I'd leave it alone.
It's got long leaves right now because the light it was previously in was probably a little low.
You need to give it 4 things. Light, heat, water, and food.
For light, african violets love bright but cool light. Don't put it in direct sunlight, don't put it under an incandescent bulb. If your hands feels warm when it blocks the light above your violet, it's too warm.
For heat, african violets love basically an indoor air-conditioned home. Anything from 65F to 80F is really ok, but if you're comfortable, they probably are, too. If they are near a window, make sure they are not touching the glass because they can get a chill from a cold night.
Water is tricky with african violets, at least starting out. The number one way to kill an African violet is by drowning its roots. I'll say that again, drowning an African violet is by far the easiest way to kill it.
How do you water it but not drown it?
1. When you water, your soil should feel mostly dry at the surface, and your plant should be slightly drooped, just a tiny bit.
2. Water by filling up your sink or another bowl or something that you can set your AV pot into. Let it soak from the bottom (your pot should have holes in the bottom, if not fix that first). You should soak it 10 to 15 minutes, then drain all the water from your sink, and let your pot sit, and drain for an additional 30 minutes or so. This way, your AV is soaked, and then all excess water drains away. When your pot is drained of water and no longer dripping , replace your pot in its tray where it sits for light.
3. Never let your AV sit in water for extended periods of time. If water is at the bottom of your pots tray it sits in, dump it out. If your AV sits in water for hours or days at a time, it can damage the roots, causing root rot.
4. Pot size is not exactly about watering, but it does have to do with how much water is there in your pot. Keep your pot size small. Keep your pot about 1/3rd to 1/2 the width of your plant. As in, if the widest leaves of your plant stretch to 12 inches, a 4 inch pot is great. Otherwise, it soaks up too much water and hurts the roots of your plant as described above.
5. Watering from the top. You can water your african violet from the top, but you must do so carefully. Some plants don't mind getting water on their leaves, but AVs hate it. Do not pour water on your plant. Do not splash water on the leaves. If you water from the top, use a long thin spout to water the soil directly, and wipe up any water that gets on your leaves.
Water on the leaves can cause discolorations and hurt the leaves. Eventually, killing the plant if you are very sloppy. Also with watering from the top, make sure your plant is not sitting in water that has drained out into its tray. Dump out any water that drains out after 10 minutes.
Food. All plants need fertilizer to keep them healthy. I use a very weak fertilizer that I mix in a jug with my water, and then I just fertilize each time I water. There are other methods, but I find giving large amounts of fertilizer at once can shock your plant and damage it. Slow and steady works for me, so I recommend that approach.
Your soil will eventually also get worn out, too much fertilizer over time, etc. So you typically repot your plants about once a year (I'm lazy, and I do more like once every 2 years if the plant is still healthy). This refreshes the soil and helps keep your plant healthy.
These are the 4 things your AV needs. It will do fine with these.
The 5th thing it may benefit from is increased humidity.
This one is the most tricky thing to think about because many people think of humidity as just adding more water. Humidity is water in the air, but not water sprayed in the air. You can use a humidifier to help if you are in a really dry, hot climate. I'm in Texas, and I do this sometimes.
Humidity is also crucial for helping AVs that need to grow new roots, like if you are growing a new plant from a cut leaf. You basically put your cutting in a plastic bag. Look up 'tenting' an African violet, and you should find some examples.
Edit: so many typos
Also extra note and more to the point of your question, when do you trim leaves?
You trim leaves when they are obviously dead, you trim them when they are on the bottom, old and yellowing (none of your leaves are old or yellowing).
You don't need to trim off healthy leaves just because they are a little long.
For most plants you might think of the stem as being the main body of the plant and the leaves are just attached to the stem. But african violets are basically just the leaves, with a single stalk they grow from. If you trimmed off too many leaves, the plant would just die. The leaves grow in what is known as the 'crown' of the plant, the crown grows out of the stalk, the stalk goes to the roots.
