Hi Hannah. You are braver than I am. :-)

I have rescued only a couple, though they came from a trusted source. Generally I want to buy the healthiest plants I can find. I am leary of spreading something like a virus or pest to the rest of my collection and would have passed this one up.

Still, I would guess that having so many buds is a good sign. Someone here may be able to tell you what it might need to reinvigorate it.

Something is off in the culture.

I'd guess either not enough light or too much water ... or both ...

Man, oh man - I hope there are no other plants nearby because this one definitely has problems. I'm particularly leery of the white specs seen on the leaves - esp. the slightly tipped leaf in front. I'm guessing an infestation of thrips which are pretty ubiquitous in African violets from big box and grocery stores. First thing to do is to remove ALL those bloom stalks. Then I would isolate this plant in a baggie (at the very least) and treat it. Do a search on thrips and you'll turn up lots of discussions on what to use.

Sometimes 50 cents is money not well spent, but I wish you luck.

It just hasn't received the best care in the store ... is what I think.

It probably does have thrips, ... but that is because it was purchased from a retail outlet/store.

You should disbud the plant ... those bloomstalks won't bloom anyway ... they are too far gone. Others will offer guidance in what sprays to use to begin your battle against thrips.

You should be able to remove the bloomstalks by gripping each one individually between a thumb and finger and bending the stalk down until it "snaps" off from the center )crown) of the plant. After a few attempts you should really get good at this.

Once the plant is disbudded, make sure that you have a good light setup for your plant. Your African Violet will need bright light either through a window ... or from a fluorescent/LED light setup for 8-12 hours per day. This could be as simple as a CFL bulb in a student lamp fixture. This would be plenty of light for one plant.

Standard CFL Bulb

Also, be careful not to water your plant too much. The easiest way to kill an African VIolet is to overwater it. Just water the soil enough to keep the soil damp ... and never let the soil get soggy. African Violet roots need to breathe ... and they can't breathe in wet, soggy soil.

Also, keep your plant(s) in comfortable temperatures ... 60-80 degrees. Not too hot, ... not too cold.

Once you get the hang of watering and lighting, ... your plant(s) should grow for you, ... and ultimately bloom.

At that point, you may turn your attention to fertilizing, repotting, soil mix, etc for even better results ...

I would take off every single bloomstalk and damaged leaf. That may not leave you with much, but hey,,,,,it was only $.50!!!!

The plant also looks in need of a good drink. Then I would sit and wait. Let it acclimate to your climate. See how it is adjusting. Make sure there are no bugs. (that is why you should isolate after trimming it.

Also read a lot of the back posts. While you are waiting for it to recover, read everything you can so you are ready when the time comes.

Do everything everyone has advised you to do so far. All good advice. Good luck! Rosie

Aaaahyes. I remember those days, not long ago either. I have only recently recovered from the "must rescue" disease. It cost me lots and lots of time and quite a bit of money for what I must confess was only a small amount of satisfaction.

All the advice given above to save the plant is good advice. The best advice in my opinion, is next time, leave it on the shelf.

Having said that, good luck with it!

Well, I can't say I agree with the "leave it on the shelf" thing. I think I will always be a "rescuer". Maybe not quite as frequently as before, but, hmmmm,,,,,,let's just blame it on a gene deep in my DNA!!!!! lol!!!!! Rosie

I am siding with Jeff. Why do dumpster diving - if you can get a perfectly healthy blooming plant for under $5. We go to the store - buying the freshest produce, the fresh smelling meat and milk way before an expiration date. Yup - there is a clearance rack - and you can get lots of blackened bananas if you plan to bake a banana bread. But generally we try to buy stuff that is not going to give us diarrhea, vomiting and stomach cramps.

I think the plant had issues from the time it arrived. Looking at the amount of spent blossoms - you would think - if they would be fresh and open - it would be the first plant to be sold. I bet this plant had the bud blast from the day one. Am I interested why this dawg is a dawg? Leaves are healthy - but the inflorescence is weird looking - not only blasted flowers - but altogether weird.

I would chuck it now. And do not waste space and time to get a new batch of blasted blossoms on this mutant 6 months later...

Rosie, consistency is valuable and you are solid gold! I would have bet money that you would have something to say about my "leave it on the shelf" comment!

The world would be a boring place if we were all the same!

Well,,,,here's how I see it.

Sometimes the gratification is all in the chase! How boring is it to always just buy a perfect violet off of a perfect shelf in the store? Well, ok,,,,,sometimes you have to take off a spent blossom or leaf, but you get the idea.

Now, you go into the store and see the markdown rack. You haven't been there in a while and you may see the remnant of a blossom that indicates what color it may have been in its prime! WOW! a treasure!!!!! Just needs a little TLC!

So with breathless anticipation you buy it. You get it out of that crappy dirt (and NO,,,,that stuff is NOT soil on ANY level, so don't yell about my choice of words please) care for it, and it rewards you with new growth and a fury of flowers!

How gratifiying is that???? And at the end of the day, if it is too far gone and bad happens, if it came from Lowe's just hang on to your receipt and they will refund your money! Nothing ventured,,,,,nothing gained!!!! (smilin') Rosie

Rosie, you will always be the "nurse" doing her best to bring the patient back from the edge of death, LOL. You wouldn't be you if you didn't champion the sick, the deformed and the extras...but I just want to be sure our OP understands the risks from bringing a sick plant home if there are other plants in the house. You must keep it separate and isolate. You must carefully wash hands after coming in contact with it. And lastly, you must educate yourself so you can recognize problems and symptoms. Bad things CAN happen to YOU! There are plants out there for sale that end up being much more than relief from boredom - they can conceivably spread pests and diseases that wipe out everything you grow. What do you know about INSV? Mites? Thrips? I think in order to be a savior, you need to understand and be able to realistically assess your risk. Too many inexperienced people don't know what they're possibly bringing home unwanted for that low, low price.

And looking at the photo again after reading Irina's thoughts, I have to say that plant gives me the willies. I would agree with her that there is something really, really wrong and I wouldn't take the risk - or let a friend take the risk either, even when that friend seems to have all the good luck in the world. I firmly believe better safe than sorry. Even when we try our best we can have things go wrong with our violets without the need to bring something so obviously sick into our home. Just my opinion - and my experience talkin' ;-)

If it's the only AV you have ... it might be worth working on to hone your growing skills.