Hi OldDutch! I give my African violets eight hours of artificial light, the light being about eight inches away from the tops of the plants. I have a few African violets on my east-facing windowsill that get whatever sunlight the day brings. They are all Optimara varieties (except for my Rob's Humpty Doo sport), so they bloom pretty much year round, their biggest bloom being in late winter/early spring. Different varieties tend to need different light intensity for flowering. From what I understand, variegated varieties need the most light, and dark-leaved varieties need more light than light-leaved ones. I hope this helps!

Have a nice evening,

damask_rose_5 : )

Thanks. That sorta confirms what I was thinking.

None of my plants get natural light; it is all LED as close to full daylight strength as I can get on a timer with 16 hours on and 8 hours off. I have my garden seedlings very close to the bulbs

and my one lonely AV, plant green leaves with a nice pretty completely blue single flower, about 18" down. The seedlings are doing great. So is the African Violet. I keep it deadheaded and fertilize with weak MiracleGro in every watering. It only has a 3" pot so it dries out pretty quickly.

I have had problems getting AV to bloom or stay in bloom in the past, but this one, my only AV currently, was so full of flower in the SuperMarket I could not resist. Although that was a month ago and more it still has 8 flower stems blooming and 4 more coming out, and new leaves too. I wish I knew what I was doing right with this one!

Once I get my transplants out into the garden I will have some space to play with AVs and maybe some more hippeastrum sonatinis.

Hi OldDutch! My first African violets wouldn't bloom or grow for me either. After doing a little research I learned what I was doing wrong and I learned how to get my violets to bloom and thrive. There could be a variety of reasons that your first violets wouldn't bloom, it could be anything from not enough fertilizer to not enough light. I am glad that your current violet is blooming and thriving, it sounds like a beautiful plant too! Seems like you've found the recipe for success! Growing African violets is a wonderful hobby, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and then some. There are many beautiful varieties to choose from, and the blooms will give you joy year round. What country do you live in? If you live in the US, your violet is most likely an Optimara variety and you can identify it on this site: Optimara Varieties. If you would like any care tips, feel free to ask.

Enjoy your new hobby,

damask_rose_5 : )

Thank-you twice. The variety looks like Rebecca right down to the red reverse leaf. I don't dare get any more just now. The lights are already over crowded. :-(

One additional question: Do African Violets prefer to be root bound?

The rule is - the diameter of the pot should be about 1/3 of the diameter of the leaf rosette.

Second issue - the plant you get from the store is usually potted in a heavy overly peaty mix that is good for shipping [plants but too dense for them to grow happily afterwards. After your plant will finish blooming - you can repot it - get the correct size for it - you need to remove the older bottom leaves if they are looking tired or damaged, scrape some soil off the root ball - and use more appropriate soil with extra perlite added. Some people use a ready made AV soil adding perlite to it. some are happy with Promix Bx - also with a bit of extra perlite. I think Espoma soil is good too - also needs perlite added for aeration.

I am thinking you are on a right track and in no time... all your light shelves will occupied with happy violets.

Well, as much as there is a special place for AVs in my heart, they will have to share the lights with my Sonatini hippeastrums and currently with the sweet potato slips and the transplants for the vegetable garden at least for a while. I will baby my Rebecca as long as I can, but it will have to be an only child for a while. I am getting the kind of advice that I need though. Thank-you all very much.

Hi OldDutch! Your very welcome, I'm glad I could be of help. African violets do like to be root bound. I keep mine in 4 inch pots but if you disbud them for awhile then you can transplant them into 6 inch pots as the plant would have spent a lot more energy on growing than producing flowers. Personally I don't like disbudding because I don't like wasting any blooms, but it all depends on the size of plant you want. Most people disbud for African violet shows so they can control when the plants bloom and increase the bloom yield for that particular bloom cycle. Irina brings up a very good point about the soil. The soil that Optimara uses is very heavy, and can eventually cause root rot because it holds water too long and is dense which makes it hard for African violet roots to grow, (violet roots grow in the air pockets in the soil and can't push through dense soil). When your violet is done blooming you can pot it any of the mixes recommended above mixed with 50% perlite. (I use MiracleGro African Violet Potting Mix with 50% perlite). I looked up a picture of Rebecca on the myViolet website and it is a stunning violet! I have never seen this variety in any of the stores near me, it is an excellent find! The amaryllis sound lovely too. I have some growing outside (they are about to bloom!) but I have never been able to get them to do good inside for more than one season.

