Hi Steve -

For me the best is Dyna-grow, some people use Optimara's special fertilizer. the main thing - it should be balanced - about 20:20:20 - and do not have urea in its nitrogen part.

Southwest patio door can be Ok - depends how far are your violets from this window. 1 foot is Ok, 5 is not.

I think we told you about soil.

When you buy AVs in a grocery store - they can have lots of bugs and nobody knows what bugs. So there is no single recommendation what to do except keep them in isolation for 3 months to see what shows up. Yes - it is better to remove the bloom. But - usually they have fungus gnats - nuisance things, often aphids, God forbid- mites or mealy bugs. Thrips for sure.

Try to investigate what violet clubs are in your area - call these people and they are usually wery helpful and generous. Check on AVSA.org on clubs. Because - you know - you can hear and read - but much better to see how it is done.

Regards

irina

Steve, check the FAQ at the top of the forum's main page; it contains a lot of basic cultural info.

Korina

When looking at violets--especially those that can be had for a bargain, look very, very carefully. That cheap plant may bring home so many bugs you have to spend a fortune just to save it.

Look at a flower, blow on it. See anything wiggling? Thrips! Get out of the whole section.

Slip it out of the pot. See white powder in the pot and/or on the root ball? If it's not perlite, it's soil mealies and they can be tough to cure.

Look at the center of the plant. Is it healthy or is it brownish or does it have a yellow color or even an ash color?

It's a buyer's risk everytime you buy a plant so check everything very carefully.

Nancy

Thanks guys for all your help and info,. Ive learned from the thrip invasion I had last summer when I see plants at a market if I see anything white on the blooms or streaks I wont even consider it. I think you guys may be proud of me I was able to find the spahgnum peatmoss, vermiculite and perlite at my local lowes, surprise. So now thanks to the help from you guys I now have at least two things under control my soil and my plants really like my shop light. I have lots of buds and they look like they are about ready to blow , just hope I dont have insects. I read one article last summer that it would be good to catch some ladybugs and put them on your plants to eat any bugs. What your input on that?

Thrips are anoying and cause the bloom to get smaller and smaller, but they shouldn't kill off half your plants. There may have been other problems. There are a lot of different bugs that can do them in and take a lot of plants with them. I had soil mealies years ago and lost half my plants from one infected plant but the time I found out what was going on. Can you explain more of how they started dying, maybe you watered too much and the roots rotted? I will also say depending where you bought your plants, they are grown to sell at a hight of bloomtime and often those plants take a long time to recover to get on a blooming pattern again after all they've been transported a lot, left a greenhouse environment, some shock to their system. Better hybrid violets will bloom more often and more consistently. I have some violets that are almost constantly in bloom. Don't give up. Isolate any new violets and remove the bloom...pollen is the thrips food supply.

After reading all the input on this forum I feel like I had multiple problems. One of them just may have been overwatering, but it also looks like the soil I was using wasnt the best either. I was using miracle gro enriched african violet soil , from what Ive read that may be mistake #1 that that soil itself may have helped kill my plants for they needed more aeration and wasnt getting from the soil plus I may have been overwatering. I have just changed my plants over to the well drained soil, how ofter or how will I know for sure that they need watering. Also I usually give plantfood as I water.

I don't know why all those soils that say they are made for AV's don't have more perlite in them. Over watering is one of the most common things that go wrong. I've had some hit and miss on the wick watering some of my plants. I've needed to use less yarn threads and add more perlite in my mix. Violets can dry out sometimes, they will recover, having them dry out from lack of water is not as deadly as too much water....unless they are dry, neglected, dry and very limp, then you need to add a little water a little at a time, like people in the desert. I'm glad you didn't give up and are trying another way. Good luck on your new soil.

You're right about the perlite Lilypad. The standard mix is equal parts peat, vermiculite, and perlite, but for wicking, adding an extra part of perlite is *essential*. Super-duper, extra-heavy-duty light soilless mix is the key to wicking success. ;-P For my 2" pots I use 1 strand of 4-strand worsted acrylic yarn; obviously for larger pots you need more strands; there's a formula, but I forget what it is. Anyone?

Korina

'I looked into the fridge, and the fridge looked back.' ~I forget who

Lillypad- have you ever heard of anyone putting ladybugs on their avs or is it a myth. Also I know that the new mix Im using now will hold moisture better so I will just be guessing when to add water by feel from the top , but guess I will be watering much less. Is there a telltale way to know for sure they need water and or food?

