African Violets: America's Number One House Plant

African violets are easy to grow, and satisfying because they are so free flowering.

Overwatering is the most common problem. They do not need any special lighting -- a little filtered early morning light is sufficient, though they respond well to fluorescent light.

A few tips:

~ Use small pots as they flower best when they are root-bound. Remove suckers so that there is only one plant per pot.

~ Water from the bottom to avoid water spots on the leaves.

~ Set them in a saucer filled with pebbles and water for humidity. The water should not reach the bottom of the pots.

~ Use an African violet potting soil and feed every two weeks with African violet food or an acid plant food, as MirAcid.

~ Visit our home site at http://www.avsa.org

Q. My African violet has the outer leaves brown and drooping. It is in a window with the blind half open, and I stuck Jobe's sticks into the soil, two per 4-inch pot. What can I do to save it?

A. Your AV is in trouble. I want you to take it out of that soil in which it was planted for sale. The commercials tend to use soil that is not the best for AVs and light enough for good growth and bloom. We find it necessary to repot them shortly after purchase.

Buy a packaged AV soil mix and add in equal parts of both vermiculite and perlite. Allow your plant to dry for several days, so that when you shake it gently a lot of the soil will fall off. Try not to injure the roots [that is why the dry soil works better...it tends to fall off rather than break off in chunks!]

Pot the plant in a clean 4-inch pot, maintaining the same soil line as before, but not pressing the soil down [compacting]. Remove off any dead or browned leaves, right up to the main stem. Water in well into a sink and place back where you had it. If the sunlight does not shine directly through the blinds, it may be better to open them fully. Surprisingly, they love a lot of light, just not right onto their foliage.

Remove those fertilizer sticks and feed at 1/4 teaspoon per gallon water every other watering. After an adjustment period, your plant should begin to grow well and bloom again. Just do not water unless the soil is dry to the touch.

More Thoughts on African Violets:

Light:
Are the plants getting good, indirect light, about a half day at least, through other leaves, sheer curtains or blinds? They need a lot of soft light to produce the chlorophyll which makes the leaves green. Without it, they turn yellowish, brown and die.

Fertilizer:
AVs are heavy feeders. They like food once a week very dilute, as 1/4 to 1/8 teaspoon per gallon water. Even feeding gives good even growth and darker foliage. The other parts of the mix are needed for blossom and root production. Even watering and drying between applications is necessary, too. Miracle-Gro, Schultz, SpoonIt, Optimara and Hyponex are a few of the popular brands you can find easily.

Soil Mix and Repotting.:
How long have they gone without new soil? It gets tired and salts build up, thus causing the plants to look sickly over the course of time. Once a year is the bare minimum for time between repottings. If the plants have grown quite a bit, pot up one size in diameter only as a 3" to a 4". If the plant is about the same, after you remove the outer poor leaves, repot into a clean pot of the same size. Use fresh, rich AV potting mix to which you have added more perlite and vermiculite to lighten the soil mix. Many mixes contain no soil, only peat and additives. These are very good.

Try these three factors and you will see an improvement.

Q. How can I get the nice big flowers back on my African violet plants? Some of my plants have got big thick leaves and the flowers are quite small. I fertilize them about every second week with Schultz African violet fertilizer and a lot of the plants look not too bad, but still have small flowers. What am I doing wrong?

A. What you need to do is repot the plants. The soil mix which we receive when buying the plants in the stores is not well-suited for violets. It is way too heavy and retains moisture and salts readily.

Allow the pots to dry for a couple days. Knock out the plants and lay on paper. Gently shake loose some of that soil. Make certain that you have only one plant in each pot. They have a tendency to multiply and this leads to small or no flowers. Separate them into single plants.

Pot into new plastic pots using an African violet potting mix from a garden center or nursery, but emend with some perlite and vermiculite, one-third of each ingredient. Plant them at the same level which they were growing, keeping all leaf stems above the soil line, unless the plant has developed a neck. In that case, gentle rub off the dead brown skin and sink the plant lower, so that roots will grow from the buried stem.

Water in well, drain and give them a window with good morning sun and no direct rays. Protect from the PM sunlight. Begin feeding them lightly after one month. Use Optimara, Miracle-Gro or Peters for best results. Some packets mention its use for African violets. Set the pots in saucers with fine pebbles and allow water to sit inside as long as the bottom of the pot is above the water. This increases humidity.

