Violet Babies

This is soooo Matt's fault. He gave me some plants they couldn’t take to SC, a few grow light bulbs he had left over, a Monstera here, a succulent there, and before you know it, I’m knee deep in ‘how to’ plant videos and sinking fast. 

Today’s project was separating this wildly overgown African violet into something healthier and easier to manage. 

I thought there were a few ‘pups’ around the outer edge and that the center section was one big plant. Nope! It was a giant mass of violets growing every which way.

Lots of leaves broke off during the process - it looked so much easier on the videos - and several pups lost their root ball and had to be discarded. 

Pretty mama violet

But! I successfully (using the term loosely until I see the results…) repotted 6 babies plus the mama violet. 

Don’t know if the leaves will propagate, but I put a handful in a glass spice jar and crossed my fingers. 

 Under the grow lights

The new plants are all on ‘wicks’, pieces of acrylic yarn that soak up water from the bottom reservoir - plastic, lidded take out containers - and into the soil. I’ve never tried this watering method so I’m really curious if it will work.

 Ran out of plastic containers so improvised using chopsticks to keep the pot above water

This is going to be so great, if it works. Birthday and holiday presents for everyone!