I'm not from Georgia,but i must ask why you take your violets outside?? Just curious!! I'm in S.Calif and my violets have never been outside.They do great in my north facing bay window.

I was just showing dh yesterday how beautiful they are blooming,and also people are so amazed when they find out where i got all of mine~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~and that would be from the .99cent store and they are several years old and bloom several times a year.

Here are acouple of mine

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This one is kinda blurry

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Love the deep color of this one

{{gwi:367592}}

This is the only one i have problems with,i have never seen this one bloom,it has lots of leaves,but no flowers and it's a few years old.I've changed the soil(this year) and water the same as the others.So what's up with that??

{{gwi:367593}}

i have other pics,but need to upload them.
Kathi

PS,i'm not new to GW,just havn't come over here very often.

Oh yeah,that first one with the 2 colors looks like it all comes from one root,the roots just go out into a "Y" configuration.

Looks like you might have a sucker or ten..

Andrew

I brought them inside around Saturday. Is that why they are in this shape?

Andrew,which one of us were you speaking to when you said"

Looks like you might have a sucker or ten..

Do suckers not bloom?? I'll have to do some research when time permits.I've never had a violet not bloom for me before,so never gave it much thought.
Kathi

Suckers are an attempt by the plant to reproduce itself (i.e. make another plant).

Suckers will siphon off energy which should be available to a plant for blooming.

Plants with suckers will bloom, but at a much reduced rate.

African Violets are at their best when there is one crown (point of growth), i.e. no suckers.

Suckers are best pinched off of the main plant, ... and planted individually if you wish.

I once took a huge non-blooming AV and separated it into one main plant, ... and (4) sucker plants.

All of them grew and eventually bloomed.

I'll solve my own problem, since my topic is being overrun and I can't delete it.

It looks to me as if the plant is fine; it's just the flowers that are done for.

Disbud the plant and send a photo. There's a post in the gallery section with step-by-step PhotoBucket instructions on how to imbed.

African violets do not do well outside. Plus, if in self-watering pots the water could become incredibly hot if your weather is anything like ours in Middle Tennessee.

If the plant itself is okay, you have nothing to worry about. But send a photo or a link to your photo album and I can tell better. Or, send photos directly to me.

Sorry you haven't received an answer sooner.

Linda

Delphelf, the plants look okay in the pics; it looks like the flowers are dying which is perfectly okay, they can bloom later. In fact, you may want to take off any bloom stalks that are coming up, so the plants can concentrate on roots and leaves.

I don't see where too much soap would be a problem as long as you rinse it off eventually. As for being too dry, take the inner pot out of the container and give them a good soak, generally by submerging the pot (the entire plant if you need to) in a bucket of tepid water until the air bubbles stop, then let them drain well and keep a close eye on them; hopefully they will recover on their own.

Also, I understand about mangled leaves; nurseries and grocery stores are not known for showing TLC to their plants.

Kathi -

you have suckers and long necks. The necks are so long, you need to cut the crowns off and reroot them. Since they were not repotted for long time - I am judging by the length of the necks - the soil turned acid - and it stimulated the mutation - your blossoms are turning into something else. When you separate your plants into 2, they will grow better, bloom better - and you will have 2 different colors - tiedye 1 and tiedye 2. I had it done too - my Optimara Alaska - white with blue edges - the blue pigment was bleeding all over the blossoms - from solid blue to tie dye.

Same issue is with the suckers...galore. You basically need to disassemble plant #4 and reroot the suckers. You would be amazed how fast they root and how soon you will enjoy the bloom instead of this mop.

Delphe from Georgia -

to my regret you are absolutely right - your initial post was lost in a middle. Finally Linda from Tennessee replied you - I second her. Your plants are not dying, they are actually in a very good shape, the only thing you lost - your blossoms got spent way too fast from the heat. Remove the bloomstalks - and you will get new ones soon.(Just never do it again!)

I think both of you can benefit from looking again at this site and finding well illustrated answers to your issues.

Irina

Here is a link that might be useful: Rachel's Reflections

In reply to the original posters question. Your plants look fine except for the dried out blooms. I would first remove all the dried up and dead blooms from the plant. I would also remove any severely dried or mushy leaves.
Other than that the leaves look healthy and fine.

Usually african violet miracle gro soil is a little heavy for the AV's. For me, I mix in some miracle gro perlite with my AV soil and pot into this lighter mix.

Thanks ageis and irina,for the info and for the link.I'll check that out soon,and will plan a morning for taking care of those problems.

That's what i like about these forums,always someone or several someones who know the answers to our questions.
Kathi

For Delph, the OP ...

Sorry, I got you and Kathi mixed-up ...

kathi's inset photos basically drew the eye ... it happens.

Your violets look healthy also, it's just that the blooms have faded.

Remove the dead bloom-stalks, they will usually just snap out of the plant near the base.

Other than that, I would also caution against taking your plants outside.

African Violets can be wonderful houseplants, except when you're battling some type of bug infestation. Taking them outside exposes them to possible pests.

Other than that, it looks like you're doing okay.

To DelphElf (the original poster,) one more thing: your plants appear to be in pots that are a little too large for them. AV's should be in pots that are no more than 1/3 the diameter of the entire plant. That would mean your 4" pots are suitable for plants 12 inches in diameter! Also, if your soil is straight potting soil it could be too heavy and hold water too long - esp. if you are using the watering reservoirs. I'd hate to see you get past this little glitch in growing your violets (because really the only thing wrong with them now is that you need to remove the spent blooms and wait for more blossoms to form) only to have them die of root rot. If you must use these pots, try adding perlite to your soil mix to keep it light and allow air to the roots.
I'm sorry your post got hijacked. It happens, and no, there is no way to delete someone's comments on the thread you started. I understand that it can be annoying, but what happened is pretty unusual; don't let it keep you from posting here when you have questions. It's a great place to learn how to care for your AV's.
Good luck!