There are no such things as baby plants. They're just small plants and don't require anything different than any other stage really. That being said, a balanced might be best to use to stimulate vegetative growth, which means anything with the ratio of 1-1-1. There's no difference between 7-7-7 and 20-20-20 other than how much you mix in the water.

Chances are no matter what you do with regards to fertilization (if not over fertilizing and burning), it won't make too much difference.

I would say that very young plants often cannot use all the fertilizer available - the photosynthesis factory is not working yet on a full blast. The second issue - the AV soil we use - most of the time is preloaded with fertilizer - so when you separate your leaf pot and move your babies into the separate little pots - they already have more fertilizer than they need.

You can often see brownish crystals of fertilizer exudate on young plantlets - and not that often - on the adult plants.

So - I think it is OK to withhold fertilizer for a while when you use a preloaded AV soil - on boh young and adult plants. Month? I am lucky to have an access to the soil which is made from scratch - no fertilizer added (violetshowcase.com) so I do not have this problem. Regarding the dose - right now you are using 1/5 of a teaspoon per gallon - your Miracle Grow - which is a very mild dose. I think you are good.

There is no exact recipe for every climate and every home. When somebody is asking - I am watering once a week every Saturday - is it right? I want to tell this grower - how do I know? Use your index finger and check your soil. If it is summer - and your soil is bone dry on Thursday - do it every 5days. If it is a fall - and your AV is still wet on Saturday - wait several days and use your index finger again.

Feeding them too much is bad - if we wouldn't overeat - we wouldn't have a lot of health problems. Feeding the plants not enough - will slow them down - but otherwise much less damage done. Watch your plants - if they are growing well and no orange brown crystals on the young leaves evident - you are good. If they are present - wash the plants with a lukewarm water - top and leach the rootball - and decrease the dose.

I do not like Miracle gro that much because it has urea. Dyna-grow bloom is overloaded with phosphorus. Optimara and DynaGro foliage will work better - they are urea free.

But - in a long run - may be it is not the best diet - but they will live - as long a you are not overfertilizing and burning them - just as DBarron says. Keep the solution light.

And do not buy anything "BLOOM" anymore. Ever. Even the one you are using now - at least alternate it with Miracle Gro. Like 1 time Bloom - 3 times Gro.

Bloom fertilizers are formulated to stimulate the bloom on finished adult plants. Just before a sale or show. And probably at the overall expence on the health of the plant. Balanced fertilizers - just as DBarron says - work the best. You grow a happy plant - it blooms no matter what. May be not on time for the Show.... But the plant will be healthier and will live longer.

Thanks for your messages. Forgot to mention, the soil I use has no fertilizer. I use the pro mix peat moss bx (or coco peat moss) + perlite with no additives.

Thank you for your suggestions, I will consider the optimara or dyna gro and wont use the dyna gro bloom.

I havent noticed any orange or brown crystals so far. I water every 2 weeks, they are under a dome or in plastic baggies as the temp outside are down to 30F and the plants are in my basement, where its around 65-70F under the domes.

I have few which are wicked in trays on capillary mats and few just in trays without.

For now its been 6 months and the plants are growing slow, so thought of changing my fertilizer dose and type of fertilizer.

thanks once again,

Cooks.

Well at six months, they *should* be more than half-way to maturity and not really 'babies' at all. In fact, if well grown, you should start seeing bloom stalks within the next three months.

I doubt I will see bloom stalks in 3 months. I have been irregular with fertilizer (once a month or twice). There have been a few dry/wet cycles with watering too.

I will start with the low dose of fertilizer every alternate week and see how that works. Will also keep an eye out to not water too much.

This is what they currently look like. These were potted up in May. In Sept they were still quite small, I then potted them up in fresh soil, with layer of perlite at bottom and added wicks. They are still in that same soil and with wicks.

Thanks,

Cooks

Something is wrong. Since May they should be blooming. What is your light?

Lights:

My lights are Phillips 40-watt 4ft T12 cool white plus linear fluorescent light bulbs 10 pack model# 226068 and 40-Watt 4 ft. T12 Cool White Supreme 4100K ALTO Linear Fluorescent Light Bulb (10-Pack). They were bought in 2012 and I am still using them, its been 6 years.

I have 2 shoplights on each shelf, so total 4 bulbs- the trays are vertical to the bulbs (so I can fit 4 trays on one shelf).

1) 4 Trays have distance 6-7" from bulb to top of plant

2) 4 Trays have distance 7-8" from bulb to top of plant.

I have lost a few bulbs in the past year. Do you think its time to change out these bulbs?

Domes:

Some trays are in larger humidity domes and some in smaller domes. I have the top vent open.

Humidity / Temperature: (measured in Nov inside the domes)

1) Top Shelf-small dome - Humidity 70%, Temp 65F

2) Top Shelf - large dome - Humidity 72%, Temp 68F

3) Middle shelf- large dome - Humidity 69%, Temp 70F

4) Bottom shelf-small dome- Humidity 66%, Temp 67F

5) Bottom shelf- large dome - Humidity 67% Temp 69F

Any help is appreciated,

Thanks,

Cooks.

