Hi Judy, From Lyndon Lyon's, or LLG, I get consistently large plants, often in bloom, in 2 1/2 in square pots in a good potting mix that does not have to be changed for at least six months. They come with plastic stakes that have the plant name printed on them so I can move them when I repot. The plants grow rapidly and do not sucker. The company has excellent customer service and ships promptly. For me, it is worth it to pay slightly more to get consistently larger, premium quality plants. For all the trouble of ordering live plant material across country, I want to get the best I can for my money. They have good quality control and accurately label the plants. They are my first choice. I only go elsewhere if there is something I want that they don't carry. They also keep their web catalogue updated, so if they are out of stock, they won't list the item. So, no surprises and no substitutions. They usually have enough of a particular type to choose from. For example, they will offer five different reds or five different whites or more. Their own hybrids are exceptional, vigorous and strong. I primarily raise Lyon 's own hybrids. They also have a wide selection of many other hybridizers. They are a large enough company to be able to introduce new hybridizers. They first opened up the Russian market and offer a wide range. They seem to pick the best choices of other hybridizers, so if they offer a plant , I feel it has been preselected for good performance. If something is new in the plant world, chances are they developed it. They are consistent in what they offer, it is usually possible to find the same plant year after year, plus new ones. I like to be a loyal customer and give them my business. They have been at this for sixty years, I appreciate they are still in this business. I feel they are excellent, so why not do business with them? When I place an order with them, I already know what to expect, so I can safely order a dozen. But they will accept an order of any size. When I want to try out a new grower, I place a small order. Usually, about four. Joanne This post was edited by fortyseven on Tue, Aug 12, 14 at 10:56

How many plants? For two or three pots, use one of the screw-in spirals, with a reflector. You can use a Verilux but they are expensive and not necessarily better. For many pots, use four foot T8 fluorescent tubes. Use a mix of daylight or cool white tubes, with warm white tubes. Or use a Gro-lux type tube but these may be difficult to find and expensive. Any of these are fine for supplemental light. For use as the only light, you might want to use a daylight (5000K-6500K) tube with a CRI near or above 90, to make the colours appear more realistic and vibrant. Use the lights on a timer. 14 hours light per day will give good flowering. Look out for leaf scorch. Move the lights further away, up to a foot. If they are already a foot away, try a fan, or use less light. You will probably be familiar with the symptoms of too little light, pale spindly stretched growth, poor flowering.

Ooh, yes we can chat about orchids too in the appropriate forums. ;) I am happy to help if I am able. You may remove one or more of the smaller leaves that are beneath the outermost larger leaves. I use scissors myself and cut it up close to the plant's main stem for the sake of being tidy. Remember to sterilize your tools before and after cuts so not to transmit viruses and pests (I use 70% alcohol). Then trim the stem short to about 1 or 1.5 inches from the leaf so that the stem closest to the plant isn't planted as it may produce flower buds instead of new plants. Most people prefer to cut the stem at a 45 degree angle so that new babies are more inclined to come up in front of the mother leaf rather than behind, but that doesn't really matter. I like to soak my leaves for about 5 minutes in a 10% bleach solution, then rinse thoroughly with distilled water to ensure I do not transmit pests like mites, thrips, mealy bugs, mold, bacteria, mildew, etc to the new babies. You may start leaves in a little water but be aware that the kind of roots made in water are not the same kind as produced in soil, so there will be an additional transition later when you plant. I much prefer to start leaves in my standard mix with 50% perlite. You may wick, bag, or dome leaves but it is important that they are not /too/ wet in soil (encourages rot) but merely kept damp and need bright light. For best results they should receive light for a minimum of about 8 hours a day and you'll have much better results with artificial lights than window. Many AV (and strep) varieties are difficult to get babies from limited window light but if it's all you have to work with, give it a try. No rooting hormones should be used as gesneriads are rich in producing their own. If you want to see lots of photos and articles on starting AV leaves, Google is your friend. There are tons of resources on this topic easy to find. Most leaves under ideal conditions will produce babies within 4 to 8 weeks. Some faster, many slower and it can depend on the variety, depth of stem, light, temperature, etc.

Jeff,,,,they choose to have a sales department that doesn't give a tinker's darn about what will make their CUSTOMERS happy. Have you seen their operation????? Take a look and get back with me. This is no longer a mom & pop company operating a few greenhouses in their back yard. Terri I will respectfully disagree. You cannot go to their website and "check" for any degree of certainty. Look at the other recent threads, and you will find us, the african violet serious customers, advising newbies that even if the pot has an Optimara label, you should always label it a "NOID-might be Opt. this". As has been stated, some people don't even want to trade for or put Opt. leaves in Round Robins. Why is that???? Because with no id to begin with they don't want to take a chance of passing along a misidentified plant leaf! And look at some of their color pix. Can you reeeeaaaallllyyyy tell the difference between a few of them???? I don't think so. I know I have my doubts about some of the colors and MY perception of what they are. Do I buy Optimara's? Yes I have, because they have a few I am in love with. Fortunately the ones I love CAN be ID'd because they are that one of a kind. Opt. MyDelight, Opt. Trinidad ll, Opt. MySensation and a few more. But the mainstream Opt's???? Good luck. Ok, I go into Lowe's. I look at all the plants (I am not just a violet person! haha). Other house plants are labeled. Outdoor plants are labeled. Rose tags say Rose Oklahoma, Rose President Lincoln, etc. Liriope is labeled as such. Hosta has a name to it beyond "Hosta"!!!! Do you think the average gardener cares what named Marigold, Hosta, Salvia, Helloborus they are purchasing??? NO! More of them don't care than do care. And these are things that will come up every year as long as they are taken care of! But the point is,,,they have real name tags that tell you all about the name!!!!! Honestly they just want to get it planted for color, landscaping etc. They are not passing them on by cuttings to the extent we are doing in basements, windowsills and any other spot we can find. But guess what.... Optimara says African Violet. That's it. Something that they know people set up lights for, propagate, learn about with various techniques,,,,,they know we cherish and keep and trade them with our friends,,,,. And they can't give us a TAG!!!!! A lousy name TAG that can be mass produced cheaper than we can buy 100 for online!!!!! ($1.78 free ship just in case you want to know!) Who do they think they are? They are snubbing the very people that make them who and what the heck they are!!!!! They labeled them back in the day!!! I still have some of the old tags! They got too big for their britches and thumbed their nose at the very people that got them there. I don't want to hear their excuses for no label. Worker's can't read and mix them up. BULL SQUIRT!!!! Then hire better workers!!!!! NO EXCUSES!!!! Ok off my soapbox now, not yelling at you Terri, or anyone else. I have said this very same stuff before about Optimara when this subject has come up. This is not a personal attack toward anyone except Holtkamp/Optimara. And any other company who does this. Shame on them. I am stopping now and I will post no more in this thread with my opinion about this subject. Whew. I am done. Rosie