The important consideration is airflow. If foliage is very dense so that rain, moisture, etc. hang around too long inside the plant, that's an attractive breeding ground for disease spores. Sometimes, if I have a caged plant with dense foliage, I'll thin out the foliage on the inside of the plant for this reason. This has little to do with suckers, though. I'm not pruning stems--just removing leaves.
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dviolet,,,,,just to clarify---- I thought if you remove the main crown it's gone, never to return--THIS statement is absolutely correct. But,,,,if you remove the main crown you may get suckers to take its place. But you are saying the original crown will grow back. NO,,,I didn't mean to imply the original crown will grow back. The original crown will never grow back, again only suckers may be produced around that area. Apparently I saw something in the pix that isn't there. You may have removed the correct sucker after all. I would take Irina's advice and let it grow. If perfection is what you want,,,,,,as the leaves mature move them into place with toothpicks or something until you have the leaves where you want them. You do have a nice little plant,,,,I would just let it bloom and love it! I am sorry if I confused you. My computer died and I have to borrow one to get online. Hopefully in a week or so I will have another one! Then maybe my brain will unscramble and I won't be in such a hurry! Sorry. Rosie
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fortyseven_gw
10 years ago
Let's keep this at the top of the list, the question it answers comes up a lot.
J
cookie_grow
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi, I agree I also saw the error of routing instead of routine Joanne :). For me, the pics were useful.

cooks.
Karin
10 years ago
Oops, do I have to admit now that I only looked at the pictures?

I have to admit, I just had to separate a new mini that had grown three crowns, all intertwined, and it was very hard to tell which was the main one. So from that point of view, it's much easier to see and remove them when they aren't overgrown yet...

And, note to self: suckers are like leaves, you don't have to plant every. single. one.
fortyseven_gw
10 years ago
Hi Cooks, Yes, the photos are very useful. I added it to Clippings. My club recently gave a demo of removing suckers on an Optimara specimen. I will refer club members to the link. I sent so many emails before because my computer was slow. Yo, Karin, Interesting advice, coming from you! ;0)
J
quimoi
10 years ago
"suckers are like leaves, you don't have to plant every. single. one. "

But they wanted to grow so much! LOL! Guilty of potting too many of both. At least my own plants don't get many suckers.

Diana
fortyseven_gw
10 years ago
Good advice, Diana
quimoi
10 years ago
No. More on the lines of Catherine Aird's
'If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.'
Diana
PRO
Whitelacey
10 years ago
Clipping the previous post. ;)

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Re: Suckers and Sucker removal with pictures

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