Violets 101

I am a beginner in violets. You can find me on the daylily forum most of the time. I have over 300 plus dozens of hosta, but when it comes to growing these I seem to not succeed very well. My granny grew them so well! I can remember she had a huge collection.

First what fertilizer do you use? I want mine to rebloom, it has been months!

Second, what planters are best?

I have mine in the kitchen and it is a northern window :(

Any help will be appreciated, tips for growing them from a leaf would be great!

Teresa in KY

Hey Teresa!

I'm not an expert on Violets but the basics are simple:

Give them a well draining, porous mix (for example AV-mix plus added Perlite), keep them moist but not wet, let the mix dry out a little before you water again, give them bright light but no direct sun (a bright North window might very well work) and that's pretty much everything there's to it.

My opinion on fertilizer is that any balanced fertilizer, watered down to about 1/4 strength will work. I use MiracleGro Tomato, for example. That's just my opinion and it works for me but everybody has their own "secret recipe" in this department... :)

Keep Violets in small pots. They don't make big root systems and don't like a lot of wet mix around their roots.

Leaf propagation is easy as well. Just take a mature but not too old leaf and cut or break it off the plant. I cut the petiole to about an inch on an angle and trim the leaf blade on standards but that's optional. Stick into your favorite propagation mix and make sure that the leaf blade doesn't touch the mix. If necessary, you can use toothpicks to keep the leaf upright until it's rooted. Dome, put into a semi bright spot and wait.

I hope that helped. Good growing! :)

Olaf

Thanks, wish me luck on making blooms and babies lol

You can do it! ;)

I got a book today about growing show AV. Hopefully, I can get some to bloom!

Let me know if anyone would like to trade for a couple in later. I have a ton of outdoor perennials. Also what is a good window shelf for the kitchen? LMK

Thanks,
Teresa

Hi Theresa. Welcome, and it's great to have you growing african violets. We'll all probably trade and do a round robin in the Spring when the weather warms up. Have you checked the AVSA website to see if there's any chapter located nearby? You can usually pick up leaves and great advice there too. I'd love to trade with you come Spring. I love daylillies and don't own very many.

well, rats. I purchased some MG African Violet potting soil and put it in one of my vintage McCoy planters. 2 leafs are drooping :(

What fertilizer should I be using? Help!!

Could be that the mix is too heavy and/or the pot is too big.

McCoy planters are usually 6 or 8 inches in diameter, which is much too big for an AV.

They like smaller pots because thay don't make much of a root system and don't like their roots surrounded by lots of cold, wet mix. Fully grown standards don't need more than a 4" pot and a mini won't need more than a little solo cup - the smaller the Violet, the smaller the pot.

If you still want to use a McCoy Planter or any other decorative pot that's too big for the plant itself: Fill the planter with Perlite, Sphaghnum moss or something similar and then just plunge the pot with the Violet in it. This way, you can enjoy your plant in its small pot in your nice planter.

Well, and drooping leaves after repotting just happen. Sometimes, a few just get damaged. when repotting. A lot of people take the outer rows of leaves off their plants when repotting anyway and those leaves can be used for propagation.

Drooping leaves by themselves, particularly right after repotting don't necessarily indicate a problem. Normally, the plant will recover after a few days.

However, if more leaves start drooping, that can indicate a problem caused by too low temperatures or too heavy, too wet mix.

Hope that helped. Have fun growing Violets! :)

Olaf

A standard practice is to mix about 50% mix and 50% Perlite and use the resulting, much lighter product for AVs.

Thanks for the info. I need to buy a bag of perlite I guess.

I'd buy two if I were you... :)

Seriously! You'll need it! I don't grow anything in mix that isn't amended with at least a third of Perlite. It really makes a big differnce because it prevents waterlogging as well as it helps keeping the roots aerated and thus helps prevent root rot.

The only Gesneriads I grow that don't really need any Perlite are Kohlerias. They can take heavier mix and prefer more moisture around their roots.

Olaf

Ditto. Lots of people lose their african violets to root rot, in mix that is too heavy and wet. Perlite is a must.

Yep, Perlite,its really a must. You can still use your McCoy planters...I love those...Just like Olaf said, put the planted pot inside the McCoy.

Everyone does violet mix a little different. Mine is about 2/3 miracle grow and 1/3 perlite, maybe a little more perlite...its what it looks like when I mix it...I don't measure. I take a new store violet out of the pot and get as much of the peat soil mix off the roots as I can, I gently work it off with my fingers and I also hose some of it off as well. I take off any broken leaves and then maybe a couple more depending on how many roots it has (some have a lot of roots and some have hardly any!). Then I repot with my mix. If it looks droopy after a day or so, I put a plastic deli container over it to give it some humidity for a week and then ween it out again. As for light, I have them in all windows, yes, too many plants, only so much space to grow! In my house, South of Atlanta, they do best in my east and south windows.

