I would like to see you repot the big one, fresh soil, and then place in an ICU zip baggie for awhile so it can perk up ...

Ok thank goodness. I couldn't really tell if they were doing ok or not @_@ I'm repotting the Mac's tomorrow (was gonna do it today but then I got an unexpected call for a job interview so my day got cut a bit short). Might change everyone's soil just so it's fresh, even though leached them all. But Mac's for sure because that pot is no good. Then I think they'll all go into their baggies, like bragu suggested, and we'll see from there! Thank you both for checking them out for me c:

Mac's has been repotted! I got as much of the old soil off as possible and then used a fresh mix to repot it. We'll see what happens!

It's a bit lopsided at the moment.

Your Mac's Scorching Sun is looking better! I wouldn't be too hard on yourself about that variety, it's been known to be a very finicky variety. I find the Mac's to be hit or miss as far as ease of care, some are super easy and others not so much. I've noticed AVs are a little different from other plants in that each variety tends to have it's own level of ease of care. I have some AVs that are never happy no matter what you do and others that grow themselves and seem always be in bloom even when left for dead! haha

I didn't know Macs were finicky! I guess that's why I've been having so much trouble with it xD My other optimara (which I really need to grab photos for!) seem fine. These guys are just being super needy and droopy.

The Mac's is going into its bag now. Hopefully this all helps it c: I'm just gonna keep letting the Trinidad II do its thing. It seemed the least bothered by this whole ordeal :P the three tiny optimara I'm not so sure about. They seem on the verge of death (the photos make them MUCH more green than they actually are).

Macs' can be good performers. It is the variegation that makes them fussy. Scorching Sun is heavily variegated. The white areas are not supportive of overall plant growth. that is true for any plant that has a larger ratio of variegation. The trick to reduce the variegation is to add Epsom Salts to the water. It will green them up. You can search on this forum for the quantity, it is very minute. You can use regular Epsom Salts found in a pharmacy (cheap) or buy the product from a nursery (less cheap). However, go lightly, or you will risk losing the variegation. Unlike other plants that are not so tinkered with, the AVs vary widely in their ease of care. The older vintage varieties usually do well. Their genetics have been less tampered with. Joanne

Well the Mac's has since dropped two more leaves (the stems of the leaves shriveled up in the middle and then fell off), and it looks like it's about to lose another (the tip is turning black). I really don't know what to do. I'm considering just tossing all of these (except maybe the Trinidad II), and just getting some new ones to start fresh with. I feel bad because I love all these plants but the more I try to save them, the worse they look. :(

Sounds like a good plan, to toss the Mac's. It might have fungus rot, or chloramine in the water. The fungus rot is contagious to other plants. If the problem is only chloramine, the plant can recover. However, if it is rot, then you don't want to start over with a leaf. Trinidad II can be a fussy plant, so maybe focus on keeping that healthy with pure spring water. Joanne

Do check to see if your water provider uses Chloramine. Chloramine will cause decline exactly as you have described. If your provider does use Chloramine, you will need to switch to something like jugged spring water.

I believe they do. I usually let the water sit for 24 hours before using it but I really don't think that worked.

The Mac's has now lost 3 more leaves and the crown is looking pretty sad. Might be time to let the poor thing go. On the otherhand, the Trinidad II seems better.

I've gotten 2 gallons of bottled spring water: one is plain water, the other has been mixed with 1/4 teaspoon of fertilizer. I'll grab the bag to check the brand later. But it seems good.

My plan at the moment is to keep the Trinidad as healthy as possible and order some new violets in the morning (I was going to get a couple new violets anyway, since I got some spending money for my birthday. so why not now?). When they come and have settled in, I'll make sure they're put into appropriate pots with peat/perlite/vermiculite soil mix, and a wick. I'd been watering my plants from the top with a pipette to make sure the roots were definitely getting wet but I want to eliminate anything involving the water as a problem. My stepmom actually told me there's a place not far from my house that I could get spring water from. According to her you basically put in a quarter and the tap runs until it dispenses 1 gallon. I'm going to check it out to confirm that its still in operation and how much it costs.

I am also looking into methods of keeping them humid during the winter months. Seems like people sometimes use a tray with pebbles in it and then fill it with water?? Still really not sure about light either. My violets seemed to be having trouble with too much light, but I'm not really sure. This is the light I'm using right now: http://tinyurl.com/qjfh3pg. Is that a suitable light for african violets? My other plants seem fine under it (spider plants, cactus, jade, aloe) but I'm worried about the violets getting too much light. There aren't many other places in my house that are well lit that aren't right against the window (where they're subject to a draft). The brightest spot in my room other than under that grow light is my windowsill and I really don't want them to get cold. I'm already worried about them getting cold just being in the winter climate as it is. What's the best way to keep the violets alive during cold/dry winter months?

So... that's my current plan. Get a couple healthy violets from someplace like Violet Barn or Lyndon's, and take a step back to basic violet care. I think I started fussing too much. Simple wick watering, appropriate soil, humidity, and figuring out the best light location for them to thrive.

Letting your water sit for 24 hours will eliminate CHLORINE in your water, ... but not CHLORAMINE. CHLORAMINE is a CHLORINE derivative which stays in the water for a much longer time, so it's much more ecnomical for water processing uses. Unfortunately, CHLORAMINE is fatal to African Violets, though other plants tolerate it very well.

If you have CHLORAMINE, you cannot use your city-povided water supply to water your violets. You must find another source of CHLORAMINE-FREE water.