Well, besides everything else Ive gone to rachels reflections and trying her method on a couple of leafs and Im also trying one in water from robs I think. Ive not had any luck with leaf propagation before, but I have sprouted roots from water , which I guess is easy to do.
Hey guys for you that said my southwest patio door was ok , I really dont think my plants were getting enough light, but then again with the soil problem and being too wet it woudve been really hard to judge on the light part . Do you agree? Steve

Steve -

You are on right truck. You are eliminating one problem after another. You heading for a success. We are waiting for your pics of your super violets coming.

Irina

Irina- Your vote of confidence and support is much appreciated by me. After all you are one of the people who have helped point me in the right direction, for I love messing these AVS and hated it that I lost so many. At least now IM more aware of the right things to do. So things should be better for me, thanks

Someone asked about lady bugs. I found one trapped inside my house so I put her in the plant room. She didn't stay there long but I don't know where she went.

Nancy

About the ladybugs, I read on one of these forums someone said give the ladybugs your avs. I really cant comment on wether its a fact or a good thing or not. Do it at your own risk. Im sure Im not the only one thats heard of this. I would like to hear more on it though.

The only thing I know about lady bugs is that one year I had an indoor infestation. Now I love them, so I didn't hurt them. I did think, hey this could be good for the violets, they didn't want to stay in the same room as the plants though I would catch them and bring them to the plants. Well, I ended up catching and releasing them outdoors on nice days. I was okay with them, but they obviously were not going to live in the house either and my family didn't like their company as much as me.

I think if violets are not getting enough light the leaves will grow leggy, reaching for light.

I grow a couple violets in a window in a room where I have a fireplace insert we use for additional heat all winter. These violets dry out very quickly but I usually don't water them until I see them start to wilt a bit. They are violets I got at the grocery store and are still growing in the peat they came in and that peat holds too much water if I water too often, it will be fatal. So I just let them wilt a bit and then I know for sure they need water. Actually the peat is good for them as anything else would dry out everyday and I couldn't keep up with that. Wick watering might be an option, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. I think if your growing conditions are about the same from week to week, you could just wait until they wilt a bit before you water and count the days it takes them to get to that point, then after you know it's every 5 days (or 7 days or more or less), you can start watering just a day or so before that. Feeding, I just use deluted fertilizer most times I water and then every so often I just use plain water.

If you repotted your plants...they may take a while to bloom again as they need to be pot bound/root bound to bloom Some plants I downsized their pots so they would bloom sooner and more often.

Change one thing at a time and soon you will have great plants. We all go thru trial and error. And what works with one person, won't work for another. One lady in our violet group grows hers in dirt. She buys it in bags at home depot. Doesn't add anything to it. Well, when you think about it, at one time all there was to grow plants in was dirt. Good luck.

Well watering is one part that scares me right now for I dont want to over water and with using the soilless mix that holds water it may be difficult to make that changeover. As you say lillypad you may just have to wait untill they start to wilt a bit and see how many days that takes. At least thats one way other than playing it by ear.

Steve - are you talking about wick watering? Being scared?

Believe me- it is the best. If the soil is right - 1:1:1 - and the wick is all right - I use a mason twine on small pots and acrylic yarn on biggies - it takes the guessing out of the equation. You just refill your reservoir when it is empty - and the plants are always happy. I found that streptocarpus actually prefers to dry a bit before getting more water - since it is originally from the South Africa areas where they have "dry" seasons - so to let it show first signs of wilting is OK. AV is holding the leaves up even if the soil is dry. If it starts drooping - usually it means that the miniscule hair roots started dying, and when you rewater it - they need to regrow these roots and at that time the plant is very prone to the root rot. So - from swamp to desert regime is usually helps you to get rid of your pesky violets. More of it - the peat when it dries shrinks, and it is very hard to rewet it again. The water will run on the sides of the pot - and the center will stay dry. It is an another reason not to keep the store bought violets in the soil they came with.

I think just lifting the pots to check if they became light is the way to decide if it is time to water.

The plants compensate. Means you can grow them in less then ideal conditions - less light, not the best soil, not the best water. And they will survive and even bloom. But most of their energy will be used for survival, so you will not get the maximum performance. And we love them for bloom, not for green leaves.