Q. What is the best way to get rid of cyclamen mites on AVs? Will Neem do it? Don't want to use Kelthane if possible.

A. Neem has had mixed results. The Best Way is to discard all your AVs. Whenever you bring a new plant into your growing area, isolate it far away from any members of your collection. Keep it there for observation for at least 2 months, checking the foliage, flowers and root system, since bugs can get to any of these spots and do!

Kelthane is the second best method. It is toxic and must be used with special care. Follow the directions well, wear rubber gloves, open windows for good air circulation and reapply weekly for one month.

Many growers are getting an expensive granule called Marathon. It is like Dexol only stronger. It is applied 1/4 teaspoon per 4" pot or 1/8 teaspoon per smaller pot, on the surface and gently watered in so as to get into the soil, but not all the way out the bottom drainage holes. It is applied once a month for three months. I have not had cyclamen mites for over 15 years [knock on wood] so do not know its effectiveness, but the list I belong to [and you are welcome to join] has members who swear by it. It is about $25 per 1/2 pound, and I am unsure where you can purchase it. Go to our home site:

www.avsa.org/

Click on Vendors and search through them for supplies. Several have a complete list of their products while others you can email for a catalog, or if they charge, write them including a check.

To subscribe to an online African violet information group, send an email to:

AVInternational-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Q. I read a tip once of putting a rusty nail in the soil of African violet plants. It is unbelievable how that works. I never fertilize them now and on one of my purple ones I had the most incredible bouquet of gorgeous flowers bursting from the top!

A. Whatever works for you, but the nail is giving off iron which is needed by most plants. It does in no way substitute for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which are the three main needs of plants. That is why you see formulas with three numbers. They are listed in the above order, as percentages of the food.

Nitrogen is needed for good growth, mainly foliage. Phosphorus is beneficial for flowering, fruiting and seeding, and potassium is best for the overall health of the plant system including the roots. In the long run, the nail will not be able to supply these needs and the plants will suffer. The plants also live off the nutrients in the potting mix, but deplete that in time, so repotting is necessary at least as often as once a year, better twice a year, using fresh mix from a store.

It is so easy to apply constant feed using an African violet food. Please check out our international website at: www.avsa.org/ for cultural information of all sorts.

Siwaraya writes~
My violets were under someone else's care for two weeks. When I returned, there were no more flowers. This was a month ago. How do I encourage flowers to bloom? I've read African violets are perennial plants.

A. African violets are indeterminate as to age. They live as long as the care is proper. They do not die back as an annual or perennial. They are a house plant with no set life span.

Flowering is due to several factors. Fertilizer, water, light and soil mix. One or more could be deficient or improper.

Most growers are not aware that they need food just like we do, and I do not mean once every once in a while when remembered. A regular feeding every two weeks is best for continued flowering. Give them Optimara, Hyponex, SpoonIt, DynaGro or Miracle-Gro. Follow the label directions carefully.

Water them only when the potting medium surface is dry to the touch. Then, drench well into a saucer and empty it. Do not allow to sit in water or they will rot. Avoid splashing water onto foliage because it will spot from the light. One watering method is bottom watering, that is, placing water in the saucer and allowing the plant to absorb what it wants for a half hour and then discarding excess.

Give them very good indirect light. They do not bloom in the shade. Never allow sun to shine directly on them unless it is in the very early AM or very late PM. Provide other plants for shade, or use blinds or sheer curtains. Do not allow them to get hot in a window for they will cook.

Potting mix must be light and well-drained. Add vermiculite and perlite to purchased AV potting mix, all three in equal parts. Never press the soil down. Repot plants every six months at the minimum. Bury any plant neck [stem] but peel off the brown scale of dead skin to allow new roots to sprout from it into the medium. A portion of the bottom roots may have to be trimmed off to enable the plant to fit back into the pot. Most AVs like growing in 4" pots, but as they mature, you may pot up to 5" or 6", but use shallow pots, also called bulb or azalea pots.

Turn plants to give all sides equal light. Remove any dead flowers and stems, yellow or brown leaves, and keep an eye for common pests as mealy bug, cyclamen mite, and blossom thrips. Treat as directed with an insecticide for AVs.

Member Shawna writes~
You mentioned removing sucklings on AV's in your gardening tips. How do you do this?