That growing for show will tell you everything you need to know...its full of very good info.

Best of luck with it blooming again! Some of mine bloom often, others not so much. tish

I agree with Tish!

What I want to add to "it's the way [the mix] looks like": It's also how the mix feels like.

It should feel light and fluffy as compared to the rather dense and heavy mix straight out of the bag.

Doing your own mix is not an exact science. It takes a little experience to get it right but it's really not hard. Most plants really could care less about the exact contents and texture of the mix they're grown in. It's more a combination of what works best for you and what works well for your plants. :)

I am just getting interested in AV's and have been doing a lot of reading up on the subject. One thing that I didn't see mentioned in this thread is about pot size.

A pot should be 1/3 the width of the plant.

A 12" wide plant should be in a 4" wide pot.
A 9" wide plant should be in a 3" wide pot.
A 6" wide plant should be in a 2" wide pot.


I have about 240 varieties of hosta myself!

Wow,that's a lot of Hostas! Some of them are so eye-catching.
Lynn

That is very true about the pot size. If there is a lot of soil and a small root system, the soil will stay too wet and the roots will die. They like to be pot-bound to bloom more but will still bloom if they are not if they are mature. I only use a couple different sized pots, mostly repotting it back in the same size unless there are more or less root system then I got up or down to a larger/smaller pot. I don't tend to let my plants get too big, I take off the lower leaves so they don't take up too much shelf space. Now and then I "save" a plant from Walmart or Lowes, Home Depot, grocery store. I first take off as much soil from the roots as I can, and I am amazed at how small a root system some of the plants have and I definately need to downsize the pot for it.

Let me tell you about my daughters plant. She has shown NO interest in any of my plants ever. She said when I pass on she will give them away before they die too, ha. - who will take this many is another story, ha. Anyway, last Mothers Day, her MIL gave her an african violet, planted in a large self-watering ceramic planter. I figured it would last a month. Wrong. It stays too wet most of the time (when I'm there anyway the soil is soaking). Yet, it has been in bloom everytime I have visited her. It doesn't even get good light! Yes, its a real plant, I know the difference, ha. I have tried to start numerous leaves and they just rot, ha, maybe I should have started them in water..or maybe because I gave it a death sentence when I seen it for the first time, it doesn't want to share. I don't think it gets fertilizer either, so maybe I'll give her a little next time I visit. P.S. And don't think its a different plant each time either, its the same one, I can tell.

tish

Is your daughters AV a Chimera? I read that they can't be started by leaf cuttings.

They will usually start from a leaf cutting,but will not produce a true plant.

The difficulties propagating Chimeras true to description, is one of the contributing factors why they are so expensive.

Chimera prop:

http://www.violetbarn.com/lessons/chimera_violets.htm

http://www.violetbarn.com/lessons/blossom_stems.htm

It's very tedious and time consuming and not very effective compared to prop by leaf.

Olaf

I would love to buy a Fisherman's Paradise any suggestions for a supplier?
I have tried to email the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show contacts to no avail :(

The AVS is there and I wish I could get that one from a local. I really like to see them before purchase.

Teresa

The only vendor that I found that sells 'Fisherman's Paradise' is VioletGallery and they, as far as I know, only sell leaves.

I'm not a Violet person and I bet that the good folks out there will be able to help you better that I can... :)

Olaf

ebay is a source or wait and maybe you'll pick a leaf of it up during the RR this Spring.

Really, I wanted a whole plant :( Maybe I can get in touch with some members in the Nashville AV group. I love the color of its leaves!

Teresa in KY

Hope you find it. It's such a present to finally find one off your 'want' list after a long wait.

My daughters plant is just a grocery store violet, plain green leaves and large purple blooms. A leaf WILL root from a chimera plant, it is just that the plant it produces will not be chimera like the mama...it is usually one of the parent colors or molted color. I know my problem, why the leaves won't root...I have been taking the outer older leaves because I did not want to mess up the beautiful shape of the plant, a younger leaf would have rooted.

I used to have Fisherman's Paradise, but no more. Did you try Cedar Creek Violets? Also Travis Violets? Worth a try. tish

Teresa, I don't have an extra plant of Fisherman's Paradise, but I can add leaves to the Spring RR if you would like.

Melanie

Melanie, how large is FPs? I thought they were all about the same size. Any small variegated ones that are similar.

Also will MGrow help with blooms? I keep forgetting to add that to my water :( No blooms since last summer.

Do you guys mail leaves back and forth? If so how do you pack them?

Thanks