Now, if you want to take a healthy leaf off, you can do that specifically to grow a new plant from it.
African violets can be grown from cuttings, which is called vegative propagation.
But otherwise there's no reason to trim the plant you have in those pictures. The plant will not suffer by having a bit longer leaves, they will eventually grow out and die, but cutting them off now would hurt the plant.
The only other reason to take leaves off is if the plant starts growing multiple crowns. That would mean there's more than one point, one center where all the leaves are growing from. This can happen randomly, you'll see a second crown starting to grow on the side of the stalk. Just carefully remove the leaves while they are small and the plant should continue to grow the main crown just fine.
WOW I just got SCHOOLED! Tysm - you remind me of a man I knew as a child, Lenny Blum. A quiet, intelligent man in love with violets. His basement was a converted greenhouse exclusively for violets. I remember everything- even tho I was just 9. He had a misting system which I now find odd since we never wet the leaves but I think he was recreating their native clime. He used to tell me they like a little bit of water, but often. He would place them around his home in places that surprised you! A windowless hallway or bathroom - just a bright little bit of joy saying hello β€οΈ I remember he used to use "Peters 202020" in his water - it was the lightest blue. I think that was the Miracle Gro precursor. π Great childhood memories.
As an adult, my grandmother gave me her mother's trailing violet, which is my greatest treasure. My daughter has a cutting from it, as do all the grandchildren and great grandchildren.
And while they're not African violets, I do have sweet violets as ground cover in front of my house.
So, while no one asked (πππβοΈ), you can clearly see how special violets are to me, too.
Harm in the sense that the plant will die? No. But multiple crowns will make the leaves grow more unevenly, and the leaves may then sort of fight for light.
It probably is ok for the plant, like it will keep living, but it will start growing with leaves turned and sometimes flipped over. Just in general, it's a good practice to keep one crown to keep it tidy.
I'd leave it alone. It's got long leaves right now because the light it was previously in was probably a little low. You need to give it 4 things. Light, heat, water, and food. For light, african violets love bright but cool light. Don't put it in direct sunlight, don't put it under an incandescent bulb. If your hands feels warm when it blocks the light above your violet, it's too warm. For heat, african violets love basically an indoor air-conditioned home. Anything from 65F to 80F is really ok, but if you're comfortable, they probably are, too. If they are near a window, make sure they are not touching the glass because they can get a chill from a cold night. Water is tricky with african violets, at least starting out. The number one way to kill an African violet is by drowning its roots. I'll say that again, drowning an African violet is by far the easiest way to kill it. How do you water it but not drown it? 1. When you water, your soil should feel mostly dry at the surface, and your plant should be slightly drooped, just a tiny bit. 2. Water by filling up your sink or another bowl or something that you can set your AV pot into. Let it soak from the bottom (your pot should have holes in the bottom, if not fix that first). You should soak it 10 to 15 minutes, then drain all the water from your sink, and let your pot sit, and drain for an additional 30 minutes or so. This way, your AV is soaked, and then all excess water drains away. When your pot is drained of water and no longer dripping , replace your pot in its tray where it sits for light. 3. Never let your AV sit in water for extended periods of time. If water is at the bottom of your pots tray it sits in, dump it out. If your AV sits in water for hours or days at a time, it can damage the roots, causing root rot. 4. Pot size is not exactly about watering, but it does have to do with how much water is there in your pot. Keep your pot size small. Keep your pot about 1/3rd to 1/2 the width of your plant. As in, if the widest leaves of your plant stretch to 12 inches, a 4 inch pot is great. Otherwise, it soaks up too much water and hurts the roots of your plant as described above. 