Soil from violets purchased in stores is usually pure peatmoss which holds too much water. You need a mix of 1-1-1 ratio meaning one part vermiculite, one part peat moss and one part perlite.

Many growers make their own soil less mix using this formula. If you can not find all the components, add vermiculite or perlite to African violet mix.

Let the plant dry out somewhat then scratch off as much of this soil from the plant. Place the rootball in fresh soil less mix and water from the bottom until the mix is thoroughly damp.

By the way, peat moss should be dampened before use or it will continue to dry out too quickly.

Nancy

Maureen, you don't have to get *all* the peat off; like Nancy said, let it dry out a bit and most will come off pretty easily.

You only need to rinse the roots under dire circumstances, at which point it's usually better to cut off and re-root the crown.

Welcome and good luck!

Korina

Maureen:
Have you contacted Bluebird to ask what soil mix they use? If they haven't shipped yet, they may be willing to sell you some of their mix. . . unless it's pure peat ;-)
Linda

BlueBird uses their own pretty good mix for the bottom watering. Ther violets are not on wicks and if you do not plan to put yours on wick any time soon - you can keep your new mini in its old pot and soil for 4 months. Yes - they sell their soil - and if you are not sure how to make your own you can order from them. But again - it is not for wicking.

Irina

Nancy - thank you for all of this helpful info and tips. I really appreciate it.

Korina - thank you for your assistance. I appreciate your help.

Linda - I did go to Bluebirds website, and they do sell their own mix. I bought a bag of it. Thanks.

Irina - I'm so glad you advised me that Bluebird's soil is not for wick watering. I will not be using wicks so their soil should be fine for me.

Thanks everyone!! You all are so helpful

Maureen

Soil from violets purchased in stores is usually pure peatmoss which holds too much water.

By the way, peat moss should be dampened before use or it will continue to dry out too quickly.

Is there a typo somewhere or are these two statements somehow compatible?

Dchall,

About the peat moss - if it is dry - it is hard to soak it through. When it is wet - it is holds too much water. But if you let the rootball dry - it again shrinks significantly into this cardboard like thing - if you just water it from the top - the water runs down on the sides and doesn't penetrate the middle. To rewet it again - you need to submerse the pot and let it sit in water for half an hour. No surprise that these procedures are very harmful to the tender hair roots of the AV - and afterwards some of them die. That is another pitfall of this sludge type soil and it works against our hypothetical average WM shopper who probably alternates the drought and flood in his plants treatment.
Better quality soil gives you some leeway - and you can keep it on a dry side to knock the gnats down without endangering your plants.

Just put some wet peat in a pot, let it dry - and you will agree with Nancy.

Irina the Walmart Shopper ( I get the tubes and fixtures and timers etc there)

Soil from violets purchased in stores is usually pure peatmoss which holds too much water.

By the way, peat moss should be dampened before use or it will continue to dry out too quickly.

Is there a typo somewhere or are these two statements somehow compatible?

Oops! I didn't mean to repost the question again. I wasn't watching what I was doing I guess.

Anyway, thanks Irina. I know what you are talking about. I agree the average WM shopper probably does not know how to recover from the shrunken cardboard clump. And even if they know how to recover from it, they are likely to encounter the situation several times in a year.

I have mentioned that in my experiment a couple of my plants have died. I keep those empty pots handy for comparison. One of them I water each time I water the plants. It is interesting to compare the weights of the plants to the bone dry pots. I need to get a small scales to measure that.

Dchall, peat is hydrophobic when it's dry; it actually *repels* water and is difficult to rehydrate. Hence my new enthusiasm for coconut coir. :-)

A small food/kitchen scale would work. Let us know your results.

Korina

Jack: 'Ah, sweet. How come I never get any of that?'
Doctor: 'Buy me a drink first.'
Jack: 'You're such hard work.'
Doctor: 'But worth it.'

Doctor Who, coming to SciFi in March!!! Yippee!! Woo hoo!! (Does the happy dance)

I left the soil wet and raked off a bit of the soil with a knife and fork. I dunked the root ball and continued to pull soil off as above. I tried to rinse the soil off under the faucet but found a water filled spray bottle blasted the gunk off with ease. I then rinsed the foliage under the sink to clean things up a bit. The spray bottle blasted away over 95% of the peat and my plants are now doing fine.

I very much hope that your sewage pipes do fine as well. My hubby has fits if he sees soil going down the drain.

Cheers

irina