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Janet’s Low-Tech Method For
Starting African Violets From Seed |
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Step 1
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Styrofoam meat tray and plastic cookie container with a hinged lid. |
| Step 2 Prepare the potting medium Either purchase a fine grade of vermiculite (pictured) or sift what you have available with an ordinary kitchen colander or 1/4" hardware cloth to remove large pieces. This is easier to do and makes less dust if you first dampen the vermiculite slightly. It can be forced through the holes to break up larger pieces. Do the same with the peat moss, also dampening it first. |
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| Measure out equal parts of sifted vermiculite and sifted
peat moss and put it into a large container to mix it. |
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Sifted peat and vermiculite in equal quantities |
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Add water a bit at a time and thoroughly mix it in with
your hands until the medium just barely holds together when squeezed in
your hand. |
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| Spread medium into container, filling it about half way.
Tap the container lightly to distribute the medium evenly, leaving no
hills or valleys. Do not pack it down. Lightly mist the surface until
the medium has settled a bit and is uniformly wet. The seed bed should
be moist but never soggy while the seeds are germinating. |
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Using a pair of tweezers, pour the seed onto a folded 3 x 5 note card or
other piece of stiff white paper, creased down the middle. If you are
using commercially prepared seed, cut the top off the package and pour
the seed onto the sheet of paper so that you can see it clearly. Be sure
to tap the seed packet to get all the seeds out. It is as fine as dust! |
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Pour the seed onto a creased 3 x 5 index card |
| Step 4 Sow the seed Gently tilt the card and tap it very gently to distribute the seed as evenly as possible over the moist potting medium. Do not wet the surface again and do not cover the seed with potting medium. The seeds need light to germinate. |
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Tap the index card to distribute seed |
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Close the lid, place the seed bed on the tray and label it with your cross and the date the seeds were sown. If the seed was from a commercial source, label it as to type (miniature, trailer, standard, etc.) and the date it was sown. Set the seed bed under your lights in a warm place. The top shelf of the light stand should be fine. When handling the seed bed, always pick it up by the tray so you don’t dislodge the germinating seed by jostling or twisting the plastic container. Don’t worry about moisture collecting on the inside of the plastic container. If for some reason, the surface of the seed bed should dry out, pour some plain water into the tray under the plastic container and set a timer for 1 hour. At the end of the hour, pour off any remaining water. |
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Step 5
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| In about 2-3 weeks, depending on the temperature of the
place you’ve chosen to keep your seed bed, you may see tiny specks of
green appearing on the surface. Keep the seed bed covered and warm while
all the seed is germinating. Some seeds will take longer than others to
germinate. About four weeks after you see the first seedlings, you can prop the top open part way. When the surface begins to dry, it’s time to start feeding the seedlings with a very weak 20-20-20 or other balanced low urea fertilizer at the rate of 1/16 tsp. per gallon of water. Do this by filling the tray with the fertilizer water and setting the timer for an hour, then pouring off the remaining water. The seedlings are still way too small to try to top water, so bottom watering is the safest way to feed and water them. Also, the medium will still be quite fluffy so those tiny roots can penetrate it, and top watering at this stage is liable to compact the medium, as well as wash the plants away.
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Janet's Low-Tech Method For Starting African Violets From
Seed |
| Step 1 Gather the materials you will need In 3-4 months when most of the seedlings are showing their first pair of true leaves, (the first pair you will see, called cotyledons, are not true leaves) it is time to start transplanting them into very small individual pots. |
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Seedlings showing their first true leaves, 3 months after sowing the
seed |
| Some possibilities for this are tiny "thumb
pots", small solo cups like the ones restaurants give out filled
with hot sauce, or other small plastic containers from restaurants such
as cream cups, and Promise Spread cups. Even plastic soda bottle tops
will work in a pinch. Have more potting medium ready. You will use the
same mixture of one part sifted peat moss and one part sifted
vermiculite for potting. Make a notched stick for lifting the seedlings.
A wooden chopstick is ideal. On one end, flatten it on two sides with a
paring knife and then with a hobby knife or razor blade, cut a v-shaped
notch. Have ready several shallow containers with clear lids to keep the
pots in while the seedlings are getting established. Fast food
containers are ideal for this purpose. |
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| Step 2 Prepare the pots Fill the pots loosely with moist, but not soggy potting medium and with a pencil, make a ½" deep depression in the center of each one. Prepare 15-20 at a time if you have many seedlings, or if you have only a few seedlings, prepare as many pots as you think you will need. |
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Prepared thumb pots filled with medium, in a Fazoli’s Italian Food
container |
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Step 3 |
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With the notched chopstick, very gently lift the seedlings one at a
time if they are not crowded, or one small clump at a time if they are.
Be very careful to get underneath the roots and lift up. Dislodge only a
few seedlings at a time as their tiny roots dry out very quickly. |
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Gently tease the clump apart with the notched stick to separate the
seedlings. Leave as much soil as possible clinging to the roots |
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Separate the seedlings |
| Using the notched stick, pick up one seedling at a time
by its cotyledons, being careful not to injure the delicate stem or
roots. A pair of tweezers can also be used but if you are not extremely
careful, you may bruise the leaves. Do not handle the stems or roots.
If you break the stem, the seedling will most likely die. |
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Step 3 |
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Fast food container with cover, containing potted up seedlings |
| Leave the containers closed for about two weeks or until
the seedlings are showing new growth. Then the lids can remain off and
the seedlings can be watered and fed by gently pouring diluted
fertilizer water (1/16 tsp. per gallon of water) into the plastic
container around the pots to a depth of about ½ inch. Pour slowly and
carefully to keep the pots from floating and tipping over. After one
hour syphon off any remaining water with a turkey baster. Watch the
seedlings carefully, for they are in very shallow pots which will dry
out in a matter of a few days. It will be several months before they
will need to be potted up again and as they get larger, you will be able
to top water without fear of dislodging them from their pots. |
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The seedlings will grow at different rates and it won't take long to
see which ones are the most robust. They will also begin to
show some differences in overall color, as can be seen in the photo
below of seedlings that are 19 weeks old. The darker babies will most
likely grow up to have dark green leaves with red backs and the
lighter babies will most likely have paler green leaves with
white or "silver" backs. As they grow further, their
leaf edge characteristics will begin to develop.
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