Chimera Violets Mutants of the - PowerPoint Presentation

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Chimera Violets

Mutants of the

violet world

Most African violets can be successfully propagated from leaf cuttings to vegetatively reproduce plants that will be identical to the plant from which the leaf cutting was taken.  This is because the genetic make-up of any cell in the leaf cutting is the same as any other cell.  This is not true with “chimeras”.  These are plants that have developed plant tissues where the individual cells are genetically different.  Because of this, plants produced from leaf cuttings frequently are not identical to the plant from which the cutting was taken. Though a chimera is any plant having this genetic characteristic, in African violets, this term is typically used to describe the “pinwheel” blossomed varieties, which frequently don’t propagate “true” to description from leaf cuttings.

What are African Violet chimera flowers?

Chimera” African Violet flowers have a typical ‘pinwheel’ or ‘radial’ stripe throughout the flower.

The stripe pattern of two colors (bi-color) repeats on each lobe of the African Violet flower petal.

Each of the chimera stripes/bands are of a distinct color and are found on the same flower.On each African Violet chimera flower the stripes are one color and the space between the stripes are another colorAs a result, each petal of the chimera African Violet flower is striped with a distinct color and alternates with another distinct color.“Chimera” African Violet flowers are also sport flowers, usually bicolor, colored edge or fantasy flowers mutate to produce a sport.

Violet Barn propagation from crown

Step 1:  Remove crown from plant center.  Using a sharp knife or razor, carefully cut away the crown.  If this is done carefully, this crown can be re-rooted (see step #5).  Leave a few leaves on the plant that remains.

Step 2:  The violet with center removed.  Basically, just a “stump” with a few leaves attached.  Continue to care for this as you would your other violets.  If a bloom stalk should happen to appear, it can be removed.

Step 3:  Suckers appear from the decrowned plant.  In time, perhaps 2-3 months, you should see little plantlets growing atop and around the “stump” that was left after decrowning.  These “suckers”, when large enough, will then be removed to produce new plants.

Step 4:  Remove sucker from stump.  Using a sharp knife or razor, carefully remove any sucker that appears big enough for you to comfortably handle.  After removing these, you need not discard the “stump”–it may produce more suckers that can be “harvested” later.  Suckers growing from the stump are more likely to produce plants identical to original plant than are those growing from beneath leaves or soil.

Step 5:  Root the sucker.  Fill a small pot with your normal soil mix (or your rooting mix, but this will necessitate a subsequent potting into your regular mix).  Moisten the soil (again, moist but not soggy), and make a small “divot” or hole in the surface with a pencil tip (our favorite tool).  Then, push the sucker into this small hole and firm-in soil around its base.  Place the potted sucker into a clear, covered container or plastic “baggie” (e.g. a sandwich bag), and set aside in a bright place in moderate temperature.  Don’t put in an overly warm place, or into bright or hot sunlight, since this may cause sucker to rot.  In 3-4 weeks, the sucker should be rooted, and can be removed from its protective container.Though not all suckers will produce blooms identical to the original plant, most of them will.  As insurance, be sure that you’ve rooted the original crown that you removed from the plant in step #1, since this will continue to bloom true to variety.Keep in mind that any violet can be propagated in this manner, but because it is more time consuming and produced fewer

plantlets

(that’s why chimeras cost more), there’s little reason to do so for

nonchimeral varieties that will reproduce true from leaf cuttings.

Violet Barn propagation from crown

Violet Barn propagation Leaf Stalk

Step 1.  Remove open blooms from plant, leaving only peduncles.  Grow your plant as you normally would, but remove open blooms from the blossom stem (peduncle), before it fades.  Carefully cut  beneath the bloom, but above the next pedicle (joint from which another bloom or bud appears).Doing this does two things.  First, it keeps the stem fresh.  If all blooms are allowed to open and are kept until spent, the blossom stem will no longer be fresh enough to successfully root later.  Also, we intend to produce plants from this stem, not flowers, so we don’t want to discourage blossom production at much as possible–we want the blossom stem, not the blooms!

Step 2.  Remove buds and pedicels above leaflets.  Each blossom stem will have a pair of “leaflets” that appear on either side of the stem, just below the lowest-most pedicels (at the lowest junction).  It is at this point that the stem will eventually produce real leaves.  Therefore, cut away all the growth just above this point.

Step 3.  Cut blossom stem below leaflets.  You will need a small portion of the blossom stem to root, so cut the stem about 1/4″ below the leaflets.

Violet Barn propagation Leaf Stalk

Step 4.  The cut blossom stems ready to root.At far left is the original blossom stem, just after having been removed from the plant, then shown with the cuts made in steps 2 and 3. number of cut blossom stems ready for rooting.  Each is about 1/4″ long with one pair of leaflets.

Step 5.  Rooting the blossom stems.  Fill a small pot with a light, porous, rooting mix.  This should contain well over 50 percent of vermiculite and/or perlite.  Water the mix so that it is damp, but not soggy. Next, make a small “pilot” hole in the soil for each of the stems you will be rooting in the pot.   This will make it easier to insert the stems without damaging them.Then insert each of the blossom stems into the holes.  Insert them fully, so that the small “leaflets” are at soil level.  Be sure the stems are firmly in the soil and aren’t loose or easily dislodged.  They will root better if this is so.  If you are successful, the stem will root below soil level, and leaves (and a plantlet) will appear at soil level from the “leaflets”.

Violet Barn propagation Leaf Stalk

Step 6.  Wait for the plantlets to appear! Below finished pot of rooted blossom stems.  We’ll usually put 6 to 8 stems into a 2 1/4″ pot.

Step 7.  Separate and pot the plantlets.  At this point you can pot these plantlets in the same way as you would if they had been produced from leaf

Chimera’s can also be propagated from tissue culture.

Violet Barn

dIscription

of Leaf Chimera

The “chimera” is a plant without pinwheel blooms, but with unusually variegated foliage that would only appear in plantlets when propagated by suckers.  “Chimera”, again, refers to the genetic properties of the plant’s cells, which determines how it must be propagated, not the bloom or foliage coloring.  When propagated by leaf cutting, the plantlets produced would be entirely green, with no variegation. Propagation by suckers is the only means of producing plantlets identical to the original plant.