Experienced flower growers who are seriously engaged in the cultivation of violets, claim that their passion began from the moment the very first beautiful flower appeared on the windowsill. Immediately, the desire came to expand the collection, purchase other varieties or get new sockets from an existing plant.
Our article is addressed to those who are just carried away by these plants and do not yet know how to root a leaf of violet. Usually at home, these beautiful flowers are propagated by leaves cut from an adult plant that has attracted attention. This is the simplest and most common method of growing young outlets, which is quite easy to master even for beginners in floriculture, who recently became interested in this amazing culture.
When do violets propagate?
The most favorable time for reproduction is summer and spring, when the plants have enough light and heat. But in case of urgent need, when, for example, planting a violet from a leaf is the only way to save a rare variety, an experienced grower can carry out his plan even during a short daylight hours.
Select sheet
To understand how to root a violet leaf correctly, you first need to decide what planting material should be. In other words, we will talk about how to choose a leaf for propagation. If he is sick or weak, you will not be able to grow strong, abundantly flowering offspring. That is why, before rooting a leaf of violet in the ground or in water, it is necessary to carefully approach its choice.
Experienced growers do not recommend using leaves from the lower tier closest to the ground for reproduction. Firstly, they are the oldest, most likely already weakened, and secondly, such leaf plates can be inhabited by spores and bacteria of fungi. You should choose a stalk from the second, or better, from the third tier, where the leaves are already well formed, they have reached the size of an adult plant, and have a pronounced turgor.
Why does the leaf seem lethargic?
Sometimes planting material seems drooping, having lost its elasticity and appearance. This can happen when they try to grow a new outlet from a sheet that was purchased in a store, arrived from the nursery by mail, or was received from acquaintances. A long road, and sometimes irregular watering, instantly affects the condition of the handle and leaf plate. Therefore, lovers of indoor plants, knowing how the violet develops, from a rooted leaf, beginners recommend that for a couple of hours they put the whole leaf intended for propagation in warm boiled water, into which several crystals of potassium permanganate must first be added.
This simple method will help return the leaf to its normal state and disinfect it. After this, the stalk is dried on a napkin, cut with a sharp knife at a distance of about four centimeters from the base of the plate. The cut can be made straight or at an angle of 45 °.
How to root a violet leaf in water?
The sooner the leaf cut from the plant gets into the water, the faster and easier the root formation process will go. For beginners, we recommend this particular method of propagating violets from a leaf. How to root a plant quickly? It’s not difficult at all. The easiest way to do this is in standing or boiled water. This will allow you to: track the status of the selected sheet; prevent rotting of the cuttings; track the formation of the roots and primordia of new outlets.
Before rooting the violet leaf in water, the container into which it will be lowered must be thoroughly washed, and if it is a reusable dish, it is better to sterilize it. Small glasses or bottles made of dark glass are more suitable for this purpose, which prevents the formation of green algae on the vessel walls, as a result of which the water stays fresh longer.
How is rooting done?
Dip the leaf in water by two centimeters, while the cut of the stalk should not be in contact with the walls of the vessel, for this it can be fixed using the lid on a jar or a sheet of paper. To exclude the development of microscopic algae and pathogenic bacteria, dissolve a tablet of activated carbon in water.
As evaporation is added, the water is used, but it is only used on clean and settled water. Try to keep the initial fluid level and do not wet the sheet plate. You will see the first roots in two to four weeks. Timing largely depends on the type of violet and the condition of the planting material.
How to root a violet leaf if instead of roots on the cut there are traces of rot? The sheet must be removed from the water, dried and cut in such a way as to completely remove the damaged tissue. Further decay will help prevent the same coal, but already crushed into powder. They carefully treat the slice, after which the sheet is again immersed in water. If traces of decay are detected, the water is changed and the container is thoroughly disinfected.
