My first babies are blooming!!!

Things seem to go pretty well for my African violets and the nursery is getting bigger and bigger.
But the highlight of the month is that my first violet babies are blooming for the first time. I'm a very proud mom! They are my first propagation experiment. The mother leaf was put in a pot at the beginning of January, so the two babies are around 5 months old.

Propagation Experiment Using African Violet Leaves

Immediately after I bought my first violets in january I realised that two leaves were damaged during the transportation, so I decided to use them in my first propagation experiment. After some research on the Internet I realised the stems were too short so I took a sharp knife and I cut both of them creating longer stems.

Leaf no. 1 before/after cutting:




Leaf no. 2 before/after cutting:



I put them in a mix of vermiculite and African violet soil (50%, 50%) but before that I made a hole in each pot. Trough that holes I passed a synthetic mason line that I kept in water for a while and then I put the pots in a bigger reservoir (be careful the pot not to be in the water, only the lace). This is the wick-watering method and I find it very smart. I covered both leaves with transparent plastic containers after I made a hole in each. This will allow the leaves to have humidity inside and also fresh air.



I put them close to my kitchen window and then I waited…and waited.
On February 27th leaf no. 1 showed its first tiny green heads. What a joy! I kept track on the evolution taking pictures, but leaf no. 2 was still doing nothing.

Leaf no. 1 on march the 1, 10th, 24th 2013:




Leaf no.2 turned out to be much lazier. Only on march 18th it showed its tiny green heads. This is a picture that I took on march 24th 2013.


I keep you posted during the next weeks :)