Saintpaulia: Breeding At Home

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The Uzambara violet, despite its capricious character, is very popular among fans of indoor floriculture. This is due to both its ability to bloom abundantly up to 10 months a year, and the lack of a rigid schedule for reproduction. Therefore, there is no need to wait for spring to acquire new young plants, but you can start this procedure at any convenient free time

Breeding methods of Saintpaulia

Reproduction of Saintpaulia seeds at home is rather difficult. Although the violet blooms a lot and often, the seeds appear only with artificial pollination. It will be much faster and easier to arrange the propagation of the plant by leaf cuttings. To get some planting material, you need a sharp razor. With its help, the largest, well-developed and healthy leaves with a petiole about 3-4 cm long are separated from the rosette. It is recommended to put them on rooting in the next two hours.

If you got planting material at a party, and it will take a long time to get home, wrap your precious leaves in a damp cloth. And if the moistened leaves are placed in a glass jar under the lid, they can hold out until planting for several days.

Rooting leaf cuttings

The most favorable rooting medium is an ordinary glass of water. So cuttings are more likely to grow their own roots and are less likely to rot than if a substrate was used for this. The water for rooting must be settled, so it is advisable to collect it two days before the proposed procedure. A crossbar is arranged on the glass, which will keep the leaf from getting wet, so that only the petiole is pubescent in the water. It is very easy to build such a structure from cardboard by making a hole in it. To prevent the leaf from falling over and falling out, you can put pieces of cotton wool on the sides for support.

New roots will become visible after 2 weeks. When their length reaches approximately 3 cm, the leaves can be planted in a container with a nutrient substrate. For its preparation use:

• coniferous land - 1 part;

• sand - 2 parts.

Coniferous soil can be harvested under spruce or larch. It can be replaced with peat or humus by adding crushed decayed birch leaves to it.

Cuttings in a container are planted at a distance of about 3 cm from each other. The planting depth for rooting is about 2 cm. The container is placed in a place well-lit by the sun, but shaded from direct rays. Make sure the substrate remains moist. To create an optimal microclimate, it is better to cover the plants with a glass cover. During rooting, it is recommended to maintain the room temperature at + 21 … + 24 ° C.

Saintpaulia takes about one month for it to develop a root system, and about two for new young leaves to start growing. As soon as their length reaches 3 cm, they can already be taken out of the substrate and separated from the leaf cuttings in order to plant them in individual pots.

Transplanting Saintpaulia into pots

For young plants, small pots with a diameter of about 9 cm are chosen. They are filled in a quarter with gravel or sand for drainage. Broken shards can serve as a drainage layer.

Coniferous soil is an excellent substrate for violets. Also, the following soil mixture is suitable for Saintpaulia:

• deciduous land - 4 parts;

• peat - 1 part;

• sand - 1 part.

When moving plants from container to pots, it is necessary to inspect the root system. All rotten areas noticed are removed, the sections are treated with crushed charcoal. After transplanting, it is useful to grind the surface of the soil under the flower with wood ash or bone meal. The pots are left in a warm, well-lit place.