Have a nice day,

damask_rose_5 : )

As far as I know Rebecca is a standard AV, you can potentially grow it to 18 inches diameter - very soon your sweet potato statrtedr will relocate outside and you will have space - to fit 6" pot. It can be done if you disbud it for a while, feed it well and remove the suckers - lets say for 4 months at least - it is how the show people condition their violets. All energy will be devoted to the rosette =, the leaves will grow large and juicy, and when you eventually let it bloom - it will give you a very full head of blossoms. Even if you are not a show person - juts for the experiment it is worth doing once. Otherwise - probably 12" diameter s a good size and 4" pot is plenty.

If you use wicking - Damask rose 5 sol recipe will work well, if you keep it on a saucer and water by hand - you go for less perlite - but every house is different - and uyou need to experiment which proportion works for you - the soil should be loose and barely-moist - never soggy, Too much perlite can make soil dry too fast. Repotting is good, if you do it without disturbing a rootball too much = may be trim the bottom so the neck gets buried - and scrape the sides and the top with a fork - to loosen the soil - your Rebecca will reward you with a new flush of bloom in a next 1-2 months.

I just thought about the length of the light day and triggering bloom. First - Saintpaulia is from the regions pretty close to equator - so - 12 hours day/night - is normal. No triggering by the day length. On the other side - they bloom the best in spring - even under the light - and slow in the late fall - so they feel the changes of the season - and they should because their vblooming and fruiting cycle is tied to the rainy season. WHy the seedpod takes 9 months to mature - because after the end of bloom - in 9 minths the next rain season starts and miniscule seeds will travel with runoff and hopefully hatch somewhere - in a dry conditions they do not have a chance.

Anyway - you will get more bloom if you will give them light for 12 hours than if you give them 8 - they just accumulate more energy.

Thanks Irina. The sweet potatoes won't go out here in Minnesota until almost the end of May; so we got some time yet. The head of flowers on that little plant just keeps filling in. I am amazed.

I like the flowers and they just keep coming.

BTW my light timer is set for 16 hours on 8 off. I need that for my garden transplants and all three banks are daisy chained on the one timer.

What a beauty! Well-grown too, just look at all those flowers!

Rebecca has pretty much stopped sending out new flower stems and has a nice set of new leaves developing under the blooms that remain. She is still pretty heavy in flower but is starting to wind down.

Blooming takes an enormous amount of resources. We can say - thank you , Rebecca - now rest, feed and grow.

She is already close to a foot across, ready I suppose to move up out of her 3" pot, although she seems to be real comfortable there. (a foot is a bit of an exaggeration but not by much)

When your blue girl will be done with blooming - pop it out of the pot - remove the lower 1 or 2 rows of leaves - the decision is made based on the color leaf stalks - petioles - whe old they become pale. Scrape the root ball on all sides - gently - juts to remove the loose soil. The pot I would think be appropriate for this variety - 4 inches - so when you remove the longest leaves - it probably would be just right. Sprinkle half inch of soil on the bottom - stick it in - if you see that you cannot cover the bare stem so the soil level is quarter oof an inch or about - uder the last leaves - get the root ball out - take a knife - and slice a disk off the bottom until it will be just right- stick it in a pot and fill the sides and the top with a fresh soil. The soil can be AV soil with added perlite - or Promix BX with added perlite - or any decent houseplant soil with peat and perlite but no wood chips. with added perlite.

The main thing - the less you disturb the plant - the easier it will be for your pretty girl to catch up and keep growing. You have time to thik about the soil and the pot. Just do not go for double ceramics... they are tricky. Good plastic azalea type pot will be just right. Some have large holes - you can put a piece of a used dryer sheet on the bottom.

Good luck.

I.

Hi Irina, I got tied up with my vegetable garden and never got around to repoting Rebecca. She sets about 18" below a double quad 4' LED bank that I used successfully for my garden plants. And now she is sending out half a dozen new flower stems. They seem to be staying under the leaves, however. They should pop out on their own, shouldn't they? Or are they perhaps getting too much light? It's barely been less than a month and that seems like a very short rest period.

Hi, Irina, so happy to see you here. It seems two other new members to the forum also got Rebecca ( or is it the revised Connecticut)? I must say, i could not resist and picked one up myself. It is extraordinary. It rested briefly then rebloomed a large cluster of large-size blooms. Optimara did a good job on this one.

Joanne

Old Dutch. That is how AVs bloom. They will soon pop out above the leaves.

47 If I had the patience I would have found out. Rebecca has built as full a head of flowers this time as she had about a month ago. Another full crown! I posted a current picture on the 'Rebecca of Sunny Bench Farm' discussion here in the AV list.

Old Dutch, I did see that other striking photo. The AV does seem to be doing beautifully.

I recently got a similar one in lighter blue called Connecticut. It bloomed the same as yours. Optimara did a very good job on developing those growing traits with jumbo size flowers.

I know you said you are growing an only child. But I daresay, they prefer the company of a companion of their own species. However, as long as it is near other growing plants, it should be ok, if lonely.