Laurie - if you restart your hobby in a way you are comfortable with - and experiment on wicking or any other technique using just a couple plants until you get it adjusted for your conditions - you will keep it under control.

For some growers wicking works, for some - not that well - most common mistakes - using a regular heavy AV soil - while you need to add a lot of perlite to have it very light. The second hurdle - is the wicks - too thick, too thin, drying up, drowning plants...etc.

I do not think there is A BOOK that covers everything. But if you search youtube Wicking African Violets - you probably find quite a collection of information. There is always good stuff in AV Magazine.

There are people from WI on this forum - and check on the clubs in your area.

Try - take pics - ask questions. We are here.

And Welcome Back

Irina

I can added a few things to that...all based on my recent experiences with inexperience :-)

If you don't want to wick: I find bottom watering to be simple and easy when I have plants that aren't wicked (yet). Using a deep cereal bowl, pour about an inch of weak fertilizer solution into it, then set the plant down into it for about 30 minutes. (A baking tray can be used for a couple at a time.) The top soil should be mildly damp. Let it sit on a newspaper for a little while so the excess water can drain.

Basically for me to get started I always followed guidelines for bottom watering using urea-free fertilizer solution each time, and was certain to meet the light requirements, and I never had an issue with (re-)blooming. (and Later...repotting. and grooming for suckers. and soil. and treatments. and more to come... but all later.)

For general overview -
http://www.optimara.com/africanvioletcare1.html (Start here!)

More briefly -
https://www.violetbarn.com/plant_care/

For more depth, there are good beginner articles here if you're so inclined -
http://avsa.org/learning

The reference book I wish I had when I started with my first violets -
http://avsa.org/node/102
It is Not just for exhibiting -- it covers all the general basics, too. Nice to have a book to thumb through.

For more resources, definitely the youtube videos and GardenWeb. Make sure to bookmark both when you find something worthwhile to reference again. My problem was that I didn't do bookmarks and was impatient to get started with something, so mistakes were made in several instances when they shouldn't have been. (Realistically, I expect mistakes to keep coming for years.)

Finally, keep logs on each violet from the start, even using a scratch pad or Rosie's old index card system is better than nothing.

Hope some of that helps.

Rosie here! Yes, index cards work for the technology challenged! (that would be ME)! Welcome back!!!!

My advice would be to also "search" the prior posts to find great info for anything you want to know! Rosie

Thank you so much!

I bought an unnamed purple mystery violet yesterday. It's in pretty good shape and came from a reputable local greenhouse, but it ALSO has a future sucker and one leaf that needed to come off already, so I've already got multiple violets on hand.

There's an AV club that meets just a couple of blocks from my home, but in the middle of a weekday. That's okay now that I'm looking for employment, but hopefully won't be as helpful once I have a full time gig. But by then I'll have made contacts. :)

L.

I now have two suckers and one leaf in a pot of soil that is in a plastic bag. And we're off!

You go Schwamm!!!!! Rosie

I used the identification tool that Optimara provides on their website (generic unlabeled AV is almost always Optimara, right?), and I'm pretty sure it's this one: http://www.myviolet.com/view_varieties.php?id=43

Which is the name of one of my nieces. :) The flowers are just so sweet.

I've dug out my old grow lamp. I'm sure the bulbs are too old, but it is putting out better light than I am getting here in Wisconsin, now!

Love that beautiful purple color Laurie. Was a good choice!

I have (had) 2 just like it but mine don't have a red reverse leaf. So I'm stuck with just labeling them as my Purple 1 and Purple 2 noids. Works for me. :-)

I had a bittersweet parting with Purple 2 as she was brought to a holiday party as a hostess gift. Everyone loves that color when they see it -- great for gifting.

Correction on that: According to FC2, my Purple 1 noid is likely an Evelyn, like yours. It looks like the myViolet leaf color description is wrong. FC2's foliage description says Plain.

Innnnnnnteresting! Mine definitely has the red reverse...

Hi Travis and Welcome!!!! Hold on to them babies! I think we are having a good Round robin come decent shipping weather. If last year's RR was any indication, a lot of people were very happy with it! Good luck! Rosie

@Laurie yes that Is interesting. Not that a noid in this case could be entered into a show as anything other than a noid, but that leads me to another question. When it comes to named violets as show entries, who has the last word on which is the correct description for a violet -- FC2 or the hybridizer?

@Travis in WI -- jump in, share pics, what's blooming on your shelves?! :-)

So.... I think I have a problem with Felis catus. Thanks, guys!

I'm not sure if this is better or worse than my late cat, who used to very delicately nip off all of the flowers. I'd wake in the morning to headless stalks.

I like how this photo manages to capture the light striping that appears on the flowers. So pretty!

I don't know anything about the cat, he didn't do this damage, those are old blossoms and should come off. Along with any others that look the same way. Make way for newer blossoms! Rosie

@Travis Hello, fellow Wisconsinite! I'm south central, but I'll be up in central Wisconsin for a weekend in mid-April. Right now I just have the one noid, but maybe I'll have something interesting to trade by then. :)

@dviolet1 Yes, that's my question, too! One would think the hybridizer would notice the red reverse, but why the two systems differ is a mystery.

Hybridizer submits the descriptions to Joe Bruns, the Registrar, who enters them into FC2 and publishes the new names in AV magazine. So if it is red reverse in FC2 - it was entered by hybridizer.

If the light is on a low side - red reverse can be less expressed. If the light is high - even light leaf violets will show some pink on the reverse.

Another issue - we all know that AV sport. If they bloom not to the description. But sporting can involve the change in leaves as well.

Actually it was described as 'plain' in FC2, and red reverse on Optimara's site.

Regardless, that's very interesting -- did not know that leaves can sport, or that light levels can affect the reverse coloring.

Both. Sometimes you start separating the pot - and out of 10 babies one will come up with dark leaves instead of light - or vice versa - and one with birthmarked leaves. These are to be discarded. (Unless you are curious...)

Very high light can stimulate the production of anthocyanins - purple pigments- to protect the tissues from extra light - kind of sunscreen. It will darken the leaves - and the reverse will be splotchy purple instead of light green,

Dark leaves already have enough sunscreen - so they take more light - and eventually start bleaching - probably with mild burns on a surface that will produce some cork-like tissue - will work as a sunscreen as well.

So...... Things are happening.

The baby violets are doing great in their baggie. I might not let them out until the momma is doing better. Looks like powdery mildew, maybe?

Yep, looks like PM to me. Spray em down and then find a way to get some air moving around your plants.

I took away the teacup of water I had for extra humidity, and I've left the ceiling fan on all day in that room.

Doctor Optimara suggests Lysol for a first treatment (http://www.optimara.com/doctoroptimara/diagnosis/powderymildew.html), and Wikipedia suggests diluted milk works, which is hilarious (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powdery_mildew#Management). I do have milk on hand.....

Immunox Spectracide.

Milk works as a preventive... kinda. Lysol... some people like it - but it seems more as a preventive too. I had a PM magnet AV - I soaked it in Lysol - and it always came back.... in a week. I retired this variety,

Well, I applied Bonide Copper Fungicide (a copper soap product), and it seems to have knocked down just about everything! I did pluck off two leaves that didn't improve as much of the rest of the plant, but I'm pretty hopeful, now. I figure I'll treat it again next Friday, and that should do... I hope!

Thanks for the advice! :)