WHY DOES MY VIOLET HAVE HARD STIFF LEAVES ???
PoohBearLvr
5 years ago
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Why are the leaves on my flowering African Violet dieing?
Comments (4)While it is a natural occurance for older plants to allow the outter layer of leaves to dry off and drop, it the leaves are rotting or full of water, this is another thing. More than likely if more than one or two are rotting, the plant is receiving too much water. Reduce watering and allow soil to dry out slightly before rewatering/fertiling. It sounds as if you have a decorative pot with insert. These were made to be filled with fertilized water and put the insert with plant into this water. This is supposed to allow the plant to take as much or as little water as it wants. My own experience with these decorative containers is that it keeps the plant too wet so it rots. You might transfer the plant to an ordinary plastic pot and see if the leaves continue to rot. Nancy...See Moreexceptionally stiff leaves & flowers
Comments (14)Nancy, that's the thing; it doesn't look like mites. The leaves aren't deformed at all, just very tight. My Orchard's Bumble Magnet has been this way for a while, as well as Rob's Cloudy Skies. Rob's Cherry Soda is better now that I trashed the plant and have 14 babies. I don't know if it's related or not, but my Amoeba, Winnie the Pooh, Rob's Twinkle Blue, and a noid all at once dissolved into a crowd of suckers. I'll post pics. I've read about this on another board, but no one seems to know what's happening. I wonder if it's spreading? Korina, unsettled 'Harriet Jones, Prime Minister.' 'Yes, we know who you are.'...See MoreWhy are my echeveria's leaves pointing down?
Comments (15)It's of little informational value when you determine the top of the grow medium is dry unless you're growing in bonsai or other very shallow pots. To wit, your 6-7" deep pot can easily have 3-4" of grow medium 100% saturated with water. What's most important is how moist the soil is at the bottom of the pot. Below, I'll leave you something I wrote about using a 'tell' to 'tell' you when it's time to water. It's much more accurate than trying to use a finger or "moisture meter". Also, how many drain holes there are in a pot has no bearing on how well a pot drains and no meaningful bearing on how fast it drains. 100 holes in a pots bottom or 1 hole, when the raining is done there will still be the same volume of water in the pot. Your choice of grow medium, and more precisely the size of the particles from which the medium is made, have the greatest impact on moisture retention and aeration. Over-watering causes the same wilting/drought response in plants as under-watering. Too much water in the medium = too little air = roots inability to function normally = plants' inability to maintain enough internal water pressure (turgor) = wilt. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue....See MoreTo Much Light For My Violets??? Why R Crowns So Hard/Tight?
Comments (7)well I have only fed these violets like 2 times in over 1 year. Plain ol' Miracle-Gro for house plants. So I guess it is the lights. These lights are over 8 months old. Brand new they put out Max. light. At 6 months, they put out much less light, and that is with the lights down at the lowest level. These are at the highest level. AeroGrow seeds packages won't even grow with bulbs this old. They need to be replaced at 6months, or the seeds don't sprout, let alone produce veggies or flowers. Thought violets needed a lot of indirect light. This seems like very indirect light,....but,...some violets love these lights, others grow like this....See MorePoohBearLvr
5 years agoPoohBearLvr
5 years agoirina_co
5 years agoPoohBearLvr
5 years agoPoohBearLvr
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoSue Watts
4 years agoHyn Patty
4 years agomom2zandt
4 years agoirina_co
4 years agomom2zandt
4 years agoirina_co
4 years agomom2zandt
4 years ago
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