Hi Wish,

1. Any time you are in a mood to get your hands dirty. It is very relaxing and takes the stress away. When you repot - you remove the bloom stalks - to make it easier on the plant - but after it recovers - it will be so happy that it will be flush with a fresh bloom.

2. Yes. Yes.

3. It is OK. If you leave too much of this sludge - it can be a source of the rootrot - especially if you plan to wick it.

4. Yes. If you look at the petioles - leaf stalks - you would see that older leaves have bleached pale petioles. They are getting to the end of their life expectancy and will wilt soon on their own. Off they go. It gives you a length of the bare stem you need to cover with a fresh soil after removing the stumps of these leaves and a light scrubbing off of the brownish cork from the bare stem. If your pot is not deep enough - chop off the lower part of the root ball as much as you need. It will rejuvenate your plant.

5. Yes.

The more you grow - the better you will understand what they like. Experienced growers can just look at the plant and say if it is happy, or it wants to be moved from the light, or it needs some nitrogen and whatnot.

Good luck

Irina

Wish, have you checked the FAQ on the forum's main page? How about Rachel's Reflections? They'll answer most or all of your questions. However:

1. It depends. New ones in peat? I wait, but pay particular attention to watering, making sure it doesn't stay waterlogged.

2. It's up to you. If it warrants a 3" pot, go for it. The best thing to do is have both sizes available when repotting and put it in whichever it'll fit.

3. Don't worry about the roots. Losing some is unavoidable; it will send the plant into a little shock, but it'll bounce right back. Remember, they root very easily.

4. People pull off the lower row or two of leaves because by the time a plant needs repotting those leaves are pretty old. Also, fewer leaves means less stress on the roots until they can recover.

5. Yes, a handful or so per batch.

6. Don't pack your soil; spoon it in among the roots, tapping the side of the pot to sift it in. Packing removes air spaces and makes it harder for the roots to spread out. Be patient and pay attention.

Korina

When I buy a new plant I keep it isolated and I take leaves to start new ones. I wash the leaves in a solution of 1 part bleach and 15 parts water to rid any bugs etc. And when the new plants are growing good, I discard the mother plant.
When repotting to a larger pot, I set a pot the same size as the plant I'm repotting inside the new larger pot and then fill with potting mix. I gently remove this empty pot and then remove the smaller plant from its pot and set into the new potting mix in the new pot.
I use 9 parts vermiculite and 1 part peat moss for all my violets. Been using that as long as I can remember. Most all plants are on wicks.
Ron

Hi Wish,

If you are repotting established plants in your collection, standards should be repotted at least every 6 months, and mini's and semi's at least every 4 months. Remove the two lower rows of leaves, and then pot the plant down, into the same pot size if the plant is mature, by cutting off an equal length of the root ball, to the neck on the plant. Place the plant back into a same size pot, and fill in the top with fresh potting mix.

New plants require more patience. I ditto everything Ron has said. Often establishing a variety to your growing environment means putting down leaves.

Always isolate new plants. You can always let them finish the bloom cycle in your living room if your living room is isolated from your growing room. If you want to take leaves right away, take the leaves just below the leaves with bloomstalks.

Now here is where I am going to be my intense drastic grower self who has patience: once your plant has finished blooming and you have determined it to be pest and disease free (usually after about two weeks to a month) get out your exacto knife, and chop off the crown at the lowest point on the neck where you removed the leaves.

With the rootless crown in hand, remove all of the outer leaves until the crown only has six leaves left. Brush the stump lightly with rooting hormone, and pot in a 1" pot in your own moistened growing mix, bag it, and place it in your growing area. Leave it in the bag until you can see that it is growing, usually about 2 weeks. Repot it every few months, when it seems ready for a bigger pot.

If you are new at this, you can always keep the old part of the plant, and it will sucker and you will have many more crowns to pot up.

The repotted crown should grow to full (blooming) size in about six months for standards and and four for mini'/semi's. If something goes wrong you will still have leaves down, and suckers on the old crown. If nothing goes wrong, you will have a healthy plant established to your growing conditions.

