While these white violets look great, I think you would be better served with one blending in some green. Any violet with too many white leaves is just a step away from death. I looked at the completed listings & think I saw the one you meant. If it were mine, I would be watering it with a high nitrogen fertilizer to hopefully turn parts of the leaves green as only the green parts of a leaf contain chlorophyll & without it a plant cannot survive.

Terri

eBay snipers post electronically so there is no way to outbid them. They submit their bid ahead of time to automatically outbid the highest bidder at the last minute. Good advice, Terri, I will try it with some babies that are all white. Joanne

That's true... I know all white plants won't survive but it seemed like that one had enough green, plus if some of the white faded, I wouldn't have been heartbroken since it's better for the plant. Are eBay snipers electronic? I'm sorta new to eBay. I just know someone was out bidding me every now and then. Oh well..

Hi, Yes, eBay snipers are electronic. That is why you can't outbid them. They often will enter a command into their eBay bid to outbid the top bid at such and such time and date. That way, you often won't see a lot of little bids, they have it timed to swoop in at the last second, before you can enter a bid. If you saw a lot of little bids, then you would be aware that someone was bidding against you. But when there are no bids showing up, you can't tell. One way to try to deal with it is to enter what would be your top bid. EBay won't enter it until other bids come close to it. That way, you have decided ahead of time what is the max you want to spend rather than getting caught up in the bidding frenzy.

You could also contact the eBay seller to ask if they have more and might put it up as a Buy It Now at the price they name, usually, a fair price. Often, they have more than one because they still have the parent plant and can start another.

Keep in mind that plants often start out with a lot of white, but that soon changes. If you can order the plant from a vendor, that might be your best chance to get what you want rather than bidding on eBay. Plants that I get from vendors that are variegated almost never have a lot of white to start with.

Personally, I would never sell or trade a plant that has a lot of white in the variegation because it might not survive being shipped. I would wait until it had some green to give it a better chance to survive. So don't feel too badly. I have learned there simply is no such thing as one of a kind in the violet world. Joanne

Seems like that oughta be outlawed on Ebay. Two weeks ago I put an enormous bid on an AV I've been wanting for some time-and it usually goes quite high. I was outbid in the last few seconds, literally. However, the joke was on the electronic bidder-they paid over $100 for it. Another plant of the same exact variety was up an hour or so later that they must have missed and I ended up getting it for under $30.

Fertilizer: Since most of my AVs are variegated-I also use a higher nitrogen fertilizer on those specifically. It helps tremendously, particularly with the baby plants. Several of the babies came up with white leaves. One I lost and then read on the web about nitrogen content. It worked wonders.

Best,

Judy

Hi, Or it could have been the same item relisted or the seller might have had a smaller sample and held it back. It is hard to know. Was it from a different seller?

It is eBay's bidding system that allows that last second bidding to happen. The person who uses the electronic method sets his or her highest bid and instructs the eBay program when to enter it, such as when the bidding is about to end. So the person never has to monitor the auction.

Sometimes, those who bid electronically will decide they don't want the item if the bidding goes too high. That is when the item goes back into inventory and is offered to someone else, whoever was the second highest bidder. So, sometimes violets appear to have sold for huge prices, but in reality, they were never actually sold. So the item might get relisted very soon after. Anyway, good that you got the violet you wanted at a price you were willing to pay.

Epsom Salts also work, just a tiny, dilute amount is all that is needed. I had an all white plant that I fertilized with Epsom Salts that were too strong, so now it is bright green!

You sound like you know what you are doing and have a nice collection!

Once I learned about the eBay sniping what I felt were close to scams, I stopped bidding on eBay. That was long before violets were sold that way.

But if it works for you and you get some rare and exotic violets, and if you enjoy the process, then others of us can sit on the sidelines and cheer you on!

Joanne

This was a different vendor. I found it when EBay listed some suggestions on a different page. Must admit I was quite happy! Quite a few of my steps have come from there as well. The variety is generally quite good! However-if a regular vendor has the same item, then typically I won't bid.

You can always ask the EBay vendor to unlist something and relist it as a buy it now (BIN) and agree on the price ahead of time. Vendors also dislike the sniping when they lose a sale. I agree, if I can buy something directly from a known hybridizer, that is my first choice. Actually, it is my only choice, as I don't buy violets on eBay! (I got burned with the sniping a few years ago and some scam emails regarding my PayPal.) Joanne

I will definitely have to keep the whole sniping thing in mind. I like buying stuff on eBay but I think I'll stay away from live plants and auctions and stick to buying collectables with BIN xD It's too hard to buy stuff from the auctions (this isn't the first time I've dealt with sniping, I just didn't realize what had happened). I did get the type of plant I was eyeing up so if it comes with too much white, I'll take the advice you guys gave me and try to give it more green. Hopefully it'll be healthier. I guess I'll find out when it arrives this afternoon!

I have an almost entirely white "happy harold" - i'm a novice and didn't know that was bad. I put it in a brighter spot thinking maybe it needed more light. How much of the epsom salts does it need?

Katie, sounds like a "plan." Kristen, perhaps do a search on this forum for more advice regarding Epsom salts as that is where I learned about it. Or maybe another person here knows. I used too much and at this point, don't recall the amount. You can also use a fertilizer that is higher in the Nitrogen content. I am still waiting for the all white plant that I accidentally turned emerald green to show some white again. On another topic, I am rooting two leaves with slight edge variegation in the same pot. The leaf with more variegation has mouse ears that are all green. The other has mostly white mouse ears. So the amount of variegation in one parent leaf does not seem to make a difference in propagation. Joanne

Terri you said "I would be watering it with a high nitrogen fertilizer to hopefully turn parts of the leaves green as only the green parts of a leaf contain chlorophyll & without it a plant cannot survive."

