How my AV has survived my kids....

15 years ago

This was a big, beautiful AV with great scalloped, fucsia*sp blooms! This is it after "Tough Guy" thought he needed to grab it from a plant stand on a counter AND then accidentally knocked it over just a week ago.

I should probably explain the pot: it's in another pot on some marbles and anchored with some bamboo sticks so the pot doesn't wabble around. I wanted it in a pretty pot. It's not for anything technical.

Here's what's left.

What should I do? Transplant yay? nay? I keep watering it to keep it happy. I gave it some Schultz AV fertilizer yesterday. It's in a bright light - no direct sun area.

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Comments (7)

dragonfly2008
15 years ago
I think there is hope here. I would take what's left out of that big pot and then trim away a lot of any roots that are left. Put it in a solo cup with a light potting mix (lots of perlite)then cover with a plastic baggie for a couple weeks or so. Keep the baggie out of direct sunlight. I think you will be surprised how quicky this plant can recover. Good luck and let us know what happens!
nwgatreasures
15 years ago
I agree w/ dragonfly.
Your plant will recover and thrive when placed in a small solo cup so the roots can be hugged and expand.

We can't wait to see pics in a week or two.

I can empathize with the kids and the plants...I've shared many a saga of my 4 year old "helping" me with my flowers. :)

Welcome aboard!
Dora
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Thank you stonesriver and everyone else for the kind welcome. Yes, I think I may have been a bit bitten by the "gardening" germ. Granted, I am nowhere close to where most people on this forum probably are. I am mainly a "decorator" who feels that a house without any indoor plants is sad, dry and too much of a sign of our rushed times. So I decided I HAVE TO get some reasonably elegant indoors plants established. The only thing close to caring for a plant I've done before were some geraniums. They did OK, I managed not to kill them and they bloomed quite a bit over the winter even if they did get leggy. Oh, well. Now I took them outside and I decided that they will go in the basemenent for wintering when times comes. I will no longer keep them in the house because they are not really elegant, gracious plants. I like their bright colors outside in the summer but that's that for now. So I decided it was time for something finer and elegant to go with our classic/traditional living room as well as my busy schedule. I also knew this was going to be harder than a geranium which are quite hard to kill anyway. So off I went to Pikes and I grabbed some plants I had heard were not hard to care for and would do well on our Eastern bay window. A Peace Lily, four AV-s and two yellow begonias. (I did kill a begonia last year but later, after more reading, I realized I was making mistakes with it). A real gardener I will never be - not with a full-time academic career and two small children; but By God, these few plants must stay alive, do well, and even bloom nicely - this is all I hope for. I don't plan to do any complicated wick watering (at least it sounds complicated to me) or much propagation or anything - I just want to keep my living room looking as pretty as it is now, with lots of healthy blooms, if this is not too much to ask. Since I've heard so much about how important the soil is, I think I am going to change the soil the plants came in pretty soon; at least for the AV-s, I don't know whether I should do the same thing for the begonias, but probably should. Having a month between waterings sounds like a lot to me. These are small pots (4" I believe) and I think all moisture would evaporate altogether from such a small pot well before the 1 month mark; especially if I change the soil to something more airy. I did fertilize the AV-s when I watered them the first time - with some 5-7 drops of liquid fertilizer from MIracle-Gro, as indicated on the package. I am a super novice so I just did the novice thing. I guess changing the soil will also change the present routine. Some of the flowers on my AV-s are starting to fade now- they are starting to have little burnt patches on the petals, but I assume this is the natural cycle of the flower - as I bought them with quite a few blooms from the nursery and it might just be their time to go. I am just hoping they will continue to bloom for a while. Thank you again for the kind welcome, I wil certainly be around because I have been clearly "bitten". :-)
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hort_lvr_4life
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks a lot for the help! I'm going to try to use what I already have: moisture mix (some commercial stuff I bought because life is hectic right now and I don't have the time to mix) and perlite. I probably don't have super large, but I'll try to choose the largest. What about a 50% mix of each?

Do I seal the bag or let it breath? How about a north wall in a south facing room with plenty of light?

I forgot to mention before that it was making a good recovery from the first fall, but we moved in the cold and it got too cold and lost some leaves. THEN "Tough Guy" knocked it over breaking off the only older leaf and one of the newer leaves...then there were three....
korina
15 years ago
*Don't* use moisture mix -- your plant will rot. Give it barely damp (like a wrung out sponge) soil mix and close the bag. Give it plenty of light, but not direct (unless you want it to cook). Check it occasionally and if you see lots of condensation open the bag until it evaporates. In that kind of greenhouse environment you won't really need to water it very often. If you treat it like this, you won't have to trim the roots.

Also, get "Tough Guy" a leash. ;-)

Good luck,

Korina
hort_lvr_4life
Original Author
15 years ago
Okay, how about Spag & Perlite (barely wet, of course) and a 2" terra cotta pot (brand new)? I know I'm probably being silly by asking for such specifics, but I don't want to do this wrong. AVs & I have a "love/hate" relationship: I love them, they hate me.
hort_lvr_4life
Original Author
15 years ago
Okay here's what I did:

{{gwi:361540}}

The root ball was pretty tight so I wasn't able to break off all the old soil. The soil was still pretty moist (not overly) so I didn't add any water once I put it in the pot. It's in a ziploc back now. The pot is a 2" pot and it's never been used. Oh, how I hope it'll happily regenerate....
nwgatreasures
15 years ago
It will generate and be healthier.

One thing for future reference (and you didn't do anything wrong) but it is OK to remove part of the fine haired root system when repotting. Sometimes, you may even have to cut/chop/slice the stem or root right off of the plant in order to repot and when done correctly - can be very beneficial for the plant.

If you have a lot of soil in the root system next time, it is ok to pull that apart, shake the dirt from the system or even cut the system down.

There are some fabulous video trainings of repotting and cutting violets down to size online.

This is just the beginning for you and great things/plants/experiences are sure to come....lots of learning and growing too :)

Dora

PS..keep track and we'd love to see pics in about 2 weeks.

How my AV has survived my kids....

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dragonfly2008

nwgatreasures

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How my AV has survived my kids....

Comments (7)

dragonfly2008

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