Hi,

One of the frequent posters on this forum, Korina, has some micro minis and favors the small violets. She may be able to give you some input about growing them. As for purchasing, the vendor link listed under the AVSA site on the left hand side, provides web addresses to many vendors who may have these violets available. I'm providing a link to this site as it has lots of useful information available for you.

Elaine

Here is a link that might be useful: AVSA

There tougher than regular violets because its hard to correctly water them without wick watering. Theres so little soil its easy to over or under water them. Rob's Violets and Lyndon Lyons both are great vendors that have minis and micros.

Hi, ztravis. Microminis really aren't that much more difficult than miniatures. The one thing you will HAVE to do is wick water. As James said, with only a teaspoon of soil, it's much too easy to over- or under-water them. And they need more light than standards; you will have to experiment. Also, you'll need to find containers small enough; more difficult than you might think! I'm experimenting with putting a Rob's Twinkle Pink in a 2 oz. condiment cup like my regular minis -- hopefully it won't be too big. AVs like crowded roots and the formula applies to the little ones too; the diameter of the pot should equal 1/3 the diameter of the plant. With a 3" diameter plant, you can see the problem. I'm currently trying to find 1 oz. condiment cups (I've seen them, I know I have!).

The trouble with finding microminis is that the AVSA doesn't recognize them as a seperate class, so all official descriptions will say 'miniature'. That being said, I can give you a list of varieties that I know or suspect are micros; let me know.

Rainbow Violets carry some micros; I'm saving up for an order, but I've heard good things about them.

Rob's specializes in semis and minis (with a couple of micros), and his wife does standards; between them they have *everything* covered. My favorite is Rob's Twinkle Pink; I purchased Twinkle Blue and Voodoo Blue only recently, so I can't yet tell you how good they are.

My very favorite of all time is Tiny Moon Goddess, hybridized by some anonymous person who should be *sainted*. She puts up with so much and still flowers like crazy.

Welcome, and keep asking questions!

Korina

Korina, did you find some 1 oz. condiment cups? I have a bunch as I know a restaurant supplier from the motel I used to work at. Let me know. Oh, I forget to check here so you can email me if you like at bonny (_) slater (@) hotmail (.) com just take out the spaces and (). Bonny

I'm not certain that these would work for micro-mini's, but you can find some 1 3/4" round pots here:
http://www.secretgardenrareplants.com/catalog.cfm?category_id=16

I just put a couple of mini's into 1 1/2" Oyama planters - kind of anxious to see how they work out.

Joan

Optimara has micro minis and self-watering 1" pots. You can order them from www.selectivegardener.com.

Hi.
I have some Teeny Bopper and Spunky Trail which really are the tiniest I ever saw. It is kind a trouble to make them to bloom. Now they are domed and almost right under light(12 hours). I try to create for them little AV paradise - hopefully they will bloom...
BTW Corina - I see you are from zone 9b. I am from San Jose - if you are close maybe we could meet and exchange micros? I have some from your wish list and some more micro from Fay Wagman, she has quite a choice. Mine are still tiny starters - but I think I have few quite interesting babies. I have 1 oz solo cups also...hope we are from the same area?
Alena

Joan, yes please let us know if they work.

Thanks medrep, but Selective Gardener is a bit beyond my budget. I'm currently saving for a copy of 'Growing to Show'.

Alena, alas, I live in the *true* northern California ;-P, Arcata. That's about 3-4 hours each way. However, you are very close to the Sacramento club; they have a Gesneriad show coming up in October. Whimper. I'd go but I don't have the $$ to get there. Not that I have room for any more. I don't, I don't, I don't (if I keep telling myself this, maybe I'll *stop*).

Unfortunately I discovered Fay Wagman *after* the mini AV club closed, and her web site keeps being under construction. (Grr! Argh!) I suppose I could email her, but that would be much too practical and productive. :-)

Korina

Here's another question: To wick the micros, do you lighten the mix even more than the standard 1 peat: 1 vermiculite: 1 perlite? It seems like if you tried to lighten it even more, you would end up with a whole lot of perlite in your 1 TBSP for your plant?

-Mo (WV)

Mo, I don't. Seems to work fine. The trick is to have the wick only on the bottom; I tie it in a loose overhand knot so it's just around the drain hole. This way it doesn't stay too wet, like if you had a big circle around the bottom of the pot.

Korina (wow, that was mostly coherent! ::impressed with self::)

A few more suggestions for the teeny tiny violets: Midget Bon Bon (E. Champion) - actually, I suspect all of the "Midget" series are pretty tiny, altho' I've never grown them. I like Midget Bon Bon because it's crown-variegated yellow & green and has tiny pink single blossoms - it looks like it's not real. Another tiny *trailer* is Pixie Runaround - variegated, little white bells with blue. I think others have mentioned Teeny Bopper and Tiny Wood Trail, both tiny-leaved trailers. Actually, I think the first article I read about keeping plants micro-mini (by Pauline Bartholomew?) used Pixie Runaround for its demo.

Subversive, thanks, it's gorgeous! (thank you AVSA). I'll check it out and add it (them?) to my list.

Korina

The mini violet club closed, but Fay Wagman is going strong elsewhere on the web. I ordered from her back in May. She has such a large collection that choosing a few for an order was almost stressful.

And Korina--she has a three kinds of Senks--Beanstalk, Merlot and Snow Fairy. I ordered from her because of Beanstalk. I currently have one tiny, slow growing baby. Starting to wish I'd gotten Snow Fairy too, after seeing some nice pictures of it online.

~Brambles

Here is a link that might be useful: Fay Wagman's Violet Venture