We been growing African violets hydroponically and semi-hydroponically, and we’ve propagated African violet leaves in water and in plugs. But we’ve never tried rooting leaves in an AeroGarden which make use of both peat plugs and water.
First, we chose seven leaves from our African violet plant collection and prepared them for planting by washing them and then cutting the stems at an angle, leaving as much stem length as possible. Peat plugs were inserted into the plastic AeroGarden baskets and placed in the AeroGarden unit, which had already been filled with water. Plugs were covered with plastic discs (home-made, cut from plastic file folders) to reduce algae growth. Finally, the unit was set to “Herbs” which allows for the longest light cycle and most frequent water cycle.
Preparing African violet leaves for planting
Ready for the plugs
Placing the plugs in the AeroGarden unit
Plugs are covered to reduce algae growth
Ready to be labeled:
Back row: Rob’s Slap Happy, F2 hybrid (single red pansy), Rob’s Shadow Magic, Rob’s Seduction
Front row: Rob’s Boon Doggle, Rob’s June Bug, Shirl’s Hawaiian Lei
Rooted Leaves
Twelve days after planting, a tug on each leaf confirms that they are well-rooted. There’s no way to predict when plantlets will emerge. We may have to cut off the tops of the leaves to prevent the leaves themselves from growing instead of producing plantlets. Stay tuned!
Leaves are well-rooted two weeks after planting
See how the experiment turned out on the update page.