Russell

Hi Guys,

I am so impressed with and grateful for the the impeccable responses from you all. I feel like I've been initiated into the AV World with your sage advice and words of encouragement. I can now re-pot with confidence!

Thank you for taking the time to answer all my questions-- and more. I've learned here more than how to re-pot and keep AV's happy but that generosity of knowledge is a rare gift. I really appreciate your energy and hope someday to pass on the knowledge like you have...But first, I have some re-potting to do!!

All the best,

Wish

Rujoanmi said...once your plant has finished blooming and you have determined it to be pest and disease free (usually after about two weeks to a month) get out your exacto knife, and chop off the crown at the lowest point on the neck where you removed the leaves.

I'm curious as to why you do this? Is it just to be sure you have clean soil and no pests?

Hi Dchall,

Russel is perfectly correct. I would soak a crown in a bleach solution for 3 min. as well.

The cost and efforts involved in a procedure to get rid of pests in a big collection can be prohibitive.

I would save myself a lot of grief if I would always stick to it.

2 years ago - root mealy bugs. I sprayed and dipped every pot (200 of them) in Malathion. Didn't eradicate all of them, but lost a lot of centers on the crowns. Pitched $100 on Marathon systemic, repotted everything with a teaspoon of Marathon per gallon of soil. Got rid of them.

Just now - mites. $100 per a bottle of AVID. 3 times sprayed everything in a house - and how can you be sure that you got every single mite egg?

And it all could be avoided if I used Russel's approach.

Irina

You can get rid of soil mealy bugs with soaking the plant after washing off ALL soil in a solution of 1 part bleach and 15 parts water. Rinse well after and pot up in NEW soil.
Ron

Ron,

Looks like if we apply your suggestion to all new plants we bring in - it will reduce the stress for the plant - not all crowns get rooted, some die, save the time on rerooting - so they will rebloom faster.

And it will save me from treating the whole collection in clorax, vodka, expensive and poisonous chemicals etc.

By the way = about vodka - I heard that if you dip your plants with mealy bugs in alcohol - it kills everything eggs included.
Streptocarpus plants die from alcohol, but violets are OK. Didn't do it myself though - but the lady in our club mentioned it.

BTW - about the mealy bugs - if they are already here - it is not enough to treat the plant. They travel and plant their eggs all over the place. One of our ladies swears that she found eggs glued under the windowsill and on a wooden figurine on a windowsill.

Cheers

Irina

Hi Dchall,

Here is why: Pests and disease can all be eradicated, if you provide good culture for you plants. When new plants come in, you have no idea how they were cared for and you want to adapt them to your environement.

Remember, just like you and me, all living things want to survive. Re-rooting the crown, is the best way of removing pest or disease which may or may not be in the roots, and it is way faster and less messy than washing all of the roots as Ron suggests. Your plants want to survive. Chopping off the old potting mix, and the roots grown in it, is the best way to adapt a plant to the culture you provide...pests or not.

ditto Irina re: marathon for mealies, and avid for mites, but if that is not a problem for you, then you need neither. (I feel I have to disclose that I do have both, but seldom use either).

Russell

Plants only need to be repotted when they become root bound, not at specific times or months. It all depends on how fast they grow.
Ron

When I isolate a plant.. I take two clear shoe or sweater plastic containers.. tape one side so it is hinged. I place the plant/plants in the container, spray with Avid and close it.. place in a lighted spot.. every two weeks I open the container and give it another good spraying.

If it needs watering do so when you spray. Keeping it confined in these containers, you will not have to open them to water very often as it forms it's own atmosphere and maintains humidity.

They are kept in these containers for 4 - 6 weeks or more.. during this time, I repot using Marathon in my soil. This gives them time to adjust before I introduce the plants to my collection.

I spray my collection every 2 - 3 months with Avid just to make sure I have no bugs, as we or our pets can bring them in from the outside.

For thrips, I use Conserve, as Marathon will not kill thrips if they are on the blooms.

There is suppose to be a virus that thrips can carry that will destroy your collection.. there is a test package that can be purchased to test your plants for this virus.. but if you keep your collection and area clean, spray regularly, you will probably never have any problems. Test packages can be purchased from Cape Code.

