Tight crowns. How tight is too tight?

8 years ago

In my never ending effort to learn more about plants in general but for now, primarily African Violets, I discovered a fairly common term called "tight crown". I searched here and elsewhere and discovered that extreme cases are easy to see/discover. (Misshapen leaves, odd colors and textures etc.) I think I can probably handle it once it gets to that point. I just don't want any of my plants to get to that point.

They showed examples where the plant had normal leaves and then a bunch of stunted ones growing above the normal ones. I think I could figure that out too. Seems like there should be a set of criteria to check long before the months it would take to grow that many stunted leaves.

Elsewhere on the net, I have seen pictures of an AV that in the local experts opinion, suffers from tight crown. (Pictures of the center of a plant growing a bunch of leaves. Yep, its crowded in there, especially the plants that grow the huge, thick leaves, but I think its supposed to be.) I DONT see it! To me, it looked just like the plants they said were great.

I would like to see a picture or two of a AV w a tight crown. One that has characteristics that I could recognize. Maybe a picture of a plant w a tight crown next to a similar plant w a normal crown.

All of my plants are growing. Not a single one that does not have a bunch of stuff happening at the crown. Nothing noticeably bad or odd but what if?

Im not worried and don't suspect I have any "tight crowns" but I would like to feel better about my ability to diagnose issues before they become problems.

I would like to hear from those of you that have encountered this, how you recognized it and what you did about it.

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Comments (6)

Jeff Zenner
Original Author
8 years ago
Ok, fine. Ill email you.
aegis1000
8 years ago
Tight crown photos ...

All of these would be problematic for me.

When I've experienced tight crowns (like this) in the past, it was always a symptom of something pretty sinister (i.e. mites ... or overfertilization).

I ended up tossing my plants with Mites ... and I eventually tossed those which had been overfertilized as well, ... because the crown was essentially ... burned out. And a healthy crown is essential to having any chance at a healthy African Violet.
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Jeff Zenner
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks aegis. Those look pretty gnarly. I would have had a concern for these too.

I was researching light requirements and doing some moving of plants within the shelves. Ive got some that want as much light as I can put to them and some right next to them that show issues w excess light.

It would appear that one of the symptoms of to much light is a crowded or tight crown. I thought w a little effort on my part, I could educate myself on what a "moderately" tight crown looked like so I could move that plant to a shelf w less light before it started looking anything like those in your pics.

I understand the concept, I just couldn't find any photos or attempts at explanations w regard to catching this problem early.

So far so good on the mites. Don't even want to think about them too hard just in case!
aegis1000
8 years ago
Here is a Gardenweb article that discusses the issues you may be facing ...

Crowns too tight ???

I have never blasted my plants with light. If anything, they don't get enough ...
Jeff Zenner
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks aegis. I had found that post during my research. Looking at the plants in the pictures, I have a few that look like those. Mostly the heavy, big girl leaf plants where I can't even see the crown.

In the interim I am cutting back on the amount of light for a few shelves. Not the amount of hours, just the amount of light. After a couple weeks, I should be able to notice a difference.

Im not treating a problem. I am attempting to avoid problems by early detection.
User
8 years ago
I worry about this too with new ones, but in my experience, it's always light and fertilizer. After one week with new soil, plain water, and some light, they open right up and start shooting up new healthy leaves. But this is for plants that look like Aegis' link on their second post, not like their photos on their first post.

I know that I have caused some new leaves to look like the first post by over-fertilizing (small, curled, light green). I feel bad every time, but it's also a way to know "hey, the plant doesn't like this". My Michele actually did this last month... oops.

It's also good to study multiple parts of the plant, not just one. I forget this! Most of my posts on here are from forgetting it. But just staring at the center or one leaf and not thinking about the plant's overall health will often have you worried about nothing.