When you repot a new AV, do you water the soil or water after potting

7 years ago

You were all so helpful with my previous question, I am going to ask another! I am going to change the soil in the new AV I bought yesterday to make sure it is in good soil, and I also notice it is planted too low. When I repot, when do I water it? I plan to go with the 1/2 AV potting mix = 1/2 perlite approach. I'll use the same plastic pot the AV came in as it is just the right size, etc. Do I add water to the potting mix and then put the AV back in, or do I repot with dry mix and then put it down in water (I'll be watering from below) for 1/2 hour? Thank you!

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Rosie1949

7 years ago

Are you going to wick it? You are using the perfect mix for wicking. But if not I always repot and then water and I let the plant sit in water for about 20 minutes to make sure it is watered thoroughly. Good luck! Rosie

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Lori Anne Parker-Danley
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you, Rosie1949. For now, since this is my first AV ever, I am going to water from the bottom with no wick. When you say you water and then let it sit in water for 20 minutes, do you first water from the top? Thanks again; I so appreciate the advice.
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Thank you stonesriver and everyone else for the kind welcome. Yes, I think I may have been a bit bitten by the "gardening" germ. Granted, I am nowhere close to where most people on this forum probably are. I am mainly a "decorator" who feels that a house without any indoor plants is sad, dry and too much of a sign of our rushed times. So I decided I HAVE TO get some reasonably elegant indoors plants established. The only thing close to caring for a plant I've done before were some geraniums. They did OK, I managed not to kill them and they bloomed quite a bit over the winter even if they did get leggy. Oh, well. Now I took them outside and I decided that they will go in the basemenent for wintering when times comes. I will no longer keep them in the house because they are not really elegant, gracious plants. I like their bright colors outside in the summer but that's that for now. So I decided it was time for something finer and elegant to go with our classic/traditional living room as well as my busy schedule. I also knew this was going to be harder than a geranium which are quite hard to kill anyway. So off I went to Pikes and I grabbed some plants I had heard were not hard to care for and would do well on our Eastern bay window. A Peace Lily, four AV-s and two yellow begonias. (I did kill a begonia last year but later, after more reading, I realized I was making mistakes with it). A real gardener I will never be - not with a full-time academic career and two small children; but By God, these few plants must stay alive, do well, and even bloom nicely - this is all I hope for. I don't plan to do any complicated wick watering (at least it sounds complicated to me) or much propagation or anything - I just want to keep my living room looking as pretty as it is now, with lots of healthy blooms, if this is not too much to ask. Since I've heard so much about how important the soil is, I think I am going to change the soil the plants came in pretty soon; at least for the AV-s, I don't know whether I should do the same thing for the begonias, but probably should. Having a month between waterings sounds like a lot to me. These are small pots (4" I believe) and I think all moisture would evaporate altogether from such a small pot well before the 1 month mark; especially if I change the soil to something more airy. I did fertilize the AV-s when I watered them the first time - with some 5-7 drops of liquid fertilizer from MIracle-Gro, as indicated on the package. I am a super novice so I just did the novice thing. I guess changing the soil will also change the present routine. Some of the flowers on my AV-s are starting to fade now- they are starting to have little burnt patches on the petals, but I assume this is the natural cycle of the flower - as I bought them with quite a few blooms from the nursery and it might just be their time to go. I am just hoping they will continue to bloom for a while. Thank you again for the kind welcome, I wil certainly be around because I have been clearly "bitten". :-)
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Ooh I'm sorry, I know they're supposed to be red. It was a slightly yellow coloration that I was talking about. My camera is being repaired right now so I was using my phone for the pictures,so it is a bit difficult to see.. sorry about that. But thank you for the ID! Greatly appreciated. :)
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Perlite gets yellowish deposits/fungus (?-I am not sure) when constantly wet, and maybe from too much fertilizer too, so double check your watering routine. Maybe you are watering too much? You could help by using light layer of topdressing with gravel, it will also keep down lightweigth perlite. But it will not improve the overwatering should that be the culprit or if there is a disease of some kind.
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It is better to send an established plant than recently repotted. Any kind of soil will work if you pack the plant when it is barely moist, not dry and not soggy. Some sellers dry the plant a bit so it is less crunchy - and add a little bit of water to the pot before wrapping. Wrapping the pot in Saran wrap preserves the moisture and keeps them hydrated through the trip and prevents the plants popping out of their pots. Very important is make sure that is the plant is not moving and bouncing inside the box. I wrap them in 4 layers of a newspaper, sometimes more and secure it so it creates a wall. The newspaper or a cardboard should be secured to the pot, not to the plant. You need to fill empty space in the box with wads of paper, packing peanuts or air pillow type packing materials - so when you are done - you shake the box - nothing moves there. If the temperature is below 84F, you can risk sending plants without a special insulation -bubble wrap and layers of newspaper will work. If it is higher - you need insulation - styrofoam inserts you can cut to the size of the box - or fiber wall insulation. If it over 100F - it is probably worth to wait until the temperature goes down - or you can arrange the box to be picked up by your addressee from a post office instead of being delivered to the door. USPS.com has this option. Live plants should be sent priority, not first class. And there are some areas that give you shivers when you send the plants. Fayetteville NC is one of them. The plants come cooked to mush even when it is not that hot. My take - they keep the parcels for a day in these big trucks before they get to the rural post offices - the temperature gets to 130F inside. No amount of insulation is going to preserve them. Winter shipping is so unreliable - I do not risk it. Heat pads do fail both ways.
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irina_co
7 years ago
I will pour some hot water on your the bought soil - quart of soil - cup of water. You prorate it if you onle repottunbg 1 plant - mix it and let it sit overnight. Add perlite - and repot. Ye - seems that the pot is OK. And actually it is better to water from the bottom - and chuck excess after 20 min - it helps not to compact the soil. You store bought soil is preloaded with fertilizer. In a couple of months it will be used up - and you will need to start adding fertilizer to your water. '

