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African Violets

Leaves get pale/damaged as they age, much more than normal.

9 years ago

My leaves start out a rich green as they come out of the center, but get yellow or a dull brown fairly quickly (the color depends on the plant.) I have to either repot more that should be, because the plant has a neck, or plucking just leaves them asymmetrical. I feel like my plants are never really thriving, just hanging on. I would appreciate any help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pics

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Comments (11)

quimoi
9 years ago
How much light are they getting? They look like they might be bleached.

Diana
grace_m
Original Author
9 years ago
Diana, I think you're right. Thank you. My violets live on West facing windowsill, without a curtain. I don't why I didn't think of it.

What do you guys think of Jack's 20-20-20? I been using it for some other house plants, but I don't want to give my AV's another issue if it's not appropriate for them.
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fortyseven_gw
9 years ago
As Diana suggested, the windowsill could be too hot
or direct sun rays could be touching them in the late afternoon that are too strong. Try moving them away from the window if possible.
The angle of the light shifts at different times of the year.
So what might have been ok in the winter is too strong in
the height of summer.
Joanne
quimoi
9 years ago
Grace,

You see, some of us have grown violets for a long time and done a lot of stupid things along the way so we know it when we see it ;) I scorched the devil out of a whole tray because someone had cut down a tree when I guess I wasn't looking.

I use light curtains and spring rods a lot. Unfortunately they seem to have quit making them in a variety of lengths but they aren't hard to shorten if you're motivated.

I don't use Jack's but I honestly think you can use it as long as you don't overdo it. Suddenly everyone went bananas about urea but then some people still used it and I'd used fertilizer with urea for years. I got Foliage Pro and haven't seen any miracles happen with it.

The only thing not to use is the unbalanced ones or only use them very occasionally. That would be a bloom buster or my old Peters AV which is 12-36-14.

Diana
grace_m
Original Author
9 years ago
I just wanted to post a little update and another thanks if anyone is interested. I got a tension rod and sheers as suggested. My orchid that lives on the same window is looking a little too light, so hopefully it will help there too. It's overcast today, so It's hard to tell exactly how much light the curtains will let in, but I think it will work *crosses fingers*

Here is a link that might be useful:
taxonomist3
9 years ago
Your plants are suffering from a pH issue. More than likely, if you're on "city" water it would be the presence of chloramine (which does not evaporate out of the water like chlorine does). You may want to grab a pH meter or an aquarium pH test kit (to test the water). If you're on city water, it's likely around a pH of 8. If this is the case you'll want to get a dechlorinator (that works on chloramine as well). If you're running your water through a brita water filter that would not be sufficient to remove all the chloramine which would still cause a problem with your plants.
judyj
9 years ago
After seeing the pix, I'd have to agree with TX that there could be a PH issue. We don't have that here, but we're on a different water system, and we let the water sit overnight anyway so any chlorine and chloramine dissipate. Your curtains are darling, by the way! White lace and AVs just seem to go hand in hand!

It may also be the light though, because your new growth appears dark and lovely. The bigger leaves will bear the brunt of the light since the surface area is far larger and more exposed!

Perhaps I'm not being too helpful here! :-)

Either way, you've done the one thing to bring the light in check however you might check your water too as TX recommends. I checked ours last weekend just because we were looking at getting Discus fish for our new aquarium. Ours is at 7.4, too high for these fish, but not bad for AVs.

PH strips are pretty inexpensive (but a kit can cost about $20 depending on where you are).

Best,
Judy
grace_m
Original Author
9 years ago
You guys are amazing! I just tested. My water is a ph 6, but with fertilizer it's a 7. I fertilize weakly weekly, so my AVs are almost always getting the "7" water.

What do I do? I don't want to make the problem worse by unnecessarily lowering their light if that's not the issue.
judyj
9 years ago
IMHO, you're doing fine! Now you get to sit back and wait until the color of the leaves comes back. You may find you have to remove the outer leaves, but give it a little while for the new leaves to push out.

Best,
Judy

This post was edited by judyj on Tue, Sep 16, 14 at 21:18
fafasakha
9 years ago
Al- Madinah International University is planing to open a new department on gardening. we need you reply about this issues.
Thank you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mediu forum
fortyseven_gw
9 years ago
I have to use bottled spring water. The product I used to remove the ammonia from tap water stunted many of my plants. I have read that water put thru Brita twice will remove some but not all of the ammonia. It was suggested on this forum to use vitamin c to neutralize ammonia. I have not tried it yet. Using the search feature on this forum should help in finding these threads. Chlorine evaporates but not ammonia. J

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