Are my African Violets sick?

9 years ago

I've noticed that a lot of my African Violets have tight crowns. I think it might've been that I gave them too much water and not enough light but I'm not positive. Can anyone give me some advice?

A couple weeks ago my violets were in a very shady spot that got no light, I was watering them once a week even when the soil was still wet, and they were outside when the temperatures were dropping to the lower 60's. I was also giving them African violet fertilizer every two weeks.

Now they are inside by a southern window, I only water them when the top soil is dry, and I spray mist them everyday to bring the humidity up around them. It's also a comfortable 77 degrees in my house.

I haven't noticed really any growth from the bottom three violets, all of these violets haven't flowered as well.

I really hope they don't have any mites! I sprayed them all with neem oil a couple weeks ago but I was reading it was only a prevention and wouldn't kill them right away.

Should I just throw these away and start over or is there a way to fix them? Also thank you for any replies, I'm new here so I hope I'm posting in the right forum. :)

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Comments (6)

irina_co
9 years ago
You keep them outside - you do not know what passengers you are going to bring. Right now they only show the too cold-too wet - not enough light symptoms. Especially the first one. If you current conditions are more to their liking - they will recover. If you drastically change the conditions - it is called break in culture - you will stress your plants - and that's probably the cause of your tight centers.

Keep an eye on them - right now there is no proof that you have mites. Keep us posted.
Nancy
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That's a relief to hear! They were in a screened in area outside in a mini greenhouse if that information helps. Thank you for the reply. :)
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Nancy
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
So I decided to repot the three bottom African Violets.

The three I repotted in their own pots and mixed in some fresh soil, I filled it up to the top of the pot as well since I read that some AV's like that more than sitting in a shallow pot.

They're all bagged right now and sitting near a desk lamp. I was planning on leaving them in there for a week but does anyone have any other recommendations?

Thanks!
irina_co
9 years ago
Desk lamp???? it is way not enough light. You either keep them near the window - or get a shop light to hang above them if you are ready to try an indoor lighting.
Nancy
Original Author
9 years ago
The violets were originally by a window to start off with. Now that they are bagged I have set them by the desk lamp since the light isn't too harsh for them while they acclimate to the soil which I've read is the right thing to do for bagged violets. Plus this desk lamp is awesome! I use it to light up my whole 20 gallon aquarium with a cool white light.

Thanks for the information though, I appreciate the reply. :)
irina_co
9 years ago
To decide if you have enough light - and probably you do not - you need to use a lightmeter. An opinion of fish in the aquarium doesn't count ;-((. With some digging you can find an App for the cell phone that will do the work of a light meter.

Anyway - if you keep them on a desk covered - probably a couple of days is good, then you can move them to the window and partially open the baggies.. at the end of the week -- you can take the baggies off. It all depends how much you disturbed the root ball. It not that much - they will not suffer.