I only found out 2 years ago or so that my water provider has been using CHLORAMINE since 1959. I found out about the CHLORAMINE issue after going through a summer where I was losing a plant or two a week, where the leaves were simply softening and falling off like you describe. Not all of my AV's seemed to be affected, but I lost some formerly very nice plants.

After finding that the answer to my problem might be CHLORAMINE in my water supply, I switched to jugged SPRING WATER from my grocer ... and I haven't looked back since. My violets are currently doing better than they ever have. I used to get backups (2 or more) of plants that I really liked, ... because I knew that I had a strong chance of losing just the one. But, of course, if a variety of African Violet is susceptible to CHLORAMINE, ... ALL of the plants of that variety will ultimately fail. I am just now beginning to try some plants again that I thought that I just couldn't grow, to see if I can grow them successfully with spring water. To date, I am having fantastic success.

As your stepmom mentioned, I fill about (8) gallon jugs with spring water from a GLACIER dispensary at my local grocer for $.45/gallon. For awhile it was a quarter a gallon, but demand have risen, I guess. For you, as a beginner with just a few plants, a gallon of water will last quite a while.

So, take heart, ... you may not be able to save your Mac, ... but you can try it again once the CHLORAMINE issue is off of the table.

As for new plants, might I suggest that you take a look at what ebay seller PJ's Violets has to offer.

I have purchased from Lyndon Lyons, Violet Barn, PJ's, and other outlets, and you can get your largest (most mature) plants from PJ's for about the same money as you would spend at Lyons or Violet Barn. Violet Barn's plants are typically quite small, though I purchase starter plants from Lyons every year.

I've included a link to PJ's ebay web-page below ...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&_ssn=pjsviolets&_sop=16

For less expensive (and a bit smaller) violets, take a look at Jack's Violets ebay page at the following link ...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/jacksviolets/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

P.S. Both of these sellers sells their plants as "Buy Now" at the listed price, rather than have you go through the auction. I've gotten nice plants from both sellers ...

Also ... I wouldn't worry about making your environment more humid ... as that often leads to powdery mildew.

Ok yeah! That's what I thought. When I asked my dad if the water had CHLORAMINE in it he was like "well yea it has chlorine in it." So then I thought maybe they were the same thing?? For a guy who majored in Chemistry in college, my dad's been really unhelpful with the whole chemicals part of african violet care >.>

Exactly what you described with chloramine poisoning is what has happened to all my violets. They shrivel up bit by bit within a matter of a week. Its disheartening. Now that I've got the natural spring water, I'm confident the plants with do much better! And if not, we at least eliminated the water as the problem.

I checked out the links you sent me! They both have such nice violets and such reasonable prices (plus buy it now is so much easier than the auctions). Some of the prices on Violet Barn and Lyons are so high! I mean, I guess chimera violets are harder to propagate so I assume that's why they're $15-$20 a plant but my poor just-out-of-college bank account can't handle that haha

I got one from PJ's, one from Violet Barn, and two from Lyon's. There's so many and they're all so pretty! But I decided to pick up a few that I really liked. Happy birthday to me :)

Seriously though, thank you to you and everyone else who's been helping me on this forum. I kept thinking I was a bad plant mom, but now I know more about the water quality stuff and lighting, and hopefully everyone will be ok c:

OH! PS: are miniatures and chimeras hard to take care of? Lyon's had a listing for one called Rob's Lucky Charm that looked REALLY cute but when I called to ask about it, it was out of stock. I think Violet Barn had a similar Rob's mini that was also out of stock. I also saw Peppermint Girl, which was super cute but I can't find it anywhere. Probably for the best since I don't know if there's any special care for those traits (mini, chimera, girl leaf, ect).

Yeah ... I think that I would stick with something more standard ... until I got the hang of it.

I've never tried to grow a mini ... and my track record with semi-mini's stinks ...

Gotcha. I didn't know if semi minis and minis had different requirements from their standard counterparts. And I remembered someone told me that girl leaf plants grow more slowly than other leaf types. I don't know much about non standards otherwise. I only sorta understand what the chimera plants are and I don't know what makes a Russian/Ukranian variety different, or if those need special care either.

So I just stuck with standards for now. I'll branch out once I get the hang of caring for these guys c: I'll share pics once they all get here!

What might make for slightly different care is size.

Minis and semi-minis, because they are in smaller pots (2 1/2 inch diameter) have to be watered more frequently ... because they dry out more quickly.

Aside from that, AV's care is all the same, though some varieties might be somewhat LESS TOLERANT of mis-steps in standard care.

For instance, the Optimaras, which are mass-produced for wide public consumption, have been bred to withstand less-than-ideal care, and still look good. These plants can be shipped in bloom, can survive erratic watering schedules, and still bloom in less than optimal lighting.

Other AV's might not be as forgiving, ... but finding out which ones will work for you is all part of the journey ...

Funnily enough, Optimaras don't seem to like my conditions and take forever to bloom for me lol but to be fair I've only tried 2

Ohh that actually makes a ton of sense. Thanks for explaining that! I didn't realize common retail Optimara were hardier, either. That explains why my Optimaras are still fine but my other varieties are not so great (and have been on here for checkups quite a few times D: ).

One of my orders came in today! A little Mac's Coral Carillon. My new only order that was a semi mini (I'm excluding the Scorching Sun, because I'm just getting a new one). It was just so cute I had to have it! Courtesy of PJ's, as suggested by aegis :)

She's still a little crinkled up from shipping, I think. But I'm confident I can take care of it properly now that I have the water situation figured out.

Also I don't know if I said this before but I can't say it enough. Seriously, thank you everyone who's been here helping. I love my violets and I love that there's a community of people so willing to help me out :)