My av's are just now doing well. I have brought all of mine for 2.49 in 4 inch pots at price chopper and shop rite. One is still in flower and the other one is just now producing flowers. I have 2 others that are not flowering or growing

Teen,
Do you have photos of yours (I'd especially like to see the one when its flowers open)?

Planto

Maybe over the weekend i can sneak a pic

Looks like that's going to be a beautiful magenta flower - a bunch of them! What's the unusual looking bud to the right?

I might remove those damaged leaves, just so it hopefully won't spread if it's some kind of bacteria or some such malady.

Purple,
That unsual looking bud to the right was unusual indeed. It looks like a flower bud that never formed (I pryed it open and it was empty!). I just removed the stem.

I don't think there's too much to worry about with the leaves. From it's lighter green coloring (If you look closely, the half of the plant with the damaged leaves is a little lighter green in color than the other side... almost have to look real closely to notice though) I think someone gave it too much sun (especially on that one side) and/or got water on the leaves and caused them to burn. I looked up sunburn on AVs and of the photos I found, they look simliar. Thanks for your concern though, I will keep an eye on them to be sure I'm not mistaken (good thing is, I don't have it anywhere near my other plants just in case).

I think what happened was someone took poor care of it and took it back... Lowes having their 1 year guarantee and all. Lowes couldn't sell it for full price in the condition it was in so they clearanced it. I saw other 6 inch african violets yesterday when I was browsing and this one is considerbly smaller than the others. Of course they look nicer too, but who wants to pay full price when you can baby one to look like that eventually for much cheaper? :)

I plan to post pictures once the blooms open, but I'm with you on the color, they look magenta.

How is your friend's bucket of plants doing btw?

Planto

Aha, sounds likely! Pls. show a pic when a flower opens.

Glad you asked about the bucket plant. It is apparently a great scratching post for kitties. The barn cats at the farm have multiplied and the kitties are determined to make sure all of the plants look like strange Monstera cousins, with holes in every leaf. The flower stalks on the Callisia fragrans are gone, broken off. But the plants don't look like they are too bothered by it, and/or determined to outgrow the playful kitties. Will try to remember to take my camera Monday and add a new pic to the thread about it.

He is enjoying it so much he gave me an empty bucket and asked me to fill it with whatever plants I could spare that would enjoy his porch, and asked me to put all of the Callisia stolons the kitties have broken in another bucket. He had half a dozen plastic cups of water for them on his kitchen table, each with a tangle of roots already. This past Monday, as we sat there and ate McDonald's with the Callisia cups, he talked about these plants the whole time. All he ever used to talk about before was what an idiot his boss is, what scammers the politicians are, how his family only comes around when they want something, and just a lot of negativity in general.

The next time anyone encounters a lonely old guy (or gal!) and you have a tough plant or two to spare, give it to them and say you need help with an experiment to see how it will grow at their house... Amazing!

Purple,
I will post a photo. :) Haha, that has to be a sight (can't wait to see a photo). It sounds like you gave your friend some positivity in his life, good for you! I'll remember that the next time I find someone who needs a cheer up. Do you have any plants in mind for his new bucket?

Planto

Purple,
I will post a photo. :) Haha, that has to be a sight (can't wait to see a photo). It sounds like you gave your friend some positivity in his life, good for you! I'll remember that the next time I find someone who needs a cheer up. Do you have any plants in mind for his new bucket?

Planto

Oh!!! I have plenty of plants, but am at a loss for potting material. A large component of what I usually make is finely shredded hardwood and I can't find any anywhere - that's not painted or naturally (?) red. No way I'm putting any of that stuff in my yard. The one store that had some sold out before I could get back for a 2nd load. I've been to other cities even, about to buy a chipper! I refuse to buy the available Hyponex or MG potting soil (which I'd need about $70s' worth, from what I've seen on the price tags) and have put a lot of plants in the ground until I can find something suitable to make some "potting mix." I know I've talked about putting house plants in the ground on purpose, but a lot of the ones currently grounded have been placed that way just because I can't repot them. I have tons of empty pots... this is the most frustrated I've ever been with gardening in my whole life. Sorry for the rant!!!!

Purple,
Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. If you lived here I think there are a few places who provide "natural" mulch. Between my Mom and I, we have quite a bit of empty pots too but not for the same reason. :\ I didn't know you made your own soil mix, although I do remember seeing a lot of your plants with what I thought was some sort of mulch material in them. Yeah, MG can be quite expensive. No worries about the rant, sometimes ya need to lol.

Planto

Planto.. Good price for an AV.
The spots could be water or fertililzer spots. Was your AV sitting in sun?

Purple,, there you are! Where have you been hiding?

Toni,
It looked like this when I bought it.

Planto

Toni,
It looked like this when I bought it.

Planto

It would appear this thread has the hiccups!

Oh my! I didn't mean for that to happen! I'm not sure what causes posts to appear multiple times like that. :/ It's too bad you can't delete posts.

Planto

Great deal, Planto!!

I would love to see more pics of your plants!!

Laura