Transplantation into a nutrient substrate
After numerous strong roots about two centimeters long appear on the leaf stalk, it is time to transplant it into the soil mixture. In some cases, flower growers do not get planting material out of the water until tiny rosettes appear on the handle. They are not added to the substrate. But in this case there is a danger of slowing down their development and growth. What is the best way to root a violet leaf that has already taken root?
Prepare small plastic glasses, make holes in them to drain the water. Fill them with fine drainage by a third, and then top up with soil. The cuttings and leaves cannot be deeply buried., Since the emerging outlets will break through to the surface for too long. As a result, they will weaken and may not hatch at all. Around the cuttings, the soil is slightly compacted, moistened with a sprayer, and in this form, the cups are placed in a greenhouse or simply covered with a bag to create a microclimate and preserve moisture.
If you grow violets from leaves of several varieties at the same time, you must sign the glasses, indicating the name of the plant and the date of planting. Plants get out from under the film after the young foliage appears above the soil. This usually takes at least a crescent.
How to root a violet leaf in the ground?
The leaves, planted immediately in the ground, perfectly take root, and this process is much faster. This method is indispensable when used to propagate a violet leaf from a very young, still immature plant or, on the contrary, planting material has already been obtained somewhat withering. The same method is also suitable for those who do not know how to root a violet leaf without a stalk. The leaf is selected and prepared in the same way as when rooting in water, but the cuttings from miniature varieties are further shortened, leaving only a centimeter to one and a half.
If the stalk is missing
If the handle is missing, the leaf is cut into segments and then deepened into the ground. Experienced flower growers resort to this method when they get a sample of a very rare species and fear that it may not take root. If you divide it into segments, the likelihood of successful rooting increases.
If you first learn how to root a violet leaf in water, then this method will not cause you problems. Prepare all the same plastic cups that so often help us out when propagating plants. Fill them with drainage by a third. Then fill the cup to the top with a soil mixture, and this should be soil mixed with perlite, for looseness. So you facilitate the development of small outlets, providing them with free access to air.
Not only perlite, but also sphagnum moss, which retains water and has an antibacterial effect, is included in the composition of the soil for leaf violets. How to quickly root a leaf in this case? The soil mixture should be slightly moist. The leaf or its segment is buried in the ground: by five millimeters for miniature varieties and by a centimeter for traditional varieties of violets.
In one cup, you can plant two or three leaves, but it is necessary that they be of the same grade. As in the case when cuttings with roots appeared were planted in the soil, moisten the soil and put a glass in a greenhouse. To prevent mold from appearing on the soil, the plants are periodically ventilated, but at the same time they are protected from drafts and too cold air.
Many beginners are interested in how to root a violet leaf in peat tablets, and whether this method gives a good result. Yes, due to the nutritious and loose substrate, the plants in this case quickly give roots and young rosettes. And the principle of planting remains the same as when planting in the ground.
Conditions for growing violets from a leaf
How to root a violet leaf? What does a young plant need? The most important condition for the success of this process is constant attention to this tiny plant, which must be provided:
- light nutrient soil;
- stable temperature;
- daylight hours at least 12 hours;
- uniform and regular watering;
- Humidity and draft protection.
Violets feel very comfortable on shelves equipped with additional illumination, which provides plants with conditions for growth even in the autumn-winter period.
Separation of outlets
When a violet leaf is rooted at its base, several tiny rosettes with a diameter of three to five centimeters are formed. This suggests that it is time to plant the plants. The children are separated so that each outlet has at least a pair of leaves with a well-developed growth point and several roots.
In order for the separation to proceed most sparingly, it is necessary:
- moisten the earth well;
- take out the plant along with the soil lump;
- gently clean the roots of the soil.
Children who do not have enough roots should be planted not in the ground, but in a mixture of soil and perlite, like a leaf stalk. Such a plant must be put in a greenhouse for two weeks.
The grown sockets are planted in a constant place when their diameter is approximately twice the size of the previous pot. Plants will require containers up to six centimeters in diameter. The transplant is carried out by the method of transshipment, while maintaining an earthen lump. New soil is added around the circumference and to the bottom.