Hi Jan
The Experts will weigh in, however, the book Growing to Show has a section on storing violets for long term. (The instructions are a bit drastic and not for the faint of heart.)

Is it possible for your sis to come a little more frequently?
Once every ten days? Again, we await the pros to find you.

Joanne

Blondie,

Technically, anything above freezing will be 'okay' for your violets. Plants, generally, which are exposed to low temperatures slow their growth. This slow growth also reduces their water needs.

The problem with violets when it gets too cool is that they may remain wet for long periods inviting rots and molds. The watering and enclosing in plastic in cool temperatures make me a bit nervous. It sounds like a recipe for disease.

Is it possible to turn your heat to 60-65 degrees and closing off all the rest of the rooms? Do you grow under lights? If so, reduce your hours. That with the cool temps. should make an every 3 week visit possible.

When I travel, I water, turn off the lights and go.

Linda

BJ -

I am thinking that - at 55F you will for sure kill them all dead.
3 months is a long time - depending on how many AVs you have - may be your SIL will take them home? Less worry for her and you can keep your house at 45F.

If you have oodles - you can take a couple of leaves of each, pot them up - put a slightly wet mat on a bottom of a transparent plastic crate - and seal them up. Probably your SIL will find the place for them - and she would need to add some water - probably once or twice only. You get home - and you have all these rabbit ears sticking out. And give away the old plants before vacation.

Irina

Thank you for all your helpful suggestions. I have about 15 mature plants, and a lot of started leaves under domes....maybe 18-20. Some with mouse ear leaves, some not showing yet. I'm not too worried about the little ones under the domes. I think I'll have the heat turned down to 65 and put all the mature plants, in their trays, on the kitchen table, with the fluorescent light above on reduced hours. Water good before I go, and she said she could come every 3 weeks. I think that will do it.....I agree that covering them with plastic, they might rot. I got away with it for ten days, but don't think I wouldn't get away with it for a longer period. Good suggestion about giving away the mature plants....I have leaves down already to start from them.....Hmmmmmm....

You can drape a drop cloth thin plastic - not directly on the plants - but way above. Need to figure out how to put supports for it - chairs on the table? Build a light frame out of a strip wood? It will keep them a bit warmer - and prevent the drying.
I.

Irina, I am going to hire you to come to my house to do some light construction work! By the way, hardware stores have plastic large enough to go over a chair or a sofa for storage. They are thin, see-thru sheets of plastic.
Perhaps tents for plants can be cut out of these. I used dry cleaner bags for my last trip, worked great.
Joanne

I think I have come up with a good solution. I went to my local craft store and bought two rolls of clear gift wrap, for $1.79 each. Draped it over the light stand, leaving the ends open, so they won't get too much moisture. I'll be putting the whole apparatus on my kitchen table so it will be handier to the watering supply, and she won't have to bend over and fish plants out to water them, and have to carry them to the kitchen. They will already be there. As you can see, I don't have a huge collection. I just watered them before putting on the plastic, so I'll see how long it will be before they need watering again. A kind of "dry run", as it were....what do you think?

Looks Good!

Hi Jan
Your pic reminds me of a similar situation I had once.
I left the plants under lights with the curtains drawn for about two weeks. The heat was turned down to about 55, but in the room where the plants were, it may have dropped to 50. When I came back, most of them eventually died, except for the Optimaras, that were, ironically, not under the lights. I think they survived just because they are more hardy. Today, I read an article I found on the internet by the Cornell University Extension Society on African Violets. It says that 55 degrees for a prolonged period of time is too cold. Also, that AVs cannot tolerate a cool night temperature (unlike many other plants). That made me realize what killed my plants. I never realized until you raised the question and got good advice. Lately, I have been allowing the temp in my house to drop quite a bit, we turn the heater down when we leave for the day. Some of my plants are reacting poorly to this. So, your decision to keep the heat on a little higher with the curtains drawn is a good one.
Joanne

I wonder if your Optimaras not being under lights would have anything to do with their survival. Plants under lights would be pushed into growing more so than those which were not under lights and it seems that this, along with the cool temps., might stress them beyond survival. Where were your Optimaras?

My night time temperature every night (in the winter) is 63 degrees. It definitely slows down growth but they still grow and bloom.

Linda

Thanks, interesting â¦
the plant stand was against the wall as it did not need window light. The Optimaras were in front of the plant stand facing the window but not too close to it. There was normal day and night cycles for the Optimaras with natural light. The plants on the stand were on a timer.

I also had a bunch of small plants started that I had forgotten and left in another room where they got different day and night light, a north window, I believe. They did fine.

After that, I realized that the florescent light seemed not as good as natural light. Although it did make the colors more
varied. i used the lights that came with it, that were only one type. I live in a different place now with better natural light and more time to pay attention to the plants.

At the time, I never started an Optimara from leaves.
I gave them away once they finished blooming. I just did not like the look of the Optimara leaves, they all looked the same to me. A couple of friends were glad to get them and thrilled when they bloomed again.

thanks for letting me know the temp I can go down to at night or when not home.

Joanne