Once a suckering plant, always a suckering plant?

16 years ago

Hi guys,

I have a question re: suckering.

I'm at a loss over my Gillian from Rob's violet barn. I got it about 3 years ago and it never bloomed for me. It started suckering pretty much right away. I remember talking to Rob and he told me that if a plant has suckers on it, it won't bloom. Now, a few months ago I repotted the violet, as in I cut one of the suckers (they were like mature plants at the time) and potted it in a small pot without the roots. The plant is doing quite well, but... you guessed right... it has suckers AGAIN!!! Does it mean that it will keep producing them no matter what? I have babies of Gillian that are still too small to be poted. Does it mean that the babies will never bloom for me? What do i do?

TIA,

Inna

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Comments (9)

robitaillenancy1
16 years ago
I would think if you inspect your plant weekly and remove any tiny suckers beginning to develop that it would stop suckering.

I don't grow that particular plant so I can really say.

Nancy
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innochka25
Original Author
16 years ago
Hi Nancy,

Thanks for responding! :)

I do it every week, but they still keep coming back. As I mentioned I even tore the old plant apart and repotted a small plant in the new pot. It's still suckering like crazy. I have no idea what's going on...
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Corrigan, I've seen rooted suckers from dwarf plants continue flowering as they were rooting in a jar of water, and actually set fruit while developing new roots and before transplanted into garden soil or container mix. Generally, rooting a sucker that's four to six inches long is about the same as dealing with a transplant of the same size with regard to fruit production timelines. You will find some discussion to the contrary at some Webpages where they'll claim rooting suckers will give you a jumpstart compared to transplanting seedlings in the ordinary way. After reading some of those discussions, I played around with rooting longer side shoots ... like 12 - 18 inches in length ... and did get some ripe tomatoes in about 60 days from indeterminates (from which the cuttings came) that otherwise took 80 days or more to ripen fruit. But then the cuttings were growing in warmer weather later in the summer, right? Again, the only ones that continued to open the buds that were on the cuttings when snipped and subsequently set fruit during the rooting process for me were dwarf types like Husky Red, Heartland, and another one I got from a nursery last year but can't remember the name just now.
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haxuan
16 years ago
Could it be anything relating to fertilizers? Have you been fertilizing it with something having a first high number, like 30-10-10, which encourages new growth instead of blooms?
Just my guessing. I'm not an expert, LOL!

Xuan
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lilypad22
16 years ago
If this is the same plant, a lady in my violet club has Gillian. She brought it to a meeting for show and tell. It was a beautiful plant with large white flowers and she said it lives on a side table under a regular reading lamp (think beside her sofa) and she said it hasn't stopped blooming in months. She had rooted babies from a leaf and gave me one. Mine is a small plant that hasn't yet bloomed but it has not had suckers either. I do have some mini plants that all they seem to do is sucker and I don't get much bloom from them...as they are small, it is hard to keep up with cutting the suckers off. Also recently I bought an evergrace at Lowes, it was loaded with bloom and I got 5 good sized suckers from it that I potted up for plants and several more that were just small and I tossed in trash. Maybe it being a space violet? I think some variety plants just sucker more than others and the suckers take the strengh of the plant to grow so less energy goes to blooming. It does take a little time for a sucker to root and grow enough to bloom. Hope it works out for you. tish
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jobear446
16 years ago
I have at least three of Rob's semi miniatures that sucker so much that I have given up on blooms. I tried putting down leaves on one of them but no luck. I am getting kind of leary of Rob's violets. Is it just me or what?

Joanne
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robitaillenancy1
16 years ago
I have 118 varieties of minis and semis including 5 trays of Rob's. Very few of them sucker, in fact, since I sell leaves I wish they would sucker more.

Minis and semis have as Great, great grandparent Species Schumensis which is a trailer. That is why so many minis and semis sucker. They are just showing traits of that great great grandparent.

I think if you just take off suckers as they begin to form there is no problem.

Nancy
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fred_hill
16 years ago
Hi Inna,
I look at suckers as natures way of surviving. The plant wants to live and produces more suckers to insure it's survival. I agree with Nancy that if you continue to remove the suckers it will eventually stop suckering. Meanwhile keep checking on it to make sure it maintains good growth habits.
Fred in NJ
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innochka25
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for all the responses!

Xuan, I use a balanced fertilizer (don't remember the numbers now, but they were all about the same) and have used for all my plants, including violets. All other violets bloom rather often and are pretty happy with it. I just noticed that it's the Gillian that does that...

Joanne, I don't have much problems with Rob's violets, but that plant is the only one that sucker for me :) I recently purchased 5 minis from him and two of them bloomed alreadt, even with the meager light that they manage to get-gotta get those grow light SOON!! :)

Fred and Nancy-I just hope that it will bloom for me one of these days, as I haven't seen a single flower on it ever. And it's supposed to be gorgeous :( Just a thought, could it be suckering b/c it has particularly high light requirements?
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pisces73866
15 years ago
I know I am a little late in replying to this, but I'll add my two cents anyway. I have two semi-minis from the Violet Barn that have never bloomed, all they do is sucker. For three years now that is all they have done. I tried for the first year or so to remove all the suckers but finally gave up. They are growing just fine with lots of little leaves everywhere, but I have come to believe that they will never bloom. Also, the plants I have started from leaves off those plants seem to have the same problem/condition. And just to cover the bases I have changed lighting, humidity, temp, fertilizer and soil... and it makes no difference.So my conclusion: Once a suckering plant, always a suckering plant... in some cases
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Once a suckering plant, always a suckering plant?

Comments (9)

robitaillenancy1

innochka25
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Once a suckering plant, always a suckering plant?

Comments (9)

robitaillenancy1

innochka25Original Author

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innochka25
Original Author

innochka25
Original Author