I am around so many violets of other individuals, that I never know if I am bringing home some bugs. If you go to a nursery, just remember you may be bringing home problems. So just spray your plants for precaution. Especially if you go to AV shows.. there are more bugs, especially thrips, than you can imagine at these shows.. if you purchase a plant at the show .. debud it immediately in the parking lot before you get in your car.. isolate and spray when you get it home.. or you may be bring bugs home with you.

Tea

Thanks Tea,

I was lead to believe that Marathon was a systemic and would kill Thrips on the flowers. I use it and have added it to pots that have Thrips on the flowers and they have all disappeared. Maybe because they just die and the developing ones in the soil are killed. Thanks again for the info.

Ron

Okay, cool. I guessed right.

Ron..Marathon is systemic, but in all my research, it will not kill the thrips when they are on the blooms, only when they are on the plant itself. That is why I use Conserve. And you are right.. when they are babies and chew on the plants, it will kill them.. but as adults and on the bloom it will not. It is best to spray any new plants received with Avid and Conserve while in isolation. Followed with Marathon in the soil.

I just use everything possible to eliminate all bugs, before they get a chance to infest my collection.

Conserve can also be purchased from Cape Cod.

Tea

Thanks Tea.

Hi Ron,

RE: [Plants only need to be repotted when they become root bound, not at specific times or months. It all depends on how fast they grow.
Ron]

The only reason I offered Wish my time table, is because keeping the potting mix fresh is an important part of good culture, if you want to maintain the ph. God knows how many people I know, that ended up treating their plants with chemicals for bugs, when bugs weren't the problem.
AV's need to be root bound to bloom, they don't need to be re-potted when they're root bound. The trick is to repot and keep them root bound, and keep the mix they're in fresh...thus my time table.

Russell

Well Russell, I've been doing it this way with all plants for over 50 years and never had a problem here. But different ways work for different people. Keeping everything and everywhere clean is the most important rule. As far as thrips are concerned, if you have violets you are going to have thrips at sometime. They are worse in the summer. They come in with any flowers or plants brought into the house. They are even small enought to fly through a window screen and help themselves to your plants.
Ron

Hi there and a fresh pest horror story

Thrips come in summer every time I open the patio door. May be every second time. I add Marathon to the potting mix - and it works for 4 months keeping gnats, thrips larva and other pests at bay - so it is another plus to have the plants repotted to renew the Marathon. But I disbud and spray for thrips every fall to whack the fly-in visitors. Conserve works great.

I bought a Nautilocalyx Goteburg starter plant this summer from a very reputable place and just put it in a fish tank with another Nautilocalyx glandulifer, couple episcias and a fern - I was afraid to repot it immediately - it was so sad looking. Yesterday I got to repot it - yuck - soil mealies. I found them in my old Nautilocalyx as well. Everything got repotted with Marathon. Just another thing - OK - you can isolate it for some time - but if you do not repot it - you would never see them mealies.

Irina

Hi There,

So I re-potted an AV that was packed in lots of gross sludge. In the process of re-potting, I found two suckers--my first!! I know in "Rachel's Reflections" she re-pots suckers with rooting hormone. But I didn't have any and the suckers seemed developed--I kept some roots with them. (I sliced straight down with an exacto knife so they had as many roots as possible.) Do you think I still need rooting hormone?

Also, I re-potted a fairly large sucker in the 1/3p, 1/3v, 1/3 pm mixture. The smaller one, I re-potted in 100% vermiculite. I guess as a little experiment....Both of them are inside a clear salad tray with a lid to keep them humid. Does that sound OK? Do I need to keep the Mommy Plant in a terrarium, as well? I potted it down, taking as much sludge off as I could and re-potting it in the 1/3 mixture...

Any input is always appreciated! Thanks!

Wish

Wish

- should be OK. Keep an eye on them. If they start to wilt - it can be root rot. You can always put the leaf down. But with 3 plants alltogether - you will be OK. And after the suckers will root and take off - they will be much healthier and better looking plants than their parent - because they will be better adjusted to your home.

