Parkers' Plant Adventures: Suckers!

No, I'm not name-calling. I'm talking about African Violets, and one of the pesky ways they try to make more of themselves.

Horde of violets in a wicking tray

African Violets are gorgeous, easy to care for houseplants that require bright lighting and preferably a wicking water system. They can be propagated with leaf cuttings, via seeds, by separating tubers, or via sucker removal. Suckers are mean little growths that come up on the main stem of the plant that if left alone will form a second "head" so to speak, with its own center of growth and sets of leaves. These deform the parent plant, pushing up on the leaves and vying for light. They're no good, and should be removed.

This is too big!

This size is when you should notice them!

I noticed that my biggest violets were getting a bit reachy (leaves reaching upwards, instead of laying flat) and while they are always not quite as flat as I'd like them to be, the last couple of days they've really gotten out of control. Close inspection on one found a ton of little suckers forming, and on the second plant, one HUGE sucker and a smaller one on the other side. How that one escaped my notice, I have no idea, but it had to go.

I brought both plants into the kitchen and retrieved a sharp utensil (this one being a clean clay working tool). To remove suckers, you can use small blades if you are skilled, or, to help preserve your parent plant, use a sharp pencil. If you don't plan to keep the suckers to make more plants, they are easily poked right off with a pencil or nicked off with a blade. You want to take care to not injure the parent plant at this point, because it's very easy to do so if you are careless. It only took me about three minutes to remove all the suckers from my violets. I found five small ones on one plant, and two on the other. In the first plant there was also a leaf I apparently stuck into the soil at some point that was now growing, so I removed it as well.

Large enough to save.

The largest sucker and the leaf are now potted in their own little cup. We'll see how they do.

Here's some of my current blooms. I have a mini-violet called "Rob's Loose Noodle" that I acquired from a nursery, and all the rest come from a single plant a friend had me repot - there were sixteen separate plants in one pot! She kept three, my mother-in-law took one, I gave one to another friend, and I kept the rest. I hope to sell or give away the majority of them because I just don't have the space!