Lisa, My growing room is in my basement. Usually the temps do not go below about 65 degrees at night in the winter. Until this winter. I could not keep the temps above around 53 degrees (at night) for most of January and February. The effect of this colder than ideal temperature is that violets will slow down in both growth and blooming. If the temps continue at this temp eventually the plant will go into decline and eventually die. After you have rehabbed your violets, cooler temperatures may affect the growth but the first thing you need to address is your pot size and soil issues. Velleta, Thanks for the kind words!!! I would love to see a picture of your entire plant room. I have only seen bits and pieces but it looks awesome! And, you didn't ask but-I would remove the larger leaves from the violet in the last picture. I think their productive days are over but the pot size is just fine even if you do remove them. How are your new violets doing? Linda

What do the roots look like? Any signs of rot or mold? If the bulbs look clean and dry they might just be going dormant. If they are rotting or moldy, it might be simply a drainage issue, or a more pernicious disease like white rot. BTW, it doesn't sound like a fertility issue, but azomite is a source of trace minerals, not a complete fertilizer. Have you gotten a soil test?

Martha, Of course you want them to grow "more" leaves, but you also want them to grow strong leaves. If the soil is at the bulb's shoulders, that should be fine. The level of soil shouldn't have much impact on the leaves fading. That's more likely an indication of poor light or poor conditions (water, fertilizer, etc). Hopefully after this week you can put them out and let them green up. At least for a few hours... K

Sorry to all who posted that I didn't respond. A thing came up in my non-gardening life. I did read all your advice. And I have the black spot on some crinums, but not all. Some seem less susceptible to it. I've fallen in love with crinums because they are so care-free. A month after my original post, I can report that the one that wasn't doing well is still not doing well. But every other crinum in the yard seems fine and the other two that were hit with whatever hit them are both blooming now. I'm just going to leave it and see what happens. Crinums seem able to take just about anything, including getting mowed down (a small one my husband didn't know about was mowed down two months ago and has come back bigger, as if it was just waiting to please get mowed down.) And Carol, be really careful moving a crinum that old! My husband and I moved one that wasn't blooming age yet and we still dug more than a foot out from the stem, trying not to damage the bulb. Turns out the bulb had been growing sideways and we shaved at least a quarter off of it by accident. The rest of the bulb suffered a bit for a year, but has recovered. The plant is huge and finally blooming. But I wonder if we lost a year or more because we cut the bulb so much. They can be really huge bulbs, even when the plant doesn't seem huge yet.