This gave me a thought. Hypothetically,,,,,IF you have a plant as she does, IF it stays more white than green, IF she fertilized with high nitrogen on a constant wick feed, would the constant feed of fertilizer be able to sustain and make it continue to grow and bloom?? Even though the leaves refused to "green up"???? Let's just say it is a stubborn plant that will not turn green, maybe a mutant or sport type of thing.

Or do you think eventually with the feed of high nitrogen the leaves will green up? As in case closed? In a short, can a plant sustain on fertilizer without greening up the leaves? What do you think?

I just think of things like this when I read stuff. But do you think it COULD happen? Rosie

I'm certainly not a botanist but I believe a plant must perform photosynthesis to live & that process depends upon chlorophyll. I think fertilizer is an aid but not a replacement for the process. If a plant is constantly fed high nitrogen, I would think the leaves would surely turn green and if it never did, I just don't think it could survive on fertilizer alone.

Of course, nature throws in those plants that more or less live & flower in the underground or dark places. They aren't at all green & survive somehow, so who knows? Not me!

Terri

Thanks Terri and further, I thought of a person who is lacking something. Then they take a prescription that won't repair what they are missing, but it will at least give them what they need to "override" what isn't there.

I know a person and a plant are different but the scenario is sort of the same. I men we don't have to keep this going but I just wanted to throw out the random thought in my brain to see what someone else would think.

Maybe someone will experiment with a white leaf baby and report the result! Rosie

I added some epson salts to my white leafed baby and most of the leaves turned totally green in Feb. and now it is putting up center leaves that are variegated with a white color. Very pretty. Don't know the name of it. It had a baby beside it that I rooted and it looks like the new leaves are also going to be a white variegated. See this post with the before picture. It was the center top plant.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2808747/mini-violets-with-no-id?n=19

I think your plant (and I have no idea of its identity) looks much healthier now. Good job! It could not have survived long with only white leaves, that's certain. (BTW, you can remove those smaller lower leaves at 5 and 6 o'clock and also the one peeking out at about 9. They're the original immature leaves of the baby plant and are no longer needed.)

Katie, I have Dark Kiss. I got it back in May. Mine is not as white leafed as you describe, more variegated leaf, but I can send you a leaf as long as you live in U.S. I'd show a picture but I am not home in Florida right now. I'm visiting my daughter in Birmingham but will be back home Aug 6. I am new to this forum, hi, all! I'm not too sure of the ins and outs yet, but I am assuming you can send me a private message somehow! Let me know if you'd like a leaf.

I tried the salts but happy Harold isn't looking very happy at all. I'm gonna try the high nitrogen and I thought a sunnier spot would do him good?

Hi Kristen, you're not kidding, this baby is white! Don't try to do too much too fast, with the fertilizer. Like someone else said in an earlier comment, dilute much more than instructions say on fertilizer! This plant is fragile, gradually give it more light, it will sunburn easily!

What concerns me most is that it appears to be in too large of a pot! This is a baby, will be real easy to overwater it!

Colleen

I have never bought plants on ebay, but it looks like there are several good sellers! As far as the sniping goes, don't let that stop you if you really want an item! Just put in the absolute maximum you are willing to pay, and don't check it until the auction is over. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I think I saw that plant you were talking about Katie, it was gorgeous! But it had plenty of green leaves, plenty healthy enough. The thing to remember about Dark Kiss is that it is crown variegated, the center new leaves many times will be all variegated, as the plant matures and these leaves grow out, they usually turn green all on their own without any help from you. So, what I'm trying to say is, don't try to turn your crown variegated plants green, otherwise, what is the point? Lol!

Colleen

Hi Maryanne! Welcome!

Kristin that is one WHITE set of leaves! I have never seen all of the leaves that white nor have I owned anything with that many white leaves on one plant!!!!!!! Rosie

Marianne: Thanks so much for the offer! for now I got another one on eBay from a different seller. I’ll definitely let you know if I ever change my mind though!

Kristin: It’s too bad that baby isn’t supposed to be so white, because holy crap its so pretty like that :O Good luck with it!

Colleen: I didn’t think to check eBay for them until I searched for them on a whim one day. I like getting them on eBay just because some of the sellers have pictures of the plant you’ll get. I’ve found a lot of the time when I order from greenhouses, the plants arrive damp or leggy. They’re not like.. sick or dying or anything. It just takes a long time to get them to fill in and get more leaves.

Ebay isn't so bad really, I agree with you, Katie. Though most plants I've gotten from regular vendors have been nice-there have been a few that I've really had to nurse along for a while.

Several of my babies came up white like yours-from mostly green leaves at that. You know what to do now though (as I learned!)! I do agree with Colleen though-we DO want to keep it variegated! There's so much info out there about lowering temps, raising them etc, to keep them variegated, I just use the extra nitrogen on plants that are mostly white babies to keep 'em going. However I can't remember-it's been a year or so-but it seems to me that the extra nitrogen didn't change the current leaves-only the new leaves that came in. Since I've got about twenty variegated plant leaves potted, I'll have to pay more attention.

Joanne-I think it was on another post-perhaps Irina's or Linda's-and in some other places I've read-that we're supposed to avoid using heavily variegated leaves for propagation. Presumably it's because the white portions of the leaves can't do photosynthesis-won't have as much energy to produce. So while I also get mixed bags of color in babies, I still pick leaves that have the least amount of variegation in them. It may not determine the color of the babies, but I still do believe in the vigor of the green over the heavily variegated leaves to propagate.

Kristen-hopefully you'll post more pix of Harold when he grows up a bit! :-)

Best,

Judy

Judy, great advice! I find that usually only the leaves with the most green produce babies. Often, the babies are pure white at first. Once I start to fertilize, they green up. Joanne