It depends on what your question really is...if you're asking do you need self-watering pots to grow African violets, the answer is emphatically "no."

These must be some artistic creations, one would assume at that price! If you love them and you can well afford them, there is nothing wrong with it - although self-watering pots' function is much affected by how they were made, and if you have heavy minerals in your water it can clog up the pores in the liner pot to the point where it stops wicking up the water in the reservoir pot...so they can be a bit tricky and need some monitoring to make sure the potting mix is not too wet nor too dry.

That said, there are lots of alternatives to caring for your AV's: they can be top watered or bottom watered (as long as you don't allow them to sit in water longer than half an hour or so;) they can be mat watered or wick watered. People get very creative using recycled containers for wicking AV's. You might want to do some searches and read up on watering practices in general.

Then, when you go to your BB store, make sure you buy from a fresh shipment a plant that looks to be in good condition. The potting soil that your AV will be in at that point is not ideal for self-watering pots, usually solid peat. You'll want to remove as much of that soil as possible and re-plant in a good potting mix with extra perlite added for soil aeration.

I'm sure others will chime in, but in the meantime here is a excellent link to read more about watering and pot types for AV's: FAQ, Joyce Stork, AVSA

Thanks for the link, and as I am a novice at growing african violets, I think I will cancel my order. They pots are beautiful, but my main objective was ease of taking care of them.

Delora, I think you should cancel your order too. When you're done, come back here and use the search feature. You will get so many ideas that you won't know where to start. Most are inexpensive (at least to start with)!

Good luck and enjoy the hobby! Be careful though; it may become more than a hobby!

I would say "cancel".

If you're new to African Violets, you really need to understand their basic watering needs before trying an automatic system.

Even with an automatic system, sometimes the watering will be off, and you'd have to be able to recognize that and make the necessary adjustments.

For the most part, the objective is to keep the soil damp, but not wet, occasionally letting the soil dry out for a day or so.

Too dry is better than too wet.

The easiest way to kill an AV is to overwater it.

Hi Delora! Yes by all means cancel that order. And one other thing, research before you make that kind of purchase and then,,,,,,we will be very happy to enable you further!!! Rosie