Tips on Propagating African Violets

Method

• Take leaf cuttings with 1 inch of stem attached in spring. They root readily in a glass of plain tap water, but they form weak roots that delay establishment when rooted this way. Leaves produce thick, sturdy roots when rooted in a small pot filled with starting medium. After the roots form, small plants emerge around the parent leaf. Once these plantlets have two or three leaves of their own, remove them and plant them in their own pot. African violets like a tight pot, so it’s best to start small and repot as necessary to accommodate the roots.

Medium

• Cuttings need a medium that is firm enough to hold them upright and porous enough to allow moisture to drain freely. They don’t need nutrients until after roots form. Start cuttings in a container filled with vermiculite, sand or a mixture of the two. When you transplant plantlets to their own containers, use an African violet potting mix. This type of mix contains a balanced combination of ingredients at the proper pH for African violets, along with enough nutrients to sustain the plant for a few weeks.

Humidity

• Until it forms roots, an African violet leaf cutting isn’t able to absorb much water from the growing medium. Maintain high humidity around the leaf cutting by covering it with a piece of glass or enclosing it in a plastic bag. Keep the plastic bag from touching the leaf by inserting clean wooden craft sticks in the soil around the edge of the pot. Uncover the cutting once roots form.

Light

• African violet cuttings need bright light, but no direct sunlight, which can burn the leaf. Place the cutting in a brightly lit room near a window but outside the reach of the direct rays of the sun. You can set the plant in a sunny window in front of shear curtains, or in a window that receives shifting light filtered through the canopy of a tree. Cuttings kept in a dimly lit environment root very slowly.