African Violet Triage

I have this African Violet that has been a powerhouse bloomer for over a decade now.  A couple of months ago it began to look droopy.  It had grown out from its base onto quite a long stem.  The stem grew dry at it's base, the lower leaves died and dried up.  I decided to harvest a couple of leaves and hopefully clone it.  In March of 2018, I successful cloned an offspring from it already.

Between that decision and yesterday, the weight of the leaf cluster broke off the stem from the roots.  Time to move forward.  I prepared a set of jars with water and Saran wrap covers secured with rubber bans.  As I clean out the dead leaves, I notices the spot were the shriveled stem met the wilted but living leaves was rather clean.  Hmmm... Could I possible regrow roots off of the main stem?  One way to find out.

I started by setting up three leaves as clones, just in case.  Then I cleaned away some more leaves to expose about half an inch of good stem, and then I put it in its separate water filled jar.

You don't need large jars.  WIth the Saran wrap, you won't need to add water.  If they take, a healthy root cluster should form with 6 months.

The wilted mother.

The dried up stem and dead leaves.

Cleaned up, you can see the healthy stem section.

In a window with good but indirect light.

The first offspring is now 2 years old and growing like gang-busters!  The base has three clusters.  She has bloomed, and her flowers are just as beautiful as the parent plant.