Too much fertilizer. Rinse your plant and leach the soil with a lukewarm water. NOt a big deal, but plant will retain some cosmetical damage. As you see - there is a rust on the surface of the soil. After you do your leaching plan to repot it in a fresh soil soon. Reduce the amount of fertilizer in half.

the brown on the perlite is too much fertilizer???

I thought this was part of mold or the dirt changing the color of the perlite..something not so harmful...now i'm really questioning my fertilizer...the one i prefer just uses pump as a count for how much to use for the amount of water (which i use half of)

i've had the orange crystals ...leached the soil..it still has it..and i dont use ferts on it because of that...

sorry dviolet for hijacking...your posts are helping me lol

Heather I'm happy my questions are helping you and anyone else. Jump aboard anytime -- I've been doing the same with other posts like you! Just sorry that either of us have to deal with this issue.

Irina, thank you, a couple of questions about rinsing, leaching and fertilizer. For minis I would probably rinse and leach with a gentle stream from a water bottle, and dry with a cotton swab. Correct?

Fertilizer--I can easily cut the amount. Optimara sells a 7-9-5 fertilizer specifically for miniatures. Do you think it's unnecessary to purchase a separate fertilizer for the minis? What do most growers do?

My water bottle I'd use...

Oops, photo bombed by roses.

Ah.. Mine usually appears within a week or two of reporting

Maybe this holiday season I will have some extra money to splurge on ferts mentioned here.. It's frustrating that my directions say 8 pumps for 1 gal. I need a little more then "pumps" for measuring

I tried washing the crystals off the one.. It just came back.. So I just left it.. It's another determined av that wants to stand out

Dviolet yeah.. I was going to ask something here last night but cringed at the amount of posts that said my name.. Which were all clamped together

Yep, like you Heather I want something a little more exacting like fractional tsps.

Don't think twice about clumping your posts--they're helpful and interesting to us newbie AV geeks.

Irina thank you for taking the time to be so clear about the process. Unless I see it done I don't instinctively know the best ways to go about AV care. I found many YouTube videos helpful though very few on minis are out there.

Now Irina, about my love for minis, it just ain't there yet. And I'm liking them less and less each day. I'm finding them so challenging to maintain that I'm certain they only belong in the hands of the experienced grower. Or at least that's how my luck has been going with them lately. I might change my tune if they start rewarding me with a good show of blooms someday. :)

All postings (other than occasional SPAM) are helpful and interesting.

We're all here because we like to discuss African Violets, and to share our experiences with them.

In all of my time here, I've never seen a complaint about TOO MANY posts, ... though I have seen complaints about TOO FEW postings, at times ...

Hear, hear! We are discussing the AVs and Challenges and Culture! And every house is different.

Heather - regarding dispensing liquid fertilizer. Get a dropper or a medium size syringe. Bum a used disposable syringe from your doctor. A teaspoon is 5 mls.

Pump 8 times into a glass - and measure how much is it. Cooking tablespoon is good enough to measure.

Whatever they say on the bottle of liquid fertilizer - usually 2-4 times more than you need. So you will buy more of it.

The rusty perlite - is not hurting anything. Rust on the leaves burns them

ah ..i didnt think of that..i assume after that measurement i'd need 1/4th of it? math is not my strong point lol..i do have a baby dropper I found to use for the superthrive lol..

well...hmm..i've been pretty much mute..kept to myself for a little over 2 years..so this is the most talking for me..