You have some good ideas, Mz Lori Ann! Your AV will do well for you.

I.
Lori Anne Parker-Danley thanked irina_co
Lori Anne Parker-Danley
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you, Irina! I am happy to have found this board, as it seems I have found AV experts here! I have enjoyed reading other posts for info and all your good advice to others too. My husband and I just bought our very first home last August, so this has opened up the world of plants and gardening! I have always felt I couldn't work with plants, that I would kill them all, but so far I have even got begonias going strong. I realized I just need to pay attention and follow directions! :) In the past, I think I killed plants because I wasn't attentive to their individual needs. Really excited about getting this violet going. I bought soil and perlite at home depot today, but both have miracle grow. I was worried about how to deal with that as far as knowing when to start giving AV food. I considered going to the nursery tomorrow to find mix and perlite w/o additives. If I do use the miracle grow, your advice to wait a few months is perfect. I will update with pictures! :) --la
irina_co
7 years ago
I do not think it is easy to find soil without additives - wetting agent and fertilizer. You can build your soil from scratch - start from a basic Cornell mix - peat, perlite, vermiculite 1:1:1, some charcoal - and dolomite lime. Here is a catch - your peat comes with different pH in each batch - so the amount of dolomite needs to be adjusted to it. At that point - before getting deeper - use your Miracle Grow mix with perlite - it will work. If you are going to water from the bottom - go a bit lighter on perlite = 30%.

Regarding different plants and different requirements - you know what they say - if you bought a new contraption - if it doesn't work no matter what you do - READ THE MANUAL!

We are not born with preloaded information on how to grow tropical plants in a home environment and we do not have a multiplication table in our heads - need to learn...

Good Luck and happy growing

Irina
Lori Anne Parker-Danley thanked irina_co
Rosie1949
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Hi Lori Anne!As far as how I personally do it,,,,,I water from the top just until a little runs out the bottom then let it soak up for about 20 min. At least for the ones not yet on wicks (and regular house plants also.)

But that is only MY preferred way. If you follow Irina's advice you will be successful also. Eventually you will find YOUR preferred method.

The whole point though is,,,,no matter what method you use,,,,,,,when your plant needs to be watered please make sure you water THOROUGHLY. A plant always 1/2 watered is a plant eventually doomed to failure! Good Luck and keep us in the loop!!!!! Rosie

PS. I also use Miracle Gro because it is available to me and is better than the others for sale around here.

When you repot a new AV, do you water the soil or water after potting

Rosie1949

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When you repot a new AV, do you water the soil or water after potting

Rosie1949

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Lori Anne Parker-DanleyOriginal Author

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Lori Anne Parker-Danley
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