Weird symptoms. Any idea?

13 years ago

I have kind of a weird question for you all. I've posted here a few times about my african violet woes, from my first plant dying from the cold, to the ups and downs of the babies I grew from its clippings. I learned a lot from that experience, and now one baby remains.

It seems to be doing alright. After some helpful tips from the great community here, I put the baby violet (it can't be more than an inch in diameter) into a roughtly 2 inch diameter "pot" I made from a plastic cup. At the bottom of the cup is a hole for drainage, and the dirt is for african violets, and is fresh. I then put the violet inside a tupperware container with a damp paper towel, and put it close enough to the window to get light, but far enough to be away from any draft.

Like I said, it seems to be doing ok.. except that the first few weeks I had it inside this container, it appeared to be growing roots up into the air. I've attached a photo to show you what I mean (marked with a 1). It doesn't seem to be getting bigger, but I know from replanting it that it does have a small root system and it seems to be stable enough inside the dirt. But the weirdest thing, which you may notice from the photo, is that the paper towel it sits on is yellow.

No, the lighting in the photo isn't weird. that's actually the color the towel is now. It started out as just a small splotch of yellow at the opening on the bottom of the cup, but now it's spreading around the paper towel and I'm changing it almost once daily.

Any ideas what this coloration is? Should I be worried? Is there anything I can be doing for this violet that could be better? I'm down to my last baby and I'm trying really hard to keep this one alive.

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Comments (6)

missschultz
13 years ago
Hi, from what I've seen, paper towel just turns that colour eventually if its kept wet, regardless of what is on it....take another one, keep it moist, and see if it does the same.
irina_co
13 years ago
K. -

Peat in your soil mix is coloring the water yellow. The african violet dirt - as you call it - is a mixture of mostly peat - and small amount of other ingredients. You need to add at least 1/3 of medium perlite to this soil mix to aerate it properly and it will make your plant grow faster and grow roots into the soil. Usually if the humidity is high - the AV grows roots from the stem all over the place, not only in a soil.
You can throw away the paper towel - and use a small saucer. You probably can move your plant closer to the window to improve the light - seems that we are done with the frost till fall.

Good luck!

Irina
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Whitelacey
13 years ago
K-
I would transplant into a much smaller pot although I know it gets difficult to find something small enough when violets are babies. I have used pill containers, like the ones used in hospitals to dispense medicine, with much success. I save the cups from cough medicines, etc., or you can get them at the drugstore.

Linda

P.S. Pet peeve: it's soil, not dirt. This was the first thing drummed into our little heads while I was pursuing my Horticulture degree! :)
mrlike2u
13 years ago
PSS In a different hort. class drilled is this..... Peat is sludge
perle_de_or
13 years ago
I definitely agree with Irina, you need to use one third part perlite to two parts AV soil and keep it just damp but not soggy. I use the solo plastic bathroom size cups I get at Dollar General or Walmart and make holes in the bottom. I have had the same kind of roots grow when the humidity is very high, like when I have a leaf rooting or small plant inside a plastic bag and the moisture gets to be too much. When that happens I open the top of the bag. Your plant looks small enough to put inside a bag for a while, or dome it with a glass bowl or something. You don't really need the paper towel. Hope it works out for you.
PRO
Whitelacey
13 years ago
Dear Mr.

Same Hort. class: Michigan Peat is sludge. Canadian Peat-not sludge.

Linda.