Day 189/366

I wish I could say I've grown these African violets myself, but I can't: I bought them from the growers' markets in Penrith a month ago.

These little beauties flower well as long as they are provided with lots of (filtered) light and are kept at a temperature above fifteen degrees Celsius.

The only way I can provide such an environment is to have the pots sitting just centimetres from a south-west facing window and to have the heating on.

Today, our lowest temperature was less than one degree.

Our high didn't quite reach fifteen degrees.

I decided (after I'd done my shopping at this month's growers' markets) it was the perfect day to stay indoors and re-pot the African violet cuttings I'd struck over the last couple of months.

These cuttings were taken from this plant.

Here's how I did it:

(I'm not going to give a detailed post on this because there are numerous blogs/videos with great instructions on the WWW already).

Instead, here is a picture-log.

The cuttings were struck in an African violet liquid feed.  Plant-lets have grown from the base of the stem, as have masses of roots.

I prepared discarded take-away food containers (these are from a a sauce that came with our Thai takeaway).

A wick was created from an unwanted nylon shoe lace (don't use cotton or wool).

Cut holes in the lids of rectangular Chinese food containers to house the babies, fill base with African violet liquid food so that wick just sits into the liquid.

Set in a warm and nicely lit position and wait.