So no one wants to share what their oldest, longest-going violet is? Or several?

You don't need to post pics, maybe just mention the variety.

I am curious considering the longest I got a violet going was 2 years.

Actually it will be 2 years in October.

This is not only a hard thought but not a very encouraging one.

People, me included, are always swapping, trading, buying, setting leaves, growing plants and rescuing but now that you mention it...How long has anything survived around here?

I had 6 plants for 3 years before the mites ate them.

So Three Years of Walmart Noids but they died, does that count?

I can't qualify for much of anything with this question. I lost almost everything last winter when the furnace went out, so I am playing catch up! I do have one violet that seems to have made it that I bought about a year ago in spring of 2014. And that (drumroll please!!!!) is my Optimara Cora!!!! She took a beating with the cold for 5 days, but she lives to fight another day! Can't get her to bloom, but Patience is working on that !!!!! Rosie

Ohh....interesting. I thought I was among the very few who can only get a violet going for a few months to 1 year top. My Blue Mist also went almost 2 years, it may have actually been close to 3 - but my sister kind of killed it while I was abroad for 2 months.

I probably should have tried to save it when I returned, but considering it hadn't bloomed much for me either before I left, I just tossed it without trying.

I had read once on these boards that there was this lady who had kept a violet going since the 1950's and now this violet was over half a century or something like that. I found that surreal! I would love to get some oldies that last through and through - there is something special abut that. I know we all can take leaves and start new ones from mother plant but I think there is something amazing about having an old mother plant last a long time ...and bloom a long time. Kind of like an "heirloom plant".:-)

I hope to be able to do this with Jitterbug who will turn 3 years old in my house in October. I never took a leaf from it and never tried to propagate because I don't know anything about propagating minies.

Propagating is the same for all violets. The only difference is the size of the leaf. The small leaves at my house tend to be domed. They transpire quicker than the large leaves. Try one leaf, oh and call Patience, she may be helpful! lol

Because of the furnace failure only a few violets survived and made it (sort of) back. They are still growing very slowly.

Some of my other plants did much better! In June, 2014 a friend of mine was going to throw away her houseplants and go into orchids. Short story I promise.

She asked did I want them and of course I said YES! (it is a sickness). One of them was a Christmas cactus that is 44 years old that she grew from a piece. Thing was heavy and huge. Another one was about 40 years old, same story. Then she gave me an Easter Cactus that was about 20 years old. I am still trading away pieces because so much trimming needed to be done on them. The point is,,,,they survived that 5 day cold beautifully! Go figure!!! Rosie

I just started into this in January and hope they will last for years and years like my hoyas. I have already lost 3 of the AV's I ordered--I learned that I will change their soil immediately. I have tried to start leaves of everybody to keep from totally loosing them. If I have more than one baby I was hoping to trade for something new. So a win/win situation.

I have started this hobby sometimes in 2012 and have lost many AV-s ever since. For a while I took some breaks when I was only left with a few plants on a shelf and pretty much abandoned them there when life got in the way. I have lost both Opti-s and specialties but looking back, I think it was mainly my novice hand.

For a long time I couldn't figure out how wet is "too wet"; how NOT TO let them go from desert to rain (would forget to water and when finally remembering , I think I would drop too much in); how large the pot should be, how much fertilizer, light etc. I kind of flew by the seat of my pants for a long time and the violets would perform some for a while. I even rooted many of them (mainly Optimaras) - but eventually I would make on of these rookie mistakes, mainly related to watering I think - and then they would bite the dust, one by one.

My interest in the hobby was rekindled a few weeks ago when I returned from a long trip overseas. With the extra reading I have been doing these past weeks, all in the backdrop of 2-3 years of experience and error-making... I think the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together. To me, the trick will be to avoid the desert-to-rain move - as this seems to have killed all of my violets in the past.

Wicking all of my plants (I am about to have a collection of 20 total) appears to be a nice solution as the very few plants I had wicked in the past lasted the longest.

Jitterbug takes the prize, followed by Blue Mist who might have been going even longer had it not been killed by my sister. :-)

Frankie and Begonia one day you will wake up and have your "Aha" moment as I call it. It will all come together and you will be so excited to get going.

Hang in there, trust me it will happen! Rosie

Thank you, Rosie! How long have you had this hobby?

Oh,,,let's see I started growing plants with grandma from the time I was little, but I was growing under fluorescent lights in our basement long about 1963? Mid 1960s is a safe bet. I was about Hmmm,,, 15 or 16 years old. My dad hung 2 four foot lights up for me and made sort of a table. It worked for me! Rosie

With minis it is suggested to remove some leaves from the bottom to stimulate growth on top. Personally, I don't unless removing leaves for trades. With standards, I read to remove one leaf from the bottom per month to stimulate growth. But I also don't unless the Violet needs grooming because I don't want to ruin symmetry. As for 50 year old plants, I wonder if it is the actual plant or a series of restarts. My plants seem to bloom in late summer, early Fall.

Lucky, haven't heard from you in a while. Did your violets survive?

joanne

Joanne, I never heard about trimming leaves from the bottom to stimulate growth with minis. Wouldn't that just make a "necky" mini???? But there is a lot I don't know about minis and micro minis. And I need to learn quick about the micros. Have a couple of them.

As far as standards (or really any of my violets) I remove leaves for trade or if they are just plain needing to be taken off to maintain symmetry. (then I start the babies in Kcups!) I don't know that I would have an available leaf once a month to take off. I mean, I just wait til I see the need and then I do it.

I do believe a plant can be that old. I have a lady friend who is now almost 90. I have known her since 1980. When I met her she had this beautiful violet with just a slight fringe on the petals. And it was a lovely strong and beautiful lavender color. (of course no name tag! And she didn't care about names either.) Betty loved that violet and told me she got it about 20 years prior. Here is how it got to be that old,,,,,,,,,,,,.

She grew it in a clay pot. Fertilized some but usually haphazard like I do. Was not real consistent with turning it in the window to keep the leaves symmetrical. Would take leaves off to start them and give them away but always kept the original plant.

When the plant would get "necky" she would take it out of the pot, shake off the soil, scrape the neck and reset it in the same pot only farther down in it so now the plant was once again at the same level it should be.

Every few years she would repeat this process. Please don't ask me why the pot below the soil wasn't just a mass of "neck". Maybe it put out new roots and decomposed the old roots and neck. I don't know what happened. All I know is I witnessed this happen time and time again. And many times I helped her pot and repot that plant and others. So in my opinion it may be possible to keep a plant for 50+ years!

BTW. Betty is now in a Care facility after a stroke. And she still has that plant! It was the only one she wanted to take with her. It still blooms!!! Rosie

Joanne

Some survive, some don't. I have buds forming on Rupicola Cha Simba. Nice Surprise this morning!