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

Thank you so much. I was afraid nobody would help in time. I'll get to it right away. They are already showing a little wilt on the bottommost leaves. I searched and searched for root propagation methods, read one where you cut two slits, read how growers use rhizopon AA for more blooms when transplanting, was going to run to the nursery, they may not have it, and we want bushes and worry about the blooms later. So I'll just do as you suggest and hope for the best. I'll try to bury them about the same level they grew. I don't think you want to put them way deep in the pot, nor too shallow either. I did a lot of reading and searching last night, and it seems fall is the best time for transplanting roses/suckers, but I think early spring should be ok, too. I would, in time like to find out the best way to do root propagation like the old rose searchers I've read about did. It sounds easier than cuttings if it works except I fear most property owners would be more reluctant to let you dig around a rose rather than just take some cuttings.

Amanda - it is a good idea to restart your plant from time to time - it is either to start it from the leaf or even better - from the sucker. We all want to be young - but it is impossible - and we try to do our best. So - it is easy to put a sucker down and get a baby plant - and when it blooms - you can see that it is true - and chuck a mama plant. You got a young vigourous plant that will perform at its best for the next couple of years. You want to preserve the mama. Let's talk about the face lift. If you keep the plant for 5 years without repotting: it develops suckers, the mama plant looks like a palm tree with a long ugly bare neck. If you repot it every 6 to 12 months - you remove old tired bottom leaves, scrape the neck with your fingernail, cut an inch from the bottom of the rootball, scrape yucky soil from the top of it - and repot into the fresh soil and clean pot covering the neck. Put it in a bag - and voila - couple weeks later your old plant perked up after the facelift and tummy tuck. You can look at all the instructions with pics at rachelsreflections.com, But - how good it was to be young... Irina

Not really sure Sengyan You have a difficult time to this because you have one larger mother root feeding it! How far away is it from the trunk? I was just thinking,.. leave it alone and graft on it, they can grow very close together, even a foot is fine!...Our trees don't grow huge anyway and you can always cut it down low. But...if you are thinking of moveing anyway, this is what I would do. Cut about 2/3 of the root with a saw the first year, [spring] the root leading to it from the main trunk, about a foot away from the sucker, also, cut the root going away from the sucker all the way. Then in another year cut completely thru. Konrad