Strong Start, Glorious Results

Question: I used to grow African violets from a leaf in water, but this doesn’t seem to work anymore. Have the growers done something to prevent this, or have I just lost my touch?

--K.S.

Riverside

Answer: If growers could figure out how to stop us from propagating plants, they’d be a happy bunch! I suspect it’s your technique that needs a little fine tuning. African violets can be propagated from leaves with a bit of stem attached, and new plantlets will form all around the cut.

Diane Miller, president of the Orange County African Violet Society, propagates 300 to 400 violets at a time in an upstairs bedroom (her son worries that his bedroom might be the next nursery). She roots the plants under a tier of plant lights but says an east-facing window works equally well.

For containers, she uses paper cups with holes punched in the bottom that later can be loosely covered with a plastic bag so they have their “own little hothouse,” said Miller.

Fill the cup with a “starter mix” of half perlite and half vermiculite. She said it is possible to root African violets in water, but the roots tend to be weak and mushy.

Choose healthy leaves from one of the middle rows on the plant; don’t use leaves from the outer edges. You want about three-fourths of an inch of stem attached to each leaf. Make cuts at a 45-degree angle.

Push the stem into the starter mix, but not the leaf. You might want to support the leaf with a toothpick so it is not lying flat on the mix, which can cause it to mold. Simply skewer the leaf with the toothpick and prop it up.

Water the cutting, put the plastic bag over the cup in a ballon-like fashion so it is not touching the leaf, and then don’t water again until it starts to dry.

Little plantlets will form around the leaf, and these can be cut off when they are an inch wide or larger. Be sure to separate them so each plant has only one crown, then pot them individually.

For more information on growing African violets or on local clubs and where they meet, visit the African Violet Society of America Web site at https://www.avsa.org.

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Q: Can I simply leave dahlia bulbs in the ground instead of lifting and dividing every year?

--J.S.

Anaheim

A: Although the job is tedious, it’s best to dig and divide dahlia tubers every year, according to Dick Kohlschreiber of the South Coast Dahlia Society. Left in the ground, the roots could rot during winter’s wet weather. But if you don’t dig and divide the dense clumps of sweet potato-like tubers, the flowers the following season will be much smaller. You want to start fresh each spring with only one big tuber per planting hole.

Dig clumps of tubers after the stems and leaves have dried in the fall. Cut the stalk to within 6 inches of the ground and loosen and lift the clumps with a garden fork, digging all around the plant about a foot away from the stalk.

Wash the soil from the roots, and store the clumps in a cool, dry place such as a garage or in the crawl space under the house. Store the roots in boxes, and cover the tubers with vermiculite so they do not get too dry in winter.

You can divide the tubers right after digging or wait until you see sprouts in spring. Be sure to keep the tubers labeled so you do not confuse the varieties.

Between late March and early June, plant a single tuber in each hole, 3 inches deep in light soils, 6 inches deep in heavy soil. Space planting holes 2 to 3 feet part. Stake immediately with a 5-foot, 1-by-1-inch stake, while you still remember where the tubers are (so you don’t skewer them later). Make sure the sprout, or “eye,” is pointing up. By the end of summer, after flowering has occurred, you will again have a clump of tubers that will need dividing yet again.

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