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zzackey

How can I get my AV's to bloom?

11 years ago

I started a few AV's from leaves. They are big enough to bloom, but they aren't. Mine only tend to bloom in the winter. How can I coax them to bloom?

Comments (14)

  • 11 years ago

    A few questions:
    How large are the plants and what size pot are they in? (Photos are always very helpful.)
    How much light do they get? That is, are they in a window - what direction does it face? Unshaded? Or are they under lights? What kind, how far above, how many hours a day?
    Do you fertilize them? With what? How much? How often?

    As you can guess, AV's blooming depends heavily on not being planted in too large a pot, having sufficient light and receiving fertilizer. Tell us a bit more about the way you are growing and perhaps we can help you sort it out. :-)


  • 11 years ago

    They are in 3" pots in a northern window. I gave them Osmocote 14-14-14 and watered them once with an AV fertilizer. I am unable to post pictures. They are about 4" in diameter.

  • 11 years ago

    They might not be getting enough light in a north facing window.

    I also think, from what you say, they might not be root bound enough. A 4 in. plant sounds a bit small for for a 3in. pot, at least in my experience.

    This one is about 7.5in across and I still have in a 3oz solo cup. (which is about 2in diameter)


    It does need a bit of grooming and potting up, though. ;)

  • 11 years ago

    I started the leaves in 3" pots. They've only been in those pots for 6 months. My purple flower one thrives in northern window and my varigated one flower well there too.


  • 11 years ago

    Jonboyny, what is the name of that lovely plant you provided?

    As for flowering, Zackey, they probably are still focusing on growing leaves and roots, as JBNY noted.

  • 11 years ago

    it's a baby plant of Cajun's Grand Duchess. You can see the blooms better in this pic.


  • 11 years ago

    That's a pretty one, Jonboy. I never had a varigated one. My AV's only bloom in the winter.


  • 11 years ago

    It is quite unusual. Just when I think I have seen them all, a new beauty comes along!

  • 11 years ago

    That was a guesstament of the size. I didn't measure. I started the leaves in water and then potted them up into 3". I plan to bump them up to 4" soon. My other two AV's bloom like crazy with same northern light.


  • 11 years ago

    What makes you want to move them into larger pots?? If they're not blooming now in 3" pots and they are less than 12" across and you put them into 4", be prepared to not see blooms for another long, long time - and even possibly lose them altogether to root rot. AV's like to be slightly pot bound. Your pot size should not exceed 1/3 the size of the diameter of the leaf circle. Really.
    Measure one of your young plants with a ruler - if it is less than 9" across right now, you have it in too big a pot at 3" as has been advised already.
    Another thing: not all AV's like the same amount of light. Just because the ones you had already in the northern light bloomed, doesn't mean that these don't need a bit more light. You could certainly try moving them or adding a light over them and see if they respond.
    It sounds like you do not want to believe what successful growers are telling you. Go back and search on this forum for threads about pot size and lighting if you doubt. There is no magic pill to give them - you just have to learn what they need and supply it.


  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    This topic of pot size comes up often with new growers. It has been talked about in great detail in older posts, which can be found by typing in "3 times the diameter" in the search feature. Or a similar query, such as "pot size."

    Here is a portion of an older post from Irina, one of the experts who grew and showed lots of violets and posted here for many year:

    ... this 1:3 ratio is for balanced look and show judging.

    It is only if you have way too big of a pot, heavy soil and water it too much - it gets detrimental to the plant.

    If you have a plant which is more than 3 times a pot - and we all do - eventually roots will take all the space and it will feel better in a bigger pot. Or if you do not want to grow a huge one - you are supposed to repot your plant every 6 months or so, remove the lower leaves, cut off the bottom of the root ball and pot it in a fresh pot of the same size.

    And again - if you have suckers all around your plant - it is not harmful. Just not very orderly and you loose the symmetry of the plant.

    Your plants look very happy and fresh for now - but you would need to take the suckers out and pot them separately - otherwise they would look very unruly together."

    In the same thread, another person noted that plants in too large a pot will risk getting root rot or sour soil.

    In my experience, when I used to over-pot, not knowing any better, the plants never bloomed, they spent all their time growing roots and leaves. If the plant looked "too tight" I moved to a bigger pot and got even bigger leaves and fewer blooms. Then once I started reading the forum and back threads and followed the advice, the plants all bloomed. I used to post photos on the Gallery of 15 or 20 or more plants all blooming at the same time in smaller pots.

    Great advice, Anne. What might be convincing to a new grower is to take the plant out of the pot and see how tiny the roots are in comparison with the leaves. Which means they do not need much pot space. Part of the culture of raising AVs is to learn what they like and try it out. Also, because they don't need a whole lot of pot and potting mix relative to the size of their foliage, they make pleasing displays and don't take up too much space.

    While sometimes people will start a leaf out in a slightly too-large pot, the leaf might develop 3 or 4 or more babies. Once those are separated, they should go into their own very small individual containers.

    The plants bloom seasonally. If they bloomed in the winter, then they take a rest of a few months before they will bloom again in late spring.

    Although this is a long post, maybe one of the other newer growers on the forum might also find it useful. Because when I first started growing AVs, it just seemed counter-intuitive to cramp them and not water too often. The exact opposite of what I would do with other types of flowering plants.

  • 11 years ago

    I will add that some AVs are prolific bloomers and some are really stubborn. Maybe yours is just stubborn.


  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    I only have two varieties and the smaller ones are growing from cuttings I started. I've never had one bloom besides in the winter. Newly repotted or pot bound. Sorry if you think I'm disbelieving you, I can't see what I said to make you think that. I'm not. I like to repot my house plants now before it gets too hot outside. The biggest ones measure 8 1/2 inches. Much to my surprise they are in 4" pots, except for one. So that is one less chore to do this year. I do appreciate all of your advice.

  • 11 years ago

    They do need fresh soil quite often actually. I believe they are "supposed" to be repotted once every 6 months, minis more often even. Anyhow, do what works for you. Repotting doesn't mean they have to go in a larger pot, just refresh what soil you can. If the plant has a "neck" you cut a bit off the bottom of the root ball, then fill up the top with fresh soil, covering the neck.

    Repotting will result in having to wait for blossoms though, as the plant will need to regrow some roots. Small pots increase the likeliness of blooms, but, I have dish gardens and fish bowls with blooming avs that have plenty more soil than the "potted" ones, so, it can work, sometimes.

    To tell if you have enough light, look at what the foliage is doing. Ideally, you want it to spread out and form a disc, though not all plants grow the same. If the plant is "reaching", it can be either too much or too little light, though if there are no blooms, it's probably the latter.

    Fertilizing should be done regularly at 1/4 the recommended strength, unless your potting soil already contains fertilizers (then all bets on amounts are off).

    Watering, whenever needed, BEFORE the soil is drier than a desert. If your plants aren't crispy-edged, you're probably doing ok in that department.

    Check for suckers/extra crowns and remove them. Plant them for " spares".

    Temperature, not sure on the exact figures, but my avs enjoy air conditioning in summer (DH does too, else I'd be muddling by without).

    So, " fix" one thing at a time and observe. I first got to this forum because I had several avs, old enough, I couldn't remember what color the blossoms were supposed to be, and decided I should do something about it. Two months later, most of them bloomed... And yes, buds can take that long to develop and open.


    Good luck :-)