Su and Frankie,

Do not let the leaf harden off. When you root it, make a fresh cut so that open tissue is exposed. I always use rooting powder. It is a safety precaution and seems to save many leaves, especially those that arrive dehydrated. As for leaves that break off my plants at home, I sometimes put leaves in tepid spring water with a pinch of sugar if I don't have time to put them directly into the potting medium. If the leaf is firm, I put just the stem in the water. If it is soft, I try to revive it first. Then a few days later, I pot up the leaves all at one time.

The majority of seasoned growers prefer to grow plants from leaves or plugs (not plants). There are many reasons for this covered on other threads. The main reason is that if you are going to grow in quantity, the plant grown from a leaf will adjust to your own environment better than one from a vendor grown in a totally different environment.

However, sometimes it is nice to start off with plants. They might take a while to fully adapt to your environment. Su posted some great photos. I also ordered leaves from Donna around the same time, and my plants also look about the same now. Very small, healthy baby plants.

Some people who grow minis from leaves use the creamer cups you get with take=out coffee. People also use small condiment containers. They can be purchased. Or the next time you order take out food that uses them, ask for a few extra. They are shallow so they will have to be replaced sooner than a K-cup.

A recent development in plant care is reusing the Keurig coffee maker K-style cup that is a good size to start smaller leaves. I collected Keurig cups from friends and if the cups did not have a hole in the bottom, punched a few. You can use any small container. Even styrofoam. The holes can also just be tiny slices on the bottom sides.

For larger leaves, I use a sytrofoam style cup with a wider rim that can be cut to size. Or a solo cup cut to size, or a smaller one inserted in a larger one for support.

As for when to remove babies, etc., you might want to refer to previous discussions, there is a wealth of information on this Forum on that topic. The same basic kinds of questions often come up many times over, so if you can take a little time to search the forum topics, you will get multiple points of view and a well-rounded set of responses. Or have fun watching some of the you tube videos. That is a great video. Lyon's also has other videos on you tube. Donna Brining also has one on her website, Fancy Bloomers, and Lyon's probably has some more on their Facebook page. Another FB is African Violet Nerds (I think that is the name of it.) The author is M3rma1d, or Anne Marie, who has a lot of you tube videos and she likes to grow minis. Also, Hoover's Hybrids, Steve Hoover, has videos on his website. You can also find some of Reed's Greenhouses you tube videos or articles, the computer will not let me type his screen name, it autocorrects for spelling. (He no longer is involved in the AV business, however, he has left his info on the web. It is very good info.)

These are the folks who follow the guidelines that most of us on this Forum are used to and they are members of the AVSA.

There are other videos that can be found on YouTube by other growers. They sometimes have information that seems to contradict the " best practices" most of us normally follow. So if you come across those, you can learn something, but regard them more as "entertainment."

I am not a mini grower myself. Most of my practices I learned from reading the Forum and watching the videos. The idea of the 1 1/2" stem with a slant is so that the babies will grow in front of the leaf, not on the leaf, and not behind the leaf.

Like Su, I get a kick out of watching them grow., even if it is slow.

I came across a helpful article I posted on another thread, it is worth reading all the way to the end because it has good basic reference info and a great chart at the end.

Also, the book, Growing to Show by Pauline Bartholomew, is a very good reference for basic AV care. it can be ordered from the AVSA or on line elsewhere.

Cultural Guidelines for Commercial Production of African Violets (Saintpaulia ionantha)1https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu

J. Chen and R. J. Henny2

African violets (Saintpaulia ionantha) are consumer favorites and have been enjoyed as flowering houseplants since their introduction into the United States in 1894. They readily adapt to interior conditions and are commonly seen as specimen plants, in dish gardens, and in terrarium plantings. This article is intended to provide guidelines for the commercial production of African violets including propagation, cultural requirements, and common physiological problems.

Joanne