Propagation and suckers
The most common and easy way to propagate African violets is through leaves or suckers.
A sucker growing on the plant stem of an African violet
African violets tend to create suckers which should always be removed (exception made for the trailers) and the violet should be leaved only with one rosette. This is because suckers left grown deform the plant, ruin its symmetry, and drain energy from it.
Once suckers are removed, you can replant them in a separate pot and they will grow as a brand new plant.
Propagation by leaves is very easy. Most likely just one leaf will give you more than one new plant. Every violet can be propagated in this way, except for Chimeras which loose their characteristics if propagated through leaves.
How to propagate a violet from leaf
1. It is very important to choose a healthy and mature leaf for the propagation. If a leaf is too old or damage, it might get rotted before it starts propagating.
2. Once you have the right leaf, cut its petiole as shown in the picture. If you are propagating a standard size violet, leave a 2 cm petiole. If it is a miniature, leave a 1 cm petiole.
I recommend cutting it with a sharp knife, not with scissors. This is to avoid damaging the cells of the leaf in case the scissors are not sharp enough.
3. Then put the leaf to the water and once it starts growing its roots, put it into the soil. You can also put it directly into the soil and avoid the water part. The result is almost the same. If you want to achieve results a little quicker, you can put the pots with the leaves in a mini greenhouse
4. In about 2 months you will start to see new plants growing around the mother leaf. Wait till these baby violets have at least 5 leaves to repot them, so they can survive without the mother leaf.
In case you are propagating a variegated violet...
1. Choose one of the greenest leaves to do it. Leaves with too many non-green areas will probably not survive once removed from the mother plant, due to lack of chlorophyl.
2. When the new plants start growing, sometimes they do not have enough green parts, and some other times they are completely white. In this case, you need to wait until they become a little green before you repot them, otherwise they will not survive (also in this case a mini greenhouse can help you speed up the process).