Hi Yolanda!!!! When a violet "leans" it means it is not getting equal light on all sides. It needs to be turned every day or two to maintain equal growth.

A pix would help but If it is not leaning too much turn it so the side tilted "up" is toward the light. It should balance out.

If it is a lot of tilt, lift it out of the pot, trim the rootball on the bottom and top, reposition so it sits level again back in the pot and backfill. And don't forget to rotate every couple days.

If it has quite a long neck on it, cut the neck about an inch below the last leaves and restart the top! But keep taking care of the neck that is left in the pot. You will get suckers on it! Rosie

Rosie, all my AVs get turned every few days - at least twice a week. The tap root on this african violet is crooked. Should I cut it off and reroot it?

I will try to get pictures, but I am NOT the photographer and I need to get cooperation from the younger daughter.

Yolanda

I guess I don't understand what you mean by taproot. Are you talking about a long neck? Where leaves used to grow and now it is bare? If that is what you mean then my last paragraph of my post is the one you need. I guess I have to wait until pix to be certain. Rosie

Rosie, I mean the part of the root that you cut to let the roots fit into the new pot when repotting. It is said that the bottom of the roots should be cut off to allow the roots to fit when repotting.

Thanks, Yolanda

Let me see if I get this. You mean to take plant out of pot, cut off the bottom of the root ball let's say about an inch or whatever you need to sink the violet lower to cover up the bare trunk? Sure you can do that. New roots will form on the part of the bare trunk that is now under the soil. Just use your fingernail to gently scrape the trunk to stimulate roots to form. Did I get it right??? Rosie

Rosie, yes. I was just wondering if I can cut the root ball at an angle so that the crooked root sits straight in the pot when repotted.

Thanks, Yolanda

Yolanda, what you describe above is what I have done many times with success.

Ahhh,,,,,at last we are on the same page!!! Yes you can. I have done it many times when necessary! The only thing I would suggest is that you put it in a baggie to let it recover! Rosie

Rosie, Judy, I have never had very much success with putting the plant in a baggie. It seems to not do any better than being on my windowsill.

Thanks for the advice.

Yolanda

Do whatever works best for you. I usually just put the baggie over with the zipper part at the bottom of it but don't seal it up. I leave it open at the bottom so it doesn't rot. But do it however you feel comfortable! Good luck! Rosie

Rosie, thanks. I always tried the baggie with the zipper part open, but it did not seem to work for me. Thanks for the advice,

Yolanda

You're welcome! Do you have normally high humidity? Rosie

Rosie, we do not have high humidity normally. The home is heated in the winter. It has been raining every second day lately, and I suppose that the humidity may be high because of that. Lake Ontario is at the highest levels ever recorded. Why do you ask?

Yolanda

Well, if your house humidity was high, a plastic bag would not work well, it might make your "baby" rot. Just trying to figure it out. Rosie

Rosie, with the plastic bag, the babies did not seem to do anything. I eventually take the bag off, and figure why do it in the first place, if it does nothing,,

Just saying,

Yolanda

Yeah if it doesn't help you no sense doing it! Rosie

Hi Yolanda,

There's a blog post by Baby Violets, which can help you understand how exactly to pot up a long African Violet neck. It has great pictures walking you through the process of identifying the neck, removing plant from pot, cleaning neck and then potting up the neck/bare stem of plant.

https://www.babyviolets.com/how-to-bury-and-re-pot-african-violet-bare-stems-or-necks/

Hope its helpful.

Cooks.

Cooks, it was NOT so much the long neck. A long neck you can either scrape and pot deeper or you can cut it off to reroot. The neck is growing in a "J" shape and I wanted to somehow fix it so that the plant is straighter in the pot.

If you have advice on this, I am open.

Thanks,

Yolanda

Hi Yolanda,

Sorry for the delayed response. If its a J shaped neck and small in height, you can try to repot it the same way as a regular neck. If it will fit back into the same size pot or a slightly larger pot, then go ahead and clean up the neck as usual and pot it back up again. When you repot try to straighten it up a little, or angle it in a way that it comes out straight in the pot.

Otherwise if the neck is too big, then its best to re-start the plant again. Cut off the neck just below the crown and re-pot the crown in fresh soil, place in a sealed ziploc baggie and hopefully the plant will start to put out roots and will get settled in again.

Hope this helps. To avoid a crown forming a J shape, its best to routinely groom the plant and as soon as you notice a neck forming, start to take care of it, otherwise over time, the plant will get stressed out.

Cooks.

Cooks, thanks for your advice. I think this is relatively an older plant. I have had it for some time. The baggie thing never works for me. I think our house is on the humid side. It has been a cold wet spring, and the Great Lakes have increased water levels in them. It is what it is.

Thanks again.

Yolanda

Yolanda -

your observation is on the dot - if the plant has a crooked root - it will grow crooked no matter what. Especially on a windowsill - with light coming sideways - you turn it or not. If you start babies from a leaf - select the ones with straight roots - compost the rest.

If you have a light stand or even one grow light - where you can put your crooked plant under - that is the way to go - it will naturally grow towards the light - and straighten itself up. You can repot it - lets say every 4-6 months cutting a slice of the bottom of the rootball every time you repot, removing the lower row of leaves and adding the soil from the top - you will eventually get rid of the crooked root - and then you can move it back to the windowsill.

Or you can put 2-3 leaves down now - and restart this variety.

Good luck

I.

Hi Irina, hi all, I will take your advice. I have another Optimara Ontario II, which has a straight root, the sister plant. I will not be installing lights, as electric (hydro) power rates are high. They are lower, however, after 7:00 pm and on weekends. This does not help the AVs any. I will see if the next time I repot, I can cut the root ball at an angle to have the plant sit straighter in the pot. If it continues to grow a crooked tap root, I will toss it and take leaves from the plant with the straight tap root. They may be sisters, but sometimes it is the genes.

Just saying,

Yolanda