Cheers

Irina

Irina, no Im not wick watering yet , Im afraid I fail to see how the water gets to them thru a piece of string or yarn. Although I do have some cheap twine I bought from walmart last summer for my tomato plants. So do you feed them thru the reservoir also and do you feed them all time or when you think they need it. Also Ive noticed some of my buds are drooping , looks like the buds want to flower but something is not right. As you know just recently I had changed them over to the 1-1-1 and had gave them food when I did this. I also had them close to the floresent lights 4-6 for Im also growing other plants from seed. Ive moved the avs farther from the lights now , a good 8in from the lights. Oh yeah, I have the smaller av either semi or mini. I have the peters specialties,12-36-14 no urea. any comments

Steve -

There is some urea in Peters, though not much.

Look up into Rachel's reflections how the wicking is done - but in a simple way - the wick is dipped in a weak solution (1/4 teaspoon per gallon of your Peters) all the time, and I do not water my plants any other way. It is a good practice to wash a plant and leach the soil with tepid water every month - it keeps the plant happy and the salts leached.

The way how the solution goes up the twine - is based on a capillary action. If you plop in a shallow puddle and stay there long enough - all your pants will be wet - the water will eventually soak all your clothes - and it is moving up by this capillary action.

4-6 inches is too close. 8" is better.

By the way - your cheap twine is possibly natural - and you need something synthetic. A thin ribbon made of pantyhose also works.

I.

Irina , I hate to dissagree with you but the Peters mix that I have states very plainly that it does not contain urea and then goes on for a paragraph to explain how bad it is for avs. Now, I will probably go out and try to find that synthetic twine you talk about. You havent told me yet why my buds went limp. I mean the stem was actually hanging down , I removed those.

Well Irina, I hope you are happy now. Thats right , now Im wick watering. I still wont know if its actually working I guess for a few days if my reservoir gets low. Im using nylon cord and plastic cups not much more than a dixie cup and it is 3inches, what I was using before were the pots yu get violets in at walmart 4in. But basically if I had been doing things right before I believe my 4in pots would do ok. Im not satisfied yet with my setup even though I went to rachels to see what she did. My setup is unstable so will be looking for something else , to elevate my pot I got a piece of plastic , which I cut but its not even ,. Im thinking of drilling holes in a tuna can and using it , thats what I had it setting on before. I still dont have the right pot I want. The pots I used for my leaf propagations is perfect, but I cant remember where I got those, they are 3in by 3in and have a wider bottom, so you see I have some yet to do. Take pride , its not every woman that can make a man change his style.--- Steve

Steve -

It is a free country - and if my hubby digs his heels in ... I do not insist. Let him have it. It took me almost 50 years to grow to such a tremendous wisdom :-)). (It takes less for non-blondes).

In any case - drooping flower stalks. It is a good practice to remove all the bloom stalks when you repot. And looks like you made a lot of changes to your plants. Do not kill them with TLC. The reason you need to remove the bloom - to give a plant more energy to adjust to the new pot, grow new roots etc.

Deli containers with a hole on their lids make the good reservoirs for wicking plants. You can use the white ones - like from sour cream - but then you do not see how much water you have left.

About pots - check on vendors at AVSA.org - nay there is one not far from you, or you can order. The squatty azalea pots are better - but not that much better.

I usually buy 3.5" diameter pots for standard violets, 4" for biggies, and 2.5 and 3" for starters, and the Solo cups from King Soopers for leaf starting, babies that I separate from the mother leaf.

Look for the inexpensive plastic pots.

That where I buy - since I am lucky to live 15 minutes from this store.

Happy Turkey Day

Irina

Here is a link that might be useful: Violet showcase

Irina, remove the stalks, rip out the life blood, tough love, hmmmmm! You are a bad Mamma Jamma. Kidding aside I understand. I have no flowers just buds that are partially open , at least on one plant, but theyve been that way for a few days, so it does appear with the changes Ive made that they dont have the energy to continue. Ive notices already on one plant thou that the reservoir has receded. I also like the blue sticky cards I have hanging near my plants, they are not only thrip attractants but also great knat catchers, got them from Stevards on ebay. I may go there to look for the pots I want. Yes Ive seen all the opts different containers from store deli and such. I will get it all together eventually. Remove the stalks?? Have a great thanksgiving Steve

Irina, found my cups kmart, you win since I will be repotting again, off with the stalks, mean ole papa!!