Caring For Your Little Ones

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General Care

Repot more often than standard plants.

Watch for suckers and remove them.

Suckers removed. You can plant them. Keep them covered until they grow roots:

Do not allow the potting mix to dry out completely. Because they are in smaller pots they can dry out faster. Some people like to grow the Jewels in 1-inch pots. Personally I don't choose to do this because in my opinion they are healthier in 3-ounce solo cups or 2-inch pots. Some of the Jewels will grow larger in this size pot (Amethyst, Apatite, Moonstone).
 
Leaf Care

Remove lower leaves that are yellowed, dying, or smaller than the leaves above them. Below is Moonstone with several yellow leaves that need to be removed.

Moonstone with flowers removed:

Moonstone with old leaves and soil removed:

Crowns

Watch for twin crowns. Some Little Jewels have a tendency to branch into two at the crown. If this happens it there are several things you can do.

  1. Remove the smaller crown. The plant will be lopsided. It may recover or may not.
  2. Let the two crowns grow into individual plants, remove them and pot each into moist potting mix, dome or enclose in a baggie until they root, and enjoy your two new plants. You may discard the old plant or let it continue to grow more suckers, which you can then remove and pot.
  3. You can set leaves down and start another plant.
Blooms
Love those blooms but disbud now and then. Too many blooms can cause leaves to twist out of place. Gently position the flowers and leaves so they are more symmetrical. Below is Tourmaline that is greatly in need of potting. The center leaves were pushed out of place by the flowers.



Tourmaline with leaves removed. You can see the twisted crown. In time the plant will put out new, more symmetrical growth.


 
Birthmarks
Watch for birth marking on variegated bloomed plants, Aquamarine, Diamond and Opal. Birth marking is red splotches on the leaves. It is NOT a disease, but a red-backed leaf trait trying to show. The problem would be a plant becoming entirely red-backed at which point the flowers would probably be solid purple. Set down green-backed leaves as insurance. Try growing the plant a little cooler to see if the new leaves are all green. Birth marked leaves will not turn green again. Watch the new growth, if it's all green then you shouldn't be alarmed. Set leaves as insurance.




 

Long Necks, Growing Tall & Lanky

Most mini violets have a tendency to grow a "neck" much quicker than standards. Try to keep them potted down (meaning---pot the plant lower in the pot so the neck isn't showing). Some of the Little Jewels have a tendency to grow tall. There is not much you can do about this if it is the plant's genetic trait to do so.

Opal growing tall and lanky, needing to be repotted.



Tall, leaning, lanky and birthmarking. Opal is unstable. You need to set leaves often. Young plants are well-behaved. A fully birthmarked Opal (all leaves are red-backed) would bloom solid purple.



Opal leaves removed. The birthmarking is easy to see on the underside of the leaves. The crown shows a lot of red, so I will set green leaves to grow new plants in case this one goes solid purple.



Here are the leaves I have chosen to put down to grow new plants.

All Done!
Here are Moonstone, Tourmaline, Diamond and Opal freshly potted and ready to grow into revitalized plants, along with leaves of each for insurance:

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