A. Now, do you mean suckers or side shoots? They are two different growths.

Suckers:
These are the little growths which appear in the axils of the plants, that is where the leaf stem means the main trunk or neck. They are tiny, then start to grow, first with two leaves, then more! If left on the plant, they will become a growth which will turn your plant into a shrub, a multicrowned plant. This is not good since it cuts down on the light and energies. Eventually the bush will become so dense it will bloom rarely, and look pretty awful, too!

Use a tiny pointed shape blade as a pick or a knife tip [Exacto knives work well]. Go in carefully and cut around the sucker. Snap it out and remove. You can pot it up in its own medium. Try using a propagation mix first as it will not have roots. Mix 50% each vermiculite and perlite.

Side shoots:
Sometimes a plant's roots will send up another plant from below the soil surface. It will be independent of the main plant, though sometimes the stems are slightly fused and the root systems enmeshed. Take the plant out of the pot, let dry a little to be able to shake loose some soil, and separate the two plants by hand. Pot up each in its own clean pot. Try not to break leaves and roots, though sometimes it is inevitable.

Ginger writes~
I was given an African Violet and she told me to put in East window, put water with fertilizer in saucer every three days. It has quit blooming. I use the Miracle Grow for violets and add to gallon of water to feed them. Help, please.

A. It sounds to me that you are on the right track. Be aware that African violets do take rests which vary in the length of time. The East window is good, as long as the sun does not shine directly on them for more than a few minutes. They love lots of light though, just not beating on their foliage and accompanied by heat.

Fertilizing is essential for blooms. If you are following the directions on the label, you are fine. You can give them 1/2 strength every watering, or full strength every other watering.

I do not know how long the plant has been in that pot and mix. Many times a plant will stop blooming for a long time because it needs repotting. Knock it out of the pot and look at the root ball. Are there a lot of roots circling the edge of the mix? If so, it needs repotting.

Use clean pots, and go up one inch in diameter if the plant looks pretty large for its current pot. Make sure that only one plant is in the pot. Many times violets split and you must divide them and grow separately. Take a look at the neck, or main stem, of the plant. Is it visible and have brown dead skin on it? If so, gently scrape the skin off and when you repot, sink the plant down so that the neck is covered, but none of the leaves go down into the soil mix, or they will rot.

Now, the mix you use should be fresh and light. A bag of special potting mix is fine as long as you add in equal, portions vermiculite and perlite, so it is a 1:1:1: mixture, a third of each ingredient.

Feel free to stop by and Ask Me a New Question and also visit our home site:

www.avsa.org

for lots of info!

Member Ardie writes~
I would like to know if you could tell me why some of the leaves on my African Violets have white spots on them and some are turning completely white. I would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Thank you.

A. The white spots could be from salts. Have you watered the pots very well in a sink, so that the water flushes out the bottom for a minute? Salts from the fertilizers build up in the root ball and show themselves as white spots on the foliage, as the water they exude evaporates, the white salts remain.

They could also be bits of foliar mealy bug. Are they spreading? If so, you will need to treat with an insecticide. They form white egg nests on the leaves and in the cracks where the leaves meet the main stem or neck of the plant.

Mildew also shows as a mess of white spots. Keep the foliage dry. Allow the moisture from a plant to evaporate in good light during the day, coupled with good air circulation. Moisture on the foliage can lead to this fungus and it can destroy plants. You may need to use a fungicide if the problem is bad. Remove and discard any diseased portions.

Member Pat writes~
I have several hybrid African violets. Two of them have developed hard, stunted, moldy growth centers. The plant doesn't seem to suffer from this malady as a whole, however, it doesn't bloom and there is no growth generally. When I first saw this happening I tore out the spoiled part. I thought I had given it too much fertilizer, but that did not change the plants condition at all.

A. You have one of two problems:
The first is what you suspected. Too much fertilizer. The only way to cure your plant of this is to break off some of the soil ball when plant is a bit dry and replace with a lighter mix with added perlite. Water well with water for several weeks as needed to flush out the salts and get rid of the poisons. Then, give them weak food solutions every so often until the plant returns to normal growth.

The second possibility is cyclamen mite. It produces a hard crisp hairy stunted center which never allows new growth to appear. Eventually the entire crown will die and the plant will cease to grow, leading to death. It is highly contagious so it will spread to any nearby violet and some other house plants, but most not. The solution here is to discard the plant and clean the area well with Lysol before ever adding new plants in that area.

