How do YOU grow African Violets?

This topic might give us all some good tips we can use.

Everyone I have talked to that grows African Violets grows them a little differently . Tell us how you grow Yours and if there is a special reason why you do things ....

I grow mine in plastic pots.
I mostly use 4 foot shop lights because that's what I use in the bird room where they are used for decoration on top of the cages.I don't have much window space.
I am still playing with a good soil because I tend to over water...lol they get watered with the critters here...
(helps me remember)...yes I have fertilized a bird or too...lol
Some are wicked and some are on mats and some are top watered.....

Here's a pic of one of my favorite Wally World finds...Optimara "Candy"

MsC.

I use the african violet pots and just love them. They are two part and you put the water in the bottom and it is soaked up by the upper pot. I sit them on a table that comes at window level and they are doing very well. I hope to get more soon. I would love to see if they have yellow ones.

Forgot to say I use the african violet soil that you can buy pre packaged. It seems to work very well. I fertilize with weak fertilizer every time I have to add water.

I use packaged av soil mixed with perlite or orchid mix to lighten it up a bit. I start off in plastic pots and eventually use clay. I've never tried the new av pots, seem too expensive but I guess if I stopped buying so many plants, I might be able to get nicer pots. LOL!

Thanks for sharing your info.
I've tried the AV pots and although I love the look, the ones I have in them are just sitting there not really doing very much???
Do yours grow slower too?
Have you experienced that the water temp is a little cooler because of the air conditioning? I think it has to do with the location of mine? I have a few I duplicate babies that I think I might try in different spots and see how they do in the pots.

I got my pots at Walley World for about $6, but I have seen some really pretty ones on ebay and you are right susancva,
they can get expensive.lol

I got mine at Wally World for $1.50 when they marked them down. I got 12 of them and wish I had bought a few more.
Mine grow quite nicely in the pots and bloom really well.

ummm... msCritter? don't know bout you, but i ain't never growed no AV... ya see, its a plant ... any growin to be done is done by the plant... :D

eh hem...

first, i always let someone else repot my plants. why you ask? cuz i'm lazy n manipulative!!!!

second, i keep it near a window. it thanks me n gives me flowers in return, which i admire daily. oh, its east-facing.

third, i water it. (self-essplanitory , right?)

forth, ummm... fergot what forth was.

fifth, i add potting soil (i think, it came in one of them nursery bags) when the plant eats it up n it starts to lean, exposing the roots.

sixth, i water it. (woops, said that already didn't i)

seventh, i don't let it get rained on. (you laugh, but on a nice spring day when we open the windows, we sometimes don't remember to move the pots)

eighth, and probably the most important one... i have a pact with ALL my plants... either stay healthy or get composted. that , above all, usually works best. :D

now... some things i have learned...

1. flower pots are NOT ashtrays. lol...
2. most flower planting instructions are evil. i find that 'full sun' for example is a lie. i find that the best place for a plant is always one step or more down from what that vicious label says. never trust em i say... (hmm, thats got nuttin ta do with av's does it...)
3. av's DO NOT like full sun... (i knew there was a connection to #2, just didn't think of it there) they get brown spots.
4. move your av in n out of the window depending on the time of year. fall, winter and spring seem to be ok to let the plant sit fully in the window, but in mid summer it will cook.
5. av's can produce seed. now i have NO CLUE as to whether thats good or bad, but if you leave the window open in springtime, your av may soon be 'expecting' , as mine is... lol

well, thats all i got... Cheers!! , Arod :)

(pssssst, msCritter? umm... was this the kind of response you was looking for?)

No not exactly...but amusing

Mine are in front of a west window and I have them at work under fluorescent lights. I use the miracle-gro av food (in the purple bottle). That stuff must be like candy to them because they blow up-get really robust. Of all the different types, my favorites are the large standards.

Mine are currently in the living room with east facing windows, but will probably move some of them to another room with west windows as we get more settled in and I experiment with the light that each room gets. Some are in the AV pots, and some are in plastic pots. I want to try wicking some, too, eventually. I use the AV soil, and add a weak fertilizer to the water when I remember.

How do I treat my AV's, like a part of the family. They are all in little pottery bowls or pots, each nestled in a little larger bowl with pebbles at the bottom. They are always watered through the bottom and transplanted when this is no longer possible. I water them with very weak fertilizer (sometimes this is Miracle Grow, but usually a fertilizer just for AV's) when they are close to being dry. In winter they are in eastern windows and in summer in the northern windows to get the most light. As I live under great big Oak trees there is no direct sun in any of my windows. The soil is usually a mixture of potting mix, real dirt; any composition that lends to airy, light, moisture holding ingredients. I do use grow lights in the winter as my little home gets a tad bit cold and is somwhat damp. The grow lights help with both!

I have three racks with about 4 or 5 shelves on each. Two are facing the south and one is in the north side. I also have a kitchen window filled (north). They like the northern side better, but I only have so much window space. They are in various small pots, butter dishes, styrofoam cups, and just whatever I can find. You see I have this habit of sticking any leaf in a bowl and then I have more to plant. Right now they are so crowded and I need to repot. It becomes an addiction.

Well SO1 I'm with you on the eighth rule for your plants. If mine die it's their own fault for not being tough enough to live with me!

Mine are in a north facing window spring, summer, fall, and winter. I have them in clay pots and they get watered from the top if they get watered at all!! They usually always bloom for me and never give me any problems. I transplanted them about 6 months ago and I used AV soil. I have never fertilized them. We seem to get along pretty well I guess! :-D

thanks for the back-up, mgh... i find it the most useful philosophy when growing any plant, whether it be indoors or in the garden... :)

Arod