The plants are a mix of semi-minis, minis and standards in all trays, so the distance is just the same for all.

I have heard that semi minis and minis need to be closer to the light and standards further away. Do I need to separate them out according to size?

Just a thought,

Cooks

I don't grow with lights, but I believe I heard something once that efficiency drops off sharply in some short period, like 9 months? Maybe someone who actually does lights has a better handle.

They should be growing like weeds with these lights. What about watering? With bottom watering it is easy to overwater and underwater - both is not good. I am thinking you are due to a home visit from some expert. Another pair of eyes can be helpful.

To check your light level - find some APP for you cell phone that measures the luxes or foot candles. Lightmeter is the code word. It uses your built in photocamera sensors - and though it is not as precise a $300 gadget professionals use - it will give us a ball park. Most of these APPs are either free or very inexpensive.

Right now - these young plants either in suspended animation - or dying out.

Next things - minimum and maximum temperatures - the cheapest garden thermometer is in Walmart - something like $9.95 - it will show ups and downs in a last 24 hours. Water. Do you have issues with water - can it be too alkaline or high on dissolved solids? This info is usually available through the local water district - you can call them. Presence of chlorine or chloramine in water - they shoud tell you.

Thing is - they do not do anything since last May - you either figure out what is serously wrong - or just put them out of their misery. You are paying electric bills, buying fertilizer, wasting your time - and they do not do squat.

Next try - if you take one tray, use your best fertilizer, make sure that it is under the good light, use store bought water and a Miracle grow fertilizer, so far it is your best one, and make sure that your watering is just so - no sogging and no crisping - an I do not think you need a dome for it - they are rooted already. If you will see that this tray will start growing better - it is a start.

Thanks Irene, for the detailed reply. I will try to find an app to measure light. Will also try to find a thermometer which records temp over a 24hr period. The one I have just measures the current temp/ humidity.

My water is from the municipality, on the water quality report they dont mention presence of chloramine, they just say residual chlorine which is 3.4 mg/L (not much). I am not sure of the water pH, will have to ask. Though my mature plants are doing quite well, I think. These are pics of mature ones. Its just the transplanted plants which have an issue.

I do keep these mature plants under domes too, as the ambient temp in my basement is 50F and humidity is around 30%. Usually year round, except few weeks in summer, all my plant stay under domes. Is that ok?

I havent been able to find the Miracle Gro fertilizer in our local stores, I think they stopped making the African Violet liquid food. I did find, a powder fertilizer (20-20-20) which I had a bought about 10yrs ago, which I can still use. It was in an airtight container and seems fine.

I tried that on one of my trays, lets see, if I see a difference. Thanks once again for all your help. Yes, your right, I should have someone else look at them.

regards,

Cooks.

My first guess - you do not keep your lights on 24/7? So as soon as the lights go down... the temperature under the domes starts dropping... until it reaches 50F.

If I am correct - it is your answer.

There are Gesneriads that will thrive in your conditions - high elevation montane forest ones. You have a chance to grow and bloom Saintpaulia goetziana... it requires cool temperatures... But - for AVs - you need night temperatures above 65F for them to thrive. Every so often lower is OK - but if they hit 50F every night... no surprise that they are not thriving. Even your mature plants do not look happy at all.

It is OK to keep the AVs under the domes - when you start them, later - they are OK with 40-50% ambient humidity - which is possible to achive around the plants if you keep your plants on mats and wicks.

The cold is something that is not going to go away - some people manage - put heating mats under the trays, cover the plant stand with plastic and run light at the night time.

You can always order a better fertilizer on internet.

What I would think you need to consider - limit your collection of AVs to the amount you can keep upstairs - and grow them for your enjoyment. Unless you are ready to go for the expense of running heating downstairs. It is probably doable to cut in into existing air ducts - depending where your furnace is.

Good luck

I.

That seems a likely reason for what we're seeing, Irina. Good detective work. Petrocosmeas are also probably a good choice.

thanks Irina, that is very helpful. I really appreciate it. Yes, the lights are on from 8am-8pm. They are off at night. I do have separate thermostats for upstairs and downstairs. At night, its set at 65F.

First of all I will find a temperature gauge which can measure temp over a 24hr period (min/max) as you mentioned, then figure out how it fluctuates on colder nights.

I have seen many people cover there stands in plastic or reflective covers, will look into those. Might be an added expense....lets see. I do have heating mats, which I use for my vegetable seedlings, I can experiment with one tray, if I see a difference.

Will post back in a month, to let you know how things went,

regards,

Cooks.

I think you will know better after you actually measure high and low temperature in your growing area - preferably on a lower shelf. If your nights are 67F it will probably be allright - but I suspect that the sensor of the thermostat is not showing the real picture. If your night temperature is significantly lower - you can switch the lights to 8pm - 8am regime - in this case it will cost you the same - and will warm the shelves. You can always turn the lights on while you are there - and turn them off when you are going back to the main level.