Cold temperatures can lead to hard centers, but if you are entering fall now, then that would not have been the problem. You see that in the northern hemisphere between December to March. Also, if growing under grow lights, having them too close to the source can lead to hard tight centers.

Please return in several weeks and fill me in on the progression and we can continue this thread if necessary.

Caroline writes~ I am so glad that you returned. Thank you. I would also like to know more about Gary, as far as his classes. Thanks.

A. We are pleased that Linda is back with the e-zine, too! The website continues to be a huge draw and I love the way my Gw/G responses look on the page there which she has done!

My classes...now do you mean my African violet classes or the myriad of Horticulture classes I took for my BS and MS in Floriculture/Horticulture at Michigan State University?

I teach African violet enthusiasts who are members of the mother organization, African Violet Societies of America [www.avsa.org]. The $20 US membership includes a beautiful color magazine every two months filled with cultural information, new hybrids, sources and activities.

The students are interested in auditing my classes for more knowledge of the growth and care of the plant. Other students stay to take the test and pass to become a judge in AVSA. They are open to invitations to judge shows worldwide.

There are many mandatory followup tests with lectures and classes. You work your way up to the ladder and if you stay active long enough as I have [though I started young!], then you become a Master Judge and no longer need to be tested, though you must remain current in all areas of judging. It takes now 3 years as a Student, 6 years as an Advanced and 15 years as a Senior to become a Master Judge.

The classes cover many topics, including propagation, lighting, fertilizers, insects and diseases, soil mixes, repotting, grooming, flower and foliage types, exhibiting, designing and judging.

Q. Our club is having a show and plant sale Mother's day weekend. I am entering some African violet plants in the show for the first time. I have a plant that is now 15 inches in diameter in a 4 inch pot. Should I pot it up to a 5 inch pot now or keep it in the 4 inch pot? Will there be enough time for the roots to fill in before the show and still have good bloom? I have been disbudding and will continue until next weekend (eight weeks before show).

A. Hello Violet lover~ First, congrats on your upcoming first show. Just keep in mind that you are going to learn a lot about showing from this experience and try to absorb as much as you can. Watch others as they enter their plants, ask question and observe how the judges awarded the ribbons. It is a wonderful experience.

Repotting can certainly be done right up to the show, as long as it is not drastic and set the plant into a loop. Going from a 4" to a 5" is pretty hard to call. I am afraid that I would probably want to remove some of those outer leaves which would drop it back in diameter. Are all of them healthy, green, unmarked, in a symmetrical circle and bigger than the leaves in the row above it? That is, no outer leaves should be smaller than the ones laying on top of them. Immature leaves sometimes hang onto the outside and must be removed.

Take pieces of white paper and lay over outer leaves to see if by removing one or more you could make the shape better. You do not want a long large leaf on one side of the plant unbalanced on the other side.

You can still show a 15" plant in a 4" pot. But, if you feel all the leaves must stay for a good circle, all look really good, then pot up into a 5" short pot, called a pan or azalea. It is squat, having less bottom space for roots. Place a thin layer of perlite on the very bottom and plant it up. Water a little bit, keep off to the side of the light source for a few days and then bring in back into its former spot. Do not overwater but do not allow to wilt. If you wick, now is a good time to start it going on a reservoir.

Phyllis writes~ I have an African violet that grows like a weed. My only problem, I seem to have one flowering set of blooms on top of another. There are about 5 sets of groupings on top of the whole plant. They look like individual plants. Each set started growing up instead of out on the pot. It looked like each bloom was getting buried by another. Not knowing anything about flowers, I took the plant out of the dirt to separate it but they aren't separate. There is only one stem. I put it back in the soil and hope I didn't damage it. What should I do? How can I separate it or just put it in a bigger pot?

A. Your plant is in dire need of separation and repotting. African violets keep growing taller and then sucker, with new branches turning into plants and each can grow and flower. These must be cut off, since eventually they will crowd one another and blooming will cease.

Take it out of the pot, and on newspaper, lay it on its side. Using a sharp, clean knife, cut off each plant from the main stem, except for the one which is furthest out and in the center of the stem. Leave that one as the new solo plant.

