african violet leaves

hi all,
i am new at trying to get african violet leaves to root. i didnt use any root hormone should i have? i have had them in styrofome cups and in zipplock baggies now ever since 6/18/03 and 7/10/03 and none of them have rooted, but still green.how long does it take to get them to root or do they have babies instead of rooting? please help a newbie on this.i know there are people out there that does this and knows what i am doing wrong.since they have been in there for that long should i take them out and put rootone on them or just leave them alone? they get some sun but not enough to cook them. any help would be appreciated thanks
moretz
p.s. i havent had any luck with the variegated leaves at all and i am giving up on them. i have tried the water method but no luck there either.

Basically there are 2 methods to root leaves and get plantlets.

1. Dangle the leaf petiole in water about 3/4" till it roots and then either wait for it to form plants, or plant the rooted leaf and wait for the babies

2. Root in soilless very porous mix and leave till the babies form. Most people use either pure vermiculite or perlite, or a mix of these with maybe a bit of ground peatmoss. If you use this method, cut the leaf petiole at about 45 degrees slanting from end of stem bottom side of leaf toward leaf top side so that when planted this cut faces upward, do not keep the mix too wet or they rot. A covering to keep humidity in helps a lot also else they must be tended often to prevent drying out.

As to time, roots followed by plantlets will take from a minimum of about 3 weeks, to a maximum of several months to nearly a year depending mainly on the particular plant variety, and size of leaf chosen. Mid sized leaves are best, not too small, not too big. After the leaves have been in the mix for a couple of weeks, you can check for rooting, by gently tugging on leaf to see if it attaches to the mix.

Separate and pot out plants when leaves are dime to quarter sized,(personal choice)

Hope this helps

George

Forgot to add:

Don't use rooting hormone. May help roots but said to realy slow down plant formation.

George

Geoforce
thanks so much for helping meso i know now that is might take months before they root thanks again
moretz

It sounds to me like they have taken far too long to root. Check out http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/houseplant/african-violet/ and http://www.rosebudm.com/lavg/lavg_chimera_propagation.htm and http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/en/info_verte/saintpaulia/multipli.htm
Here is a set of Begonia cuttings I started at the end of July.