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African Violets

Will Unique Violet Bloom From A Leaf ???

15 years ago

A common question probably. BUT heres the twist...the violet I am talking about is a 'Rebel's Splatter Kake' that is a sport, I think that is what you would call it, a sport. Half the plant blooms in blue flowers with pink specks and flecks and a white edge, and half the violet blooms like a 'normal' Splatter Kake blooms. Pink with blue flecks and the white edge. That is why I bought it and paid a small fortune for it!! It was the 3rd one I saw that bloomed like this, it isn't two plants in one pot, I checked. One side of the plant blooms one color, the other side blooms the other color. Is that 'stable' and will a plant grown from it's leaves bloom like that. OR is this plant kind of like a Chimera, and won't bloom odd like that,except from a sucker plantlet?

Please don't pop my balloon and tell me it won't even bloom again like this. If it is true, I guess I should know. But I bought it because of its odd bloom pattern. I had to have it and paid through the nose for it! So..selling a few leaves would help me out big time. Or maybe plantlets from me growing a few leaves myself:). Anyone know? I know fantasy violets are tricky in the blooming dept. ,but I need to ask about THIS kind of bloom pattern.

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Comments (3)

irina_co
15 years ago
Floridabear -
you never know until you try - and if you put leaves and grow starters until they bloom - you will know for sure - and you can get your "small fortune" back.

In my experience the sport with time gravitates to only one of the types of the flowers . Right now if you get the leaf from under the pink flowering bloomstalk - you get a pink starter and from under the blue flowers - blue babies.

But again - may be you got lucky and acquired an unique "harlequin" stable plant.

I wouldn't sell leaves, you are risking a bunch of very unhappy buyers.

So - start putting leaves.

I am not sure that if you treat it as a chimera, means top the crown and wait for the suckers - it will help. Suckers grow from buds - and depending what side of the plant the bud comes from - that will be the color of the baby. I am thinking that if you would cut the crown off - you would see the section of the stump having the different color - it's where the blues are coming. Like wedge of the blueberry pie sitting in the cherry pie. The rerooted crown would be blooming the same, but the suckers from the stump - not.

Good luck and enjoy your special plant

Irina
floridabear
Original Author
15 years ago
Well it is WAY to young to have a crown yet. So I cant get any suckers from it. so I would have to do leaves. And frankly,I have no room to do that. So I guess I will just have to enjoy the odd plant that I have and wait for its next bloom cycle to start. Which is starting now. So in a few weeks I will know if it still has half blue and half pink flowers or not.
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First- Take a deep breath and RELAX!!! Growing AV's is supposed to be fun! The first thing you should do is re-pot. Since you dropped your violet, (and we've all done that), the pot is too big. Use a pot that is 1/3 the size of your plant which will probably be tiny. Most of us use solo bathroom cups for our babies. I have also used medicine cups. Use a light soil; most AV's come in a soil that is too heavy because they ship better in a heavy soil. Good for shipping, not good for violets. After you have re-potted, put your violet in a spot with good light and practice patience. The flowers died off because that's what they do. Flowers bloom, hang around for a while hoping for a pollinator and then die off. The plant goes into resting mode and then will bloom again if grown properly. And- the water on the leaves issue---I wish that would die a quick death because it is not true. Those who show plants or are avid, experienced growers routinely wash their violets. The trick is not to use cold water. Plants have pores (stomata) on their leaves with which they perform a gas exchange. If the leaves are dirty, the plant can't breathe. I washed my violets a few nights ago. If you need more help, come back here and I can go into more detail when it's not so late in the day! Happy growing, Linda P.S. Did you put the broken leaves down to root? Here is a link that might be useful: Washing African Violets
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larius
15 years ago
You could try to use the blossom stems to propagate. "Other very genetically unstable varieties, like the most unusual multicolor or fantasy-blossomed varieties can also prove difficult to propagate "true" by leaf cutting."
I've added a howto link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagation by blossom stems

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