About to give up on African violets permanently...

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

I grow alot of plants, and I consider myself a good gardener, but I can't seem to grow African violets. After months ofor not wanting to even try I got a very basic dark purple flowered one around April. It's been going downhill since. I haven't seen a single flower and the leaves are pointing up. I don't get what it is im doing wrong with these plants. I see other people with lovely, flowering, symmetrical plants but all I get is deformed weird ones. I have it in a bathroom window and I water it from the bottom with liquid fertilizer. How do I get this plant back to relative normalcy and (if possible, I doubt it at this point) flowering? Please, they're such beautiful plants and I want so badly to grow them but I just cant

Featured Answer

Rosie1949

9 years ago

Oh,,,I am so relieved to hear you let it sit until it soaks up enough water! Don't forget though, every so often to let the water run through it from top to bottom to rinse any residual "salts" that will gravitate to the top of the soil because you water from the bottom. Don't let it reabsorb that water. You want to flush the soil so to speak.

Also using fertilizer once a week,,,,do you water once a week? If you fertilize every time you water you should cut down the amount of fertilizer to about 1/2 strength. And maybe once a month just use plain water. You don't want to over fertilize. And you want to make sure to not have any build up of anything,

It seems as though you are doing ok, though. Just take your time and by all means read through a lot of the back posts. There is a wealth of information in the forum.

For instance, are the leaves on your violet a darker green or a lighter green? Darker leaves can take more light, while lighter green may want less. And there are those violets that will do just the opposite. Keep trying different windows until you find out where the plant is happy!

And most of all, let me introduce you to my friend,,,,Ms. Patience!!! Become her friend and life with plants will be a lot easier and fun! Good luck & post often!! Rosie

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Comments (11)

Amy
9 years ago
That plant has a huge sucker on one side. You want your AV to develop new leaves from one point only, the center, or crown. When your plant begins developing new leaves from a 2nd place that is a sucker and it has to be removed, ideally when it is very small. Look for a youtube video on AV sucker removal. Once you remove the sucker it will take a while for the plant to reshape. Your sucker looks so big it could be rooted as a new plant. Also, AVs are all different, some bloom almost all the time, others once to a few times a year. Many people kill many AVs before they figure it out, you won't be the first to kill an AV!
sorceresslelia thanked Amy
sorceresslelia
Original Author
9 years ago
It was like this when I bought it. It was also blooming heavily when I bought it. Do you think I could get it to bloom with the sucker still on it? I can't distinguish which leaf is part of which plant right now so I think I'll wait until it more clearly becomes two plants and split them. Thank you, I'll keep trying. Maybe it's one that has a few flowering periods a year. And hopefully I'll have two plants when this is over
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aegis1000
9 years ago
You may have to add LIGHT to get your plant to bloom.

You can add a desk-lamp to shed fluorescent/LED light upon the plant.

Note that your plant won't be as apt to bloom ... as long as it has that sucker.

Take a look at the Gardenweb post at the following link ...

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4567573/more-than-1-repot
sorceresslelia thanked aegis1000
sorceresslelia
Original Author
9 years ago
I had it in the bathroom window....I thought it was too much light. I want to split the plant up but I can't clearly see which part is which plant and I don't want to cut off something important
sorceresslelia
Original Author
9 years ago
So I just went in and split it. It was easier to see the growth points once I got some of the soil off. I pulled off four suckers. None of them had roots, but I have them in a pot along with 8 or 9 leaves that fell off either the main plant or a sucker. The main plant is much smaller now, but hopefully the small inner leaves will grow and fill in the holes. And hopefully I'll get at least one sucker or leaf to root and give me more plants. Thanks for the advice. I'll update once I see some new growth
joyfulsu
9 years ago
Great job! Sounds like you handled it well. ;)
sorceresslelia thanked joyfulsu
Rosie1949
9 years ago
One thing that concerns me is "I am watering it from the bottom". HOW are you watering it from the bottom? Can you describe it to me? And what strength fertilizer and how often are you using it? Give me every detail, I think I may have a little more advice based on what you tell me. Thanks. Rosie
sorceresslelia thanked Rosie1949
Paul MI
9 years ago
If the leaves are "pointing up", I would posit that it might need a bit more light.

You could also try growing one in a well lit terrarium.
sorceresslelia thanked Paul MI
sorceresslelia
Original Author
9 years ago
I let it sit in a bowl of lukewarm water until it soaks it up. I've used a 10-10-10 fertilizer twice but didn't fertilize it for the first three weeks since it was new. I have a higher potassium African violet fertilizer but I didn't want to shock it too soon. And I used the fertilizer once a week, it's a liquid you mix in with the watering
sorceresslelia
Original Author
9 years ago
Wow, you guys were right....a week after splitting it and I already see a flower stalk coming from the original plant. Thank you guys so much for the advice. Can't wait for those beautiful purple flowers again :)