Some love roses, some irises, someone has a collection of cacti or ferns at home, but I was carried away by the uzambara violets. As the recognized king of Russian selection, Saintpaulius Boris Mikhailovich Makuni said: “He sat on a violet needle.”
Why not sit down if there are now more than ten thousand varieties. Yes, what! From unpretentious blue ones, they became pink, white, purple, lilac, red, green, and finally yellow. Fantasy colors have appeared, for example, with lilac dots on pink petals, like the Chiffon Print variety, or with white-pink peas on dark blue double flowers (Magic Night of selection by B.M. Makuni). In many new varieties, the flower diameter reaches 9 cm. Now you can please yourself with variegated varieties, which are good even without flowers. And you can fit on one small windowsill a wonderful collection of miniature Saintpaulias with rosettes of leaves with a diameter of only 10 cm. It is not for nothing that the number of fans of the Usambar violets is growing every year.
Saintpaulia, African violet
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Wildfire
Where to buy Saintpaulia? This question is not idle. In the flower shop you will be offered a Dutch, at best, German violet, grown on a peat substrate with a lot of fertilizers and various kinds of stimulants. It will bloom for a month and a half or two, after which it will take a lot of effort to achieve re-flowering.
In the market there is a risk of running into a re-grading. I know a seller (a seller, not a collector) who sells babies of unknown varieties, and shows pictures in a book about violets. He appreciates plants inexpensively, so people, like a pop in a fairy tale about an employee Balda, will bury themselves on cheapness. He also offers rooted leaves from chimeras, although it is known that chimeras from a leaf do not repeat the color.
Plants are more convenient to buy from a collector at home: you can see what condition they are in, the choice is wider and deception is almost impossible. True, the price is higher here, but it is justified. There is always a price to pay for high quality.
Which is better to buy? In my opinion, preference should be given to the sheet. You not only save money, but also grow plants in the conditions in which he will live his life. Of course, not everyone agrees with me, preferring not to bother with the handle, not to wait, but to immediately take the grown copy. But by the way, from planting a leaf to flowering will take from six to twelve months – not so long.
Saintpaulia, African violet
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Kor! An (Andrey Korzun)
A good option is the starter baby (young rosette). It will bloom in 2-4 months, depending on size. Due to her “youthful years”, she will also easily endure a change in conditions. Such a baby costs 2-3 times more than a leaf.
If you nevertheless bought an adult plant (five times more expensive than a leaf), you should shade it and remove 2-3 leaves from it for rooting. And, most importantly, do not replant it for at least two weeks, but it is better to leave it alone until spring and only then move it to a new land.
From a new sheet… So, you have acquired a new, delicious saintpaulia leaf. What to do next? First of all, cut the petiole at an acute angle, and then options are possible. Option one: put it in warm boiled water (so that it does not deteriorate, add half a tablet of activated carbon or 3-5 drops of aloe juice). When the tip turns slightly brown, you should not immediately grab the blade – this is not a sign of damage, but the fact that roots will appear soon. And then they cut the ends in a rage, sinning on rot, which does not exist, and then they complain that their leaves are not rooted.
Saintpaulia, African violet
Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com RobertoMM
Only the roots will grow a little, it is time to transplant the stalk into loose, moisture-consuming soil with a large amount of chopped sphagnum, deepening by 1-1,5 cm. It will not take much time, and the children will appear. Wait until they form 3-4 leaves, and even then place them in separate pots (better plastic ones, for example, yogurt cups).
Option two: root the leaves in moist chopped sphagnum and transplant them into the ground along with moss.
Option three: plant the cutting directly into the ground, after sprinkling the cut with crushed coal. If the sheet sticks, cover it with a jar, which must be removed from time to time for airing. When he “comes to his senses” and is vigorous, the shelter can be removed.
Materials used:
- A. B. Translation