Irina

Hi Ron,

I've only been growing violets for 33 years so you've got me by a few years. I've relocated 5 times. I agree with you about keeping everything clean. Where we live has much to do about the culture we can provide our plants. I know what you mean about thrips, but to be honest, I haven't had them in 9 years. We do have a rash of red spiders each spring, but even if they make it into my growing room they are easy enough to eliminate. I really think that removing the roots and soil a plant arrives in does lots to elimate thrips!

I sort of agree with Irina about soil mealy eggs though. I think they can stay dormant for years, and then they just show up. They do show up unexpectedly for me from time to time, but are easy enough to control with marathon.

Wish, I hope you are taking this all in. I read the whole thread again tonight, rather than just the replies. And feel I do have to reply to question 5. Horticultural charcoal is good to add to your mix, but make sure to sterilize your mix by baking it if you do. Charcoal does remove impurities, but it can also hold fungus and mold spores and release them into the mix unless you take the proper steps. I use charcoal, and some dolomite lime in my mix, because we have acidic water where I live.

Russell

Russel -

Your info about charcoal is very valuable.

I got myself into trouble with the white fungus - which is supposed to be harmless. It hard to say where it came from - charcoal or Whitney Farms soil mix I tried - adding perlite and vermiculite. But I microwave my soil - gallon for 10 minutes - and do not nuke perlite-vermiculite-lime-charcoal.

In any case - now everything covered with this white mold - soil and mats. I soaked mats with clorax, added Consan to my water - didn't help. What this fungus can eat on acrilic mats soaked with water with fertilizer - it is beyond my understanding - but it takes a month to cover freshly boiled mats with this creepy thing.

Any ideas?

Irina

Irina,

Do you think if I do get rooting hormone, can I dust it and put the suckers back or just leave them alone altogether. I am anxious to make sure they root...Thanks for your words of support!

Russell,

Thanks for the tip about sterilizing charcoal. How long and at what temperature do you recommend I bake it? And what dish do you use: metal or ceramic? Is microwaving it good, too? Just want to make sure I do it right!

Hi Irina,

I have problems with white mold from time to time, but have never had a problem like you describe? The thought I'm having is that you may have some mutant mold from nuking your soil instead of sterilizizing it with heat. Radiation can create a whole different set of problems. I mix my soil; perlite, vermiculate, charcoal, lime, peat and water and I bake it.

For powdery mildew and mold, I use Neem Oil, the one from dyna grow that you have to mix with hot water and dish soap. Twice a month on Monday, a mix up a batch, and spray any plants with powdery mildew, and any top soil with white mold. Usually by the third application (6 weeks), the mold is gone for good. I have only had white mold on the top soil in the pots though, never on mats. If your mold is not a mutant, neem oil might take care of it. You might want to throw your mats in the washer (warm water) with 6 oz. of neem per load and some ivory soap.

Russell

Russel -

I will try it immediately.

I very much hope that mutant mold is afraid of Neem Oil.
Irina

For mould and mildew you can use Lysol deodorizer spray. It will damage the flowers though, but mould and mildew are gone.
Ron

When I mix up a new batch of soil with perlite and charcoal, I bake it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, no matter what brand it is. Then let it cool.. add marathon. It is stored in a large plastic bag, sealed until needed.

I bake it in tin pans I purchase at the store... same pans you would bake vegetables or a small turkey. These can be washed and used over and over.

I have never had mold, so this might be one of the reason. Have had some algae, but once I started watering with Physon, it disappeared.

Tea

Also, I use powdered sulphur for mildew on the leaves. Just very lightly brush it on and then remove any excess.
Ron

Hi,

Wish - let your suckers be. If you keep them from drying and humid but not too wet they will root no matter what. Rooting hormone or not. Rot happens to me when I reroot a long neck AV or the one that already caught rot and I am trying to save the top of the crown. Suckers and babies without roots do OK.

Mold question - I took Lysol and sprayed several mold covered mats last night. If it will die today - the cure works. If not - I will dust them with sulphur, then - try Neem. If it all wouldn't work - we'd know that soon the mutant mold would take over the earth.

Irina