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.

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.