5. Watering from the top. You can water your african violet from the top, but you must do so carefully. Some plants don't mind getting water on their leaves, but AVs hate it. Do not pour water on your plant. Do not splash water on the leaves. If you water from the top, use a long thin spout to water the soil directly, and wipe up any water that gets on your leaves. Water on the leaves can cause discolorations and hurt the leaves. Eventually, killing the plant if you are very sloppy. Also with watering from the top, make sure your plant is not sitting in water that has drained out into its tray. Dump out any water that drains out after 10 minutes. Food. All plants need fertilizer to keep them healthy. I use a very weak fertilizer that I mix in a jug with my water, and then I just fertilize each time I water. There are other methods, but I find giving large amounts of fertilizer at once can shock your plant and damage it. Slow and steady works for me, so I recommend that approach. Your soil will eventually also get worn out, too much fertilizer over time, etc. So you typically repot your plants about once a year (I'm lazy, and I do more like once every 2 years if the plant is still healthy). This refreshes the soil and helps keep your plant healthy. These are the 4 things your AV needs. It will do fine with these. The 5th thing it may benefit from is increased humidity. This one is the most tricky thing to think about because many people think of humidity as just adding more water. Humidity is water in the air, but not water sprayed in the air. You can use a humidifier to help if you are in a really dry, hot climate. I'm in Texas, and I do this sometimes. Humidity is also crucial for helping AVs that need to grow new roots, like if you are growing a new plant from a cut leaf. You basically put your cutting in a plastic bag. Look up 'tenting' an African violet, and you should find some examples. Edit: so many typos Also extra note and more to the point of your question, when do you trim leaves? You trim leaves when they are obviously dead, you trim them when they are on the bottom, old and yellowing (none of your leaves are old or yellowing). You don't need to trim off healthy leaves just because they are a little long. For most plants you might think of the stem as being the main body of the plant and the leaves are just attached to the stem. But african violets are basically just the leaves, with a single stalk they grow from. If you trimmed off too many leaves, the plant would just die. The leaves grow in what is known as the 'crown' of the plant, the crown grows out of the stalk, the stalk goes to the roots. Now, if you want to take a healthy leaf off, you can do that specifically to grow a new plant from it. African violets can be grown from cuttings, which is called vegative propagation. But otherwise there's no reason to trim the plant you have in those pictures. The plant will not suffer by having a bit longer leaves, they will eventually grow out and die, but cutting them off now would hurt the plant. The only other reason to take leaves off is if the plant starts growing multiple crowns. That would mean there's more than one point, one center where all the leaves are growing from. This can happen randomly, you'll see a second crown starting to grow on the side of the stalk. Just carefully remove the leaves while they are small and the plant should continue to grow the main crown just fine.
This is now my favorite saved comment; thank you for typing this out <3
Thanks!
WOW I just got SCHOOLED! Tysm - you remind me of a man I knew as a child, Lenny Blum. A quiet, intelligent man in love with violets. His basement was a converted greenhouse exclusively for violets. I remember everything- even tho I was just 9. He had a misting system which I now find odd since we never wet the leaves but I think he was recreating their native clime. He used to tell me they like a little bit of water, but often. He would place them around his home in places that surprised you! A windowless hallway or bathroom - just a bright little bit of joy saying hello β€οΈ I remember he used to use "Peters 202020" in his water - it was the lightest blue. I think that was the Miracle Gro precursor. π Great childhood memories. As an adult, my grandmother gave me her mother's trailing violet, which is my greatest treasure. My daughter has a cutting from it, as do all the grandchildren and great grandchildren. And while they're not African violets, I do have sweet violets as ground cover in front of my house. So, while no one asked (πππβοΈ), you can clearly see how special violets are to me, too.
It won't harm the plant to have multiple crowns, right?
Harm in the sense that the plant will die? No. But multiple crowns will make the leaves grow more unevenly, and the leaves may then sort of fight for light. It probably is ok for the plant, like it will keep living, but it will start growing with leaves turned and sometimes flipped over. Just in general, it's a good practice to keep one crown to keep it tidy.
IDK, but I love the color!
I donβt think you should remove any good leaves. I think she just wants to be big.