Before answering your question about fertilizing, let's address the limp leaves issue. Either too much water, resulting in root rot, or too little water, resulting in limp leaves. A third possibility is soil mealybugs. Since you are going to repot, which is the right thing to do, I would recommend that you re-think the self-watering pot. They are really tricky to get the right absorption of liquid to keep the soil damp but not soaking. Adding perlite will help, but absorption rates will vary from pot to pot, based upon the clay used. If you are open to the idea, I would use a simple plastic pot that is 1/3 the diameter of the plant. If your heart is set on using the self-watering pot, try this mix: 1/2 of the potting mix you have, and 1/2 perlite. The perlite will keep air spaces so the roots hopefully don't stay waterlogged. It's possible that you have root rot already since the plant is limp, or that there wasn't enough water absorbed and it has been too dry. In either case, knock the plant out of the pot and take a good look at the root ball. If it is really dry, gradually moisten the root ball with your bottled water, a little at a time. If the roots are whitish, that is good. The leaves should perk up after a day. While doing this re-moistening, you can keep the plant in the insert part, but dump the water out of the outer pot. At this point it would seem clear that the clay used in this pot isn't going to allow the correct absorption rate and can't be re-used as intended. If the soil is very moist when it comes out of the pot, closely examine the root ball. If the roots are brown, the plant probably has root rot, which doesn't allow water to get up the stem to the plant. You will need to cut off the root ball, starting at the bottom, and work your way up until all the brown mushy stuff is gone. If you can get to good stem, you can re-root this part. Remove all the limp leaves and all but about the first 2-3 rows of leaves, scrape the stem of any stubs, and place into your soil mix, place in a baggie, and put in a bright (not sun) spot. The crown should grow new roots in a couple of weeks. It is not necessary to feed the plant at this time, but after it has re-rooted, simply mix up a jug at 1/2 the 'dosage' recommended, and use it every time you water. And please look at the analysis of the ingredients. Nitrogen will be the first shown, listing the sources of nitrogen. If it shows urea, and it probably will, do not use it if it is over 7-8%. You can find AV fertilizer online, or email John Cook at Cape Cod Violetry for non-urea fertilizer. Let us know how it turns out. Barbara

You got it! Let us all remember that those "ceramic" self watering pots are sucking up the water through the clay---and so you dont have your plants sitting in water--I wouldn't worry about overwatering--as long as you dont add water into the potting mix itself! ----I hope I am making sense I feel all jumbled--LOL! What I am trying to say is these pots dont have a hole in the bottom of them--the water will be absorbed THROUGH the pot! SO you dont want to add water to the pot--unless it is completely dry then only add a little bit--as the system will get itself going again! One word of caution! Over time salts will begin to accumulate in the soil and the pot itself! The pot will then need to be "cleaned". You can do this by soaking the pot in warm water for a day! A lot of the minerals and salts will be leached out of it--and you can replant it with AV! So the time saved from watering--is made up for in more frequent repotting. Once you plant stops growing actively or showns signs of stress--usually, because of the accumulation of salts, you will need to repot! Long story short--repot more often when using these kinds of pots! UGH! I should just leave my number on here so you can call me to find out what the Heck I am talking about! LOL! Best Wishes Heading into the New Year! Ryan

maimiti, I don't think that would work well. Clivia's have thick fleshy roots, and they can't take much water, or sitting in water anyway. I sit mine in a bowl of water,(only in the warm months and when they are in a growing period), and let them soak up water all night. This is they are throughly watered. Then I take them out, and sit them in a fairly sunny window. I just give them a "tad" of water in the winter, while they are dormant. :) Arum

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