'Mushy' Leaves

16 years ago

Hello everyone! Love this site. So much information on here, it's great. I have a question concerning my AV's. I have 7 AV's, most of which I have had for over 4 years now. They have been doing incredibly well (particularly since I am not well known for having a green thumb) and bloom for a majority of the year. However, this spring everyone of them have been been getting mushy leaves on the bottom. The upper leaves still look healthy, and most of them have buds on them, but a couple look as the though the mushiness is moving up the leaves. I have them in self-watering pots in a commercial AV potting soil. They are also sitting in an east facing window. If anyone has some suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

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Comments (4)

nwgatreasures
16 years ago
Welcome to the board.

What you are describing sounds like root rot.
If in fact that is what your plants are experiencing, it is very important that you act quickly to save the plant.

I think it is being caused by soggy roots - typical with commercial AV soil as well as self watering pots.

I'd recommend that you get the plant out of that soil and remove all the mush. Just snap off the leaves/stems from the main stem of the plant until the stem is more crisp.

Then, you'll need to "pot down" the plant. I'll go look for the video that shows how to do this (if someone has the link handy, please share it in a reply for sake of time and helpfulness)

Successful violet growers recommend a 1:1:1 ratio of planting material. Peat, vermiculite and perlite.
If you are using the ceramic self watering plants, you are at an increased risk of plant demise because while they are beautiful and display-able (is that a word?) they are not that good for the health of violets because the plant is not able to control the amount of water going to the root system.

Removing the parts that are already affected by the root rot will help to save the plant. If you continue with what you have, your plants will most likely be dead in just a few short weeks.

Dora
mel_10
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the help. I'd always been told self-waterers were the way to go with AV's. I'll get them switched to new soil and pots and hopefully have beautiful flowers again.
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Kinder Devonshire
16 years ago
If you like self-watering pots, you can try oyama pots. They are not fancy, but you can probably find covers for them. They work really well. You can find them in four different colors at Reed's Greenhouse. The link is here
nwgatreasures
16 years ago
mel,
Those ceramic ones you find in Wmart or stores are pretty and I use some of them too.

I learned to bypass the challenges of these kinds of pots by setting up my own watering system.

I get a deli container with a lid and put a hole in the center (for the wick) and a larger hole to the side (for pouring water into the container without removing the lid) and then place the wick in that center hole and set the entire deli container down inside the ceramic pot. I provide the best watering/growing environment and get to take advantage of the way the pot looks.

I only have 1 that I do this with since I have all of my plants on community wicking/watering.

Dora