sounds like your method works fine! :) i dont have my 4" pots on wick warering but all of my 2" pots are.

as far as how i bring in new plants to my home.. to guard against bugs, i either restart the crown or rinse all the soil out of the roots before repotting. both have worked for me... so far restarting a crown has only been tried with optimaras... i'm too scared to try it on $8 plants!

i pot the plant in a plastic pot that has a length of mason twine in place. i dont put a lot of water in the reservoirs... the atmosphere in my home doesnt mix well with lots of water sitting around.

i liked Annies most recent podcast (www.allaboutafricanviolets.com) where she shows how she waters her violets. very informative!

My wick system does work pretty well for me but I forgot to tell you that when I put them outside on the deck for summer, I don't keep them on wicks. I let them get rained on and I do keep track of them as far as dryness. Sometimes I have to water but believe it or not, not that often! Rosie

It sounds refreshing!

I don't understand why the roots were completely exposed? Was this to simply eliminate the potting mix? It seems a bit extreme to me & I would have removed some leaves & the flowers.

As for wicking, I do mine about the same except I rarely wick any plant that isn't in a 3" to 4" pot. I prefer to hand water and will use the wicking system when we are going to be gone for awhile. Smaller plants are domed or bagged if we will be gone too long.

I also don't like to wick in the winter time. I've become an advocate of using warm water on my plants & I feel the water in reservoirs is too cold, so I only wick them if we are traveling.

Terri

Terrilou I don't remember which Utube video it was. But they removed the potbound plant (just like when you get it from the store and can "lift" it out of the pot without losing anything) rinsed and rinsed it in water until all they had left was this bunch (and not a large bunch for the size plant it was) of white hanging down roots. I thought it was extreme and I think they were trying to convert the poor plant to a total hydroponic system.

I think I would have rather started with a new leaf, and started it in water vs. soil and then proceeded that way.

I would not want to partially destroy my nice violet just to convert to anything. Must tell you I felt sorry for the plant.

Actually winter is perfect for wicking for me. I feel the water is room temp. and with the furnace going I was running around in circles trying to keep them watered. In summer I try to get them out to the deck, which means they are off of the reservoir. Works great! (for me!)

I do have Optimara Cora that I have never repotted. She is in the same soil I bought her in. She is on a wick, but I would like to lighten her soil with some perlite. I just am leery about how to get a lot of the soil off without destroying her fine roots. Any suggestions???? The plant itself is not all that large as far as # of rows or leaf span. Thanks! Rosie