African violet buds are drying out and dying!

17 years ago

I have had a plant in 4" plastic pot for a couple weeks now. It was fine at first, but last week it started to go downhill. The older leaves are "crunchy" and brown in the edges and the flowerbuds only make it so far before getting dried up towards the tip (the rest of the shoot seems fleshy/"soggy"). The new leaves seem just dandy, no mites, no bugs, nothing. I bottom water for 25 mins when it's dry, it has indirect sunlight!!!! please help!!!aaaaah!!

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blueviolet
Original Author

17 years ago

I bought it at a local supermarket. It was beautiful at the store(I guess from the 24 hour fluorescent lights on it!). I also bought a pink violet and a white one the same day, and they are just huge now!! But the sick one (it used to have tiny purple flowers) is nasty looking. I took off all the dead leaves/flower stems and left 3 old leaves and the "newbies" attached to the crown. Then I took it out of the pot, dried out the soil with paper towels repotted, and now I'm just crossing my fingers!!! :D

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Comments (14)

irina_co
17 years ago
Hi Blue - welcome to the crowd,

Where did you get your violet from? Home Depot?

Irina
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Vicki, If I was in your situation, this is what I would do; make up my own mix of 1 part each peat moss, coarse vermiculite, and perlite. I would take the plants out of the ceramic planters and check the roots. If there is root rot, you can only salvage the crown or leaves if not too far gone. Cut the stalk to see if there is fresh green inside, and you may have to cut higher up the stem. If you are able to get to fresh green, remove the leaves except for maybe three rows, and put the stem in the new potting mix in a plastic pot. Bag it and place in light but not sun. If there is no stem and you can't make one by removing leaves, pot the leaves. This is why the ceramic planters ring the death knell for so many plants. Even though you are letting the plants dry out between waterings, if there is any root rot it doesn't just go away, you have to remove it. And you can use the same potting mix for the leaves. Good luck. Barbara
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Kathi - you have suckers and long necks. The necks are so long, you need to cut the crowns off and reroot them. Since they were not repotted for long time - I am judging by the length of the necks - the soil turned acid - and it stimulated the mutation - your blossoms are turning into something else. When you separate your plants into 2, they will grow better, bloom better - and you will have 2 different colors - tiedye 1 and tiedye 2. I had it done too - my Optimara Alaska - white with blue edges - the blue pigment was bleeding all over the blossoms - from solid blue to tie dye. Same issue is with the suckers...galore. You basically need to disassemble plant #4 and reroot the suckers. You would be amazed how fast they root and how soon you will enjoy the bloom instead of this mop. Delphe from Georgia - to my regret you are absolutely right - your initial post was lost in a middle. Finally Linda from Tennessee replied you - I second her. Your plants are not dying, they are actually in a very good shape, the only thing you lost - your blossoms got spent way too fast from the heat. Remove the bloomstalks - and you will get new ones soon.(Just never do it again!) I think both of you can benefit from looking again at this site and finding well illustrated answers to your issues. Irina Here is a link that might be useful: Rachel's Reflections
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IF in fact it turns out the plant continues wilting you can at least take off a few good leaves and root them. If you don't have proper soil mix you can start them in water and they should have roots in a few weeks and by then you will be able to learn how to plant and grow the babies that will form. Hopefully though, you can still save the plant. If it keeps wilting you can also try taking it out of the soil and examining the crown where it meets the soil. If not brown and rotting you can trim off the roots and repot the plant to grow new roots. Someone else can explain this process better. I've done it successfully but not good at giving written directions for it. Good luck! Tricia
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Something that I've been doing that seems to work well with watering is this: I take water (in my case I've been using fish tank water) and put it in a bowl and then let the plant sit in that bowl for about 30 min or so, adding water if the soil soaks it all up. After that I put the plant in my windowsill on a few folded paper towels. The towels absorb the extra water and also create more surface area for the water to evaporate. Within a day or so the paper towels are dry but the soil still retains plenty of moisture without being sopping wet. I can tell the soil is still moist because of the heft/balance of the pot and plant. If it feels light or the green top of the plant is heavy compared to the pot itself then I know it needs water. So far this has worked really well (a few weeks) and the paper towels can be reused. All of that evaporating water might even be helping to raise the humidity in the plants' micro-climate. I have ceramic tile windowsills so I don't have to worry overmuch about water damage. I'd think that using teacup saucers would work just as well if I had wooden or painted sills. I've also used this on a sucker that I've recently rooted with much success. I will say that the small pot its in does dry out every two days or so but I'm certainly not very concerned with root rot and the plant is responding well so far. Just some thoughts for your consideration. Kerry
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irina_co
17 years ago
Blue -

if you look back at some of our threads there is a lot of discussions about store bought violets, why they die and how to revive them. Pay attention to Korina's posts - she is very passionate about it.