These suckers can be stripped of several bottom leaves and rooted in a blend of perlite and vermiculite or in a glass of water. Keep all leaves above the soil or water line or they will rot. Roots will form within two weeks and when growing well, the new plants can be potted into 3" plastic pots.

Water lightly but do not allow to wilt. Do not feed for a couple months. Then, return them into their customary light and water and feed regularly. In a short while, you will have dozens of violets instead of two or three!

Q. I have an African violet in my office. I have had this plant for about 2 months and I am noticing that the leave are turning brown around the edges. What is causing this? How do I prevent that from happening? I have also noticed that watering instructions with diluting the fertilizer say to discard the extra. Why is that? You can't fix batch of fertilized water a head of time and keep at room temperature and water once a week?

A. The brown edging can come from a low humidity around the plants. Offices are many times notoriously dry. Air conditioning and winter heating systems suck the water from the air. African violets are used to high amounts of water in the air. Place the plants on saucers and pebbles. Pour plain tap water into the saucers but keep below the bottom of the pot so that the plant is not sitting in water. Keep at a level always. The water will evaporate around the foliage.

Fertilizing when the plant is dry can lead to brown edges. Make sure that the plant is on the dry side but not totally nor wilted. if it is, give it only plain water. Also, flush out the soil with tap water monthly into a sink and allow to drain. This removes salts which can cause burn, too.

There is nothing wrong with mixing your fertilizer water and allowing it to sit. The pH of the water may change, but the water is fine to use within maybe a week. Any longer and you are encouraging bacteria buildup and it would be wise to toss after a week. I mix mine at least 24 hours before using since the chlorine in the water from the treatment plant is no good for any plants and will evaporate away after a day of resting. Or, you can add a drop or two of de-chlor found in pet shops.

Also, make sure that the soil they are growing in is light. Store plants are usually too heavy and this tells you that the mix needs lightening by adding lots of perlite the next time you repot. That creates air pockets which the roots need to breathe the air in the mix!

Ev writes~
I have followed trimming and repotting advice last year, and it has done my violet much good. It took 6 months but it is now blooming again. I tried propagating with the leaves in the soil trick, and one leaf survived. It has been good for almost a year, but…nothing else is emerging from it. What should I expect? Is there a trick to prod growth of new leaves?

A. Yes, there is a problem here. Babies should sprout from a rooted leaf within 4 to 6 weeks. The following is the most successful method. You may wish to recut your leaf and try this:

Leaf stem should be cut to 1" long, at a 45 degree angle with the cut surface facing up. Moisten a mixture of 1/2 perlite and 1/2 vermiculite, nothing else. Place into a small pot, even a plastic cup which has two holes cut into the bottom for drainage. Set the leaf laying backwards at a 45 degree angle so that the green tissue is facing up. Do not stick the stem deeper than 1/.2" and press to anchor if necessary. Cover with a small plastic bag, as a sandwich bag, with two holes punctured into it for aeration. Secure at the bottom of the pot with a rubber band.

Place the pot in good light but away from any direct hot sunlight. Twice a week lift the pot to see if it is light. If so, set in a saucer of tap water and allow to suck water up into the pot for 1/2 hour. Return to its spot.

Soon, you will see tiny green babies popping up. After they are about 1/2" tall, remove plastic, place in tray and give 1/8 teaspoon AV fertilizer [Schultz, Optimara, Peters, Miracle-Gro] per gallon water. Check the medium regularly and add water as needed.

When the babies are 1" tall, strong and well-developed, they can be separated into single plants. This is another topic of discussion which I will direct as desired.

Sheila writes~
Could you please tell me why my African violets have blooms but the leaves grow out and flat, instead of up and full and are yellowing? Any tips you could give will be greatly appreciated.

A. It sounds like lack of nitrogen. Be sure that you are feeding your violets monthly at full strength or every several days with a weak solution. Go to my gardening portion of Recipe Goldmine and click on 'African Violets'. There is a wealth of information on their care and needs, including the subject of yellow leaves and lack of flowering.

Lorraine writes~
Hi Gary, I found a homemade recipe for African violet food. Would you be able to tell me where I can purchase this?

A. Saltpeter is Potassium nitrate (and Sodium nitrate). It is used in gunpowder. I do not recommend its use in fertilizing plants. Check a nursery or garden center for more information.