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| Basic African Violet Care |
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African Violets have 6 basic requirements that need to be met in order for them to grow and bloom. The closer these requirements are met, the better the violets will preform. Sounds simple? It is! The challenge (or fun of growing African violets) is figuring out the correct balance between these six variables that works best for both you and your violets! To make things even more challenging, not all violets are created equal when it comes to their ideal requirements. For example, some will need more light than others, while some will require more (or less) fertilizer to do their best. As you will see when you read though this section, there are a number of ways people have reached the same goal when growing their violets. We'll share with you what works for us and what others have done that works for them. If growing 'show quality' violets if your goal, then this is the ultimate in perfecting your growing conditions and techniques. |
Potting Mix:
- If you ask a dozen people what mix they use for their violets, you may very
well get 13 different answers to that question. Obviously, no mix is the
ideal mix for everyone. Some people are happy with a store-bought mix
from the garden center, while others will make their own mix from a variety
of ingredients.
We have found that prepackaged mixes contain too much peat for our
growing conditions. These mixes stay too wet which chokes the roots and
the plants eventually succumb to rot. Many people will 'lighten' the
prepackaged mixes by adding an equal part of perlite to the mix. The
perlite opens or "lightens" the mix allowing more air circulation, thus
preventing too much water retention and root rot.
Here at Orchid Enterprise Inc., we mix our own ingredients, using equal
parts peat, perlite and vermiculite. We have found this mix to be suitable
for all our violets and leaf cuttings as well as our Phalaenopsis orchids.
Some growers add lime to their mix because the peat tends can make the
mix too acidic which prevents nutrient absorption by the roots. Charcoal
can also be added which is believed to absorb organic toxins produced by
bacteria in the soil.
When it's time to re-pot, moisten the mix with enough water to make it feel
moist, while remaining light and fluffy. You don't want your mix to be
'heavy' and hard to work with. At the same time, you don't want it to be too
dry either. Once you've re-potted a few plants, and experimented with
getting it moist, you'll soon know what works best for you.
Fertilizer:
- All plants need some form of fertilizer to grow and bloom. Since our plants
are potted in, what is considered a soilless-steril mix, We can either add
fertilizer to the soil
Re-potting:
- If you ask the experts who grow African violets for show, they will tell you
that you need to re-pot your violets every few months. This is excellent
advice if all other conditions are ideal. If your growing conditions are less
than perfect, it has been our experience that this can be disastrous to
your collection. It is more important to know when it's time to re-pot by
observing the plants roots. If you re-pot too soon, you'll smother your
roots and rot you plants. If potted to late, the roots will be so tight that
you'll destroy the root system tying to replace some of the mix - or the
roots will not break away from the old root ball and penetrate into the new
mix.
A little known secrete is many Gesneriads (the group of plants that African
violets belong) benefit from having their roots disturbed and therefore thrive
on frequent re-potting.
The best way to tell when your plants are ready to be re-potted is to
remove the plants from their pots and observe the root ball. If you can
see plenty of roots growing around the mix and still see mix through the
roots, then it's probably safe to say it's time to re-pot. The more you re-pot,
the more comfortable you'll be with judging when it's time to re-pot. If in
doubt, wait a week or two and check the root system again.
- When re-potting, choose a pot that is only slightly larger than it's current
pot. Don't rush getting the plant into a large pot. The idea is to encourage
the roots to expand throughout the mix each time you re-pot so that by the
time it is in a 4-inch pot the root ball is completely filled with roots and soil
- not just a bunch of roots around the outside of the root ball.
With standard, and semi-miniature plants we start our plants out in 3-oz
plastic containers. These are potted up into 5-oz containers and then to 3-
inch pots and so on.
Hint: Allowing the mix to dry out slightly before re-potting makes for easier re-
potting.
It is not uncommon for us to re-pot our plants back into it's original pot!
Knocking off some of the old mix and replacing it with new encourages
more root growth before 'potting-up' to the next larger pot. Again, don' t be
in a hurry to pot your plants into a larger pot. Concentrate on growing a
good healthy root system and the rest of the plant will follow naturally.
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