Yellow outer leaves and no blooms

17 years ago

Hi! I'm somewhat new to African Violets and I'm trying to save one I was given about 8 months ago. It is in a 4" pot and at it's widest it is about 8" across. It came in a "pot within a pot" - a plain black nursery pot inside a lovely little blue ceramic pot. It did bloom all the time, when the blossums browned I deadheaded it and more came right away. I water from the bottom, lifting it out of the ceramic pot and putting water in it then lowering the violet back in. It is at my office, so it has gotten dry a few times over long weekends, but has been kept fairly moist. We do have some fungus knats flying about thanks to some spider plants gone wild, but I've looked and not seen any knats on the soil of the violet like I can on the spider plants in the next room. It seems fairly rootbound, you can literally pick it up out of it's pot without dropping any soil. Only the old, outer leaves are yellow. I have cut them off in the past, but as soon as I did other's turned yellow. It hasn't bloomed now for three months or so.

I really don't want it to die! Any suggestions? I've always loved African Violets. My mother was wonderful with them and had dozens, but I killed every one I inherited from her. I'd so like to keep this one alive.

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Comments (6)

korina
17 years ago
Alys, a couple of tips and useful places to go:

If you've had the plant for 8 months, chances are it's a semiminiature; they get to about 8" across. The rule of thumb is, the diameter of the pot should equal 1/3 the diameter of the plant. Practically, this means it should be in a 2" to 2 1/4" pot, and it'll never have to go to a larger one.

Standard soilless mix is 1 part peat, 1 part vermiculite, and 1 part perlite; very light and porous. And don't pack it in the pot; spoon it in and tap the side of the pot.

Bright indirect light; don't stick it directly in a southern window, it'll fry.

Places to go: the FAQ at the top of the forum's main page, www.avsa.org, and Rachel's Reflections (linked below) with tons of cultural info, lessons, and pix.

Good luck and have fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rachel's Reflections
fred_hill
17 years ago
Hi,
I don't see why Korina said it must be a semiminiature. Standard plants have similar problems. I would say that at this time your violet needs repotting. Use a light soil mix as Korina suggested. Remove all the yellowed leaves and put it into a clean pot (preferably a tub) that is no larger than 1/3 the size of the crown of the plant.
Fred in NJ
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lilion
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you. But the pot it came in is 4" and the plant is 8", so I'd actually have to pot it DOWN not UP to get it into a pot that's 1/3 the size of the plant. Since it's gotten bigger and was beautiful for several months, (I just realized it's about 10 months that I've had it, not 8) and only stopped blooming and started yellowing a couple (3?) months ago, how could it be the pot size? I've really changed nothing. It's in the same window, in the same pot, in the same soil. I read the FAQ and maybe I'm dense, but I just didn't get an answer from them. Likewise Rachel's website. Yellow leaves alone didn't give me much info, but maybe I missed something. Could it need food?
Carla
17 years ago
Your plant needs to be re-potted. Old soil will "lock" meaning that the plant can't get any "food" from it anymore. That's why it is recommended that AVs be re-potted about every 6 months. Whether you need a smaller pot or not depends of the type of plant. You can go down a size by taking off the lower leaves and some of the old stalk (making it a much shorter plant).

Carla
lilion
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you! So just feeding it won't do the trick then? I'll see about repotting it!
hummersteve
17 years ago
Just had to put in my two cents. It is all good info above. One thing about avs to remember is the roots like to be potbound to encourage blooming so therefore the 1/3 rule. Most of the people on here like to wick water their plants, with this method your plant will never go dry. Along with this method you can use the constant feeding method which is normally 1/4 tsp per gal of water. It is agreed that plant food with urea in it will burn the roots of african violets. There are several kinds that do not have urea in it, Peters specialties, dyna-gro, optimara and its not likely you will find these in any local store so heres a link should you decide to go this route. In this link is peters , it is the cheapest of the group.

Here is a link that might be useful: african violet food