Basically you need to repot to a significantly lighter soil, do not overwater it and wait to get it acclimatized to you home. Remove all flowers. These plants are grown in a very humid environment, under the lights and in a heavy peat soil. They are expected to bloom for 10 days and then die and be tossed so you get yourself another centerpiece from the same store. With appropriate care they will live and bloom for you for many years. the record old plant is 50 years old - Superman its name.

There is a useful info in the FAQs on this forum, www.rachelsreflections.com site - so you will feel more comfortable dealing with these plants. And please ask your questions. We all are very happy to have a new grower joining us, learning and becoming a pro, sharing with us successes and losses, pics and ideas.

Good Luck

Irina
Pearl Blake
7 years ago
hello everybody,i have a african violet i have never seen so many buds on my planti was really happy but as soon as they appear they look brown and rusty and never open much .i have had my plant for a few months now and it has flowered before i only water it when it is dry,and it has always been so healthy,its leaves are perfect,HELP
Leon Ash
7 years ago
Yesterday at Meijers I saw their AV display. One of the white ones had been stripped of almost all its leaves. I guess someone's rooting them free .
Rosie1949
7 years ago
That is a shame. Our meijer is so fastidious about our plant dept that it throws away plants before their bloom is even remotely finished! But for people to "pinch plants" that is stealing. Shame on them if this is the case. Guess it just struck a nerve this morning. Sorry for the rant. Rosie
Leon Ash
7 years ago
It's not a rant, Rosie. You're expressing an opinion shared by many. Leon
irina_co
7 years ago
Pearl -

try to increase your watering a little bit. Do not wait until it is very dry, water when the soil surface dries. Second reason for bud blasting is low humidity - so if it is on a way of AC air flow...the tender buds can get dessicated. What fertilizer do you use? AVs can live long without any fertilizer - but to bloom them - you need to feed them.
aegis1000
7 years ago
Pearl ...

Also make sure that your plant is getting enough LIGHT.

African Violets need 10-14 hours/day of BRIGHT light through a window ... or indoor fluorescent light.

When I finally was able to keep my African Violets alive, ... I next learned that I needed to keep them in BRIGHT LIGHT multiple hours per day to get their flower buds to open. Those plants that I didn't get into a well-lit location would not open their flower buds, even if the plants had flowers and buds when I brought it home. Those buds would just brown and die.

So check your LIGHTING. An easy way to make sure your plant is getting enough light is to purchase an inexpensive desk-lamp and use one of the 60 W fluorescent spiral bulbs in it. Train that light onto your African Violet during your waking hours, and I guarantee that you will get bloom.

Examples of such lighting setups are displayed below ...
Rosie1949
7 years ago
Thanks Leon, but I posted it in anger. I was "out of sorts" when I posted and I really should have waited. I am much better now. Going up to my sewing room for some much needed therapy!!! TA TA!!!!! Rosie
irina_co
7 years ago
Rosie -

I am here with you - Optimaras in a store are so inexpensive... pilfering leaves is realy bizarre... Lets hope - this plant was dropped = and leaves needed to come off because they were broken. No itchy fingers involved.
Rosie1949
7 years ago
Irina I doubt it was dropped. Meijer (at least mine) doesn't "trim" broken leaves off and put it back on the shelf for sale. Lowes does,,,but not Meijer. I have watched them unpack (remember I got the sleeves back in April?) and they just keep it so clean and picked up that there is (almost) no hope to get a fallen leaf. HOWEVER!!!! I have been lucky enough to find fallen (and I mean totally broken off, I won't "pinch") leaves. But that only happens maybe twice a year. Veeeery infrequently. And sometimes they are so badly damaged they don't live.

As much as I would like to think it was the way you hope,,,,I doubt it, but because I do not know I will hope also and leave it at that.

Guess I still am a little testy. Hmmm,,,and I even spent 2 hours in my sewing room!! Go figure. Rosie
irina_co
7 years ago
Rosie -

I am long pass the desire of buying Optimaras... They just do not make my heart beat faster... 19 years ago... I was buying everything HD had. Scaring my hubby that I got some crazy acquisition bug...I was smuggling them into my plant room so he wouldn't see...

i.
Rosie1949
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Hahahahahahahaha oh Irina I am laughing about the smuggling part ! I have so many things I like to do (let's just call them hobbies!) smuggling is a way of life for me !!!!! hahahahahahahaha!!! Whether it is a plant, a piece of fabric or doll it will be smuggled in! roflmbo!!!!! Thanks for that! Rosie

PS. Optimaras are wearing thin with me also. I have graduated to other violets,,,oh and streps also!

African violet buds are drying out and dying!

blueviolet
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African violet buds are drying out and dying!

bluevioletOriginal Author

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blueviolet
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