Hey Nina, welcome! You have come to a great source of information regarding the growing of African Violets.

While I and a good many others here try to be helpful, some more so than others, specific questions that have not previously been discussed in depth will receive more attention than the entry level questions that have been discussed so thoroughly in the recent past.

There is a search feature on this website. Please search for (African Violet potting mix) and read what is available. That should take about a week or so.

You should be able to obtain what you need as far as potting mix goes from any of the big box stores. Steer clear of Miracle Gro products if you can.

There really is no "soil" in the potting mixes most of us use. You will discover this as you research.

Good luck and welcome!

Welcome to what will soon be a violet addiction! Like Jeff said, there's a bunch of ways you can go about it and a few days of research will take you far. Personally, this is the mix I use with Jack's Classic fertilizers:

• 1/4 cup worm castings to a gallon of soil mix
• half miracle gro all purpose potting mix
• half perlite

I think it really comes down to preference--you'll find what works for your plants and your environment over time. Here's a good starter guide.

Have fun!!

Also ... unless the new bigger pot is 1/3 or less the diameter of the plant, ... it will be too big for your violet to flourish.

One of the first mistakes most of those who start growing African Violets make ... is over-watering the plant, leading to its death.

The other mistake is putting the plant in too large a pot ... leading to the plant's death.

A correctly potted plant should look like the image below ... with leaves overlapping the side of the pot ... about equal to the diameter of the pot ...

Generally, if an African Violet is planted in the correct size pot, the diameter of its leaves will be about three times the diameter of the pot.

Just do not bring any soil from the yard. The problem wit outside soil - is nematodes. In outside environment the soil is teaming with all kind of organisms - and they keep one another in check. You take this soil home - and with time the living things either disappear or take over. Root nematodes take over - and they are unkillable. That's why in old books - the mix for AVs included 2 parts of garden loam, so much of coarse sand and so on and so forth. The nematode pest was so prevalent and devastating that now everything is grown in soilless mix - some kind of combination of peat, perlite and vermiculite.

Good Luck

Irina

If you are trying to make a light soil, I recommend 1 part MiracleGro/1 part perlite. I don't use vermiculite, it holds too much water. Some people don't like MG but it is available and works for my home climate. But do some research and read the back postings, you will find more information than you thought existed!!! Good luck and keep in touch! Rosie