African Violets and Gesneriads: Starter African Violet, 1 by leisure500

leisure500 wrote:
LewBugCreations,

If I were you ... I'd forgo the purchase of a Violet from any local outlet.

I bought from Lowes, groceries, WalMart, etc. for years in support of my Violet habit.

The problem with these plants is that they, invariably, harbor some pest which will destroy your enjoyment of your violets, if not kill your plants.

I battled thrips, mealybugs, mites, etc. for years until I finally got tired and let them take down whole collections of formrly beautiful plants, for, not only would these pests affect the plants they hitched a ride in on, ... but they would eventually spread to every plant in the vicinity.

My major nemesis with these plants is thrips, ... which doesn't typically kill the plants, but does destroy the blooms. I have yet to purchase a box-store plant, ... which didn't have more than a 90% chance of having thrips.

Now ... there are ways to purchase box-store plants, and minimize the pest risks. First, you should always isolate any new plants from any others that have proven to be pest-free, until you determine whether they are pest-free or not.

And for thrips, the best thing is to pull any blooms and buds off of the plant immediately, and let it go without blooming for at least six weeks before letting it start to bud again.

As an alternative to these measures however, ... I suggest that you buy your violets from a reputable grower, such as Lyndon Lyon, or Bluebird Nurseries.

That way, you can get nice plants that you can choose for yourself, rather than rely on what's available at the box-stores. Also, these plants are, typically, pest-free, although I'm sure that our Violet old-timers would still advise on isolating any new plants.

When I started putting together a new collection of violets 2-3 years ago, I bought almost exclusively from these mail order vendors. I've probably purchased (50) plants, ... and not one of them has had a pest problem.

In fact, the only pest problems I encountered stemmed from when I did break down and purchase a lovely AV or two from Lowes. And what I got in return for my trouble was a bad case of mealybug which spread to a couple healthy plants before I could contain it. I did disbud my Lowes plants, and so, avoided dealing with Thrips, but ... I also had to deal with poor planting practice issues like potting in pots which were too large, ... dealing with masses of suckers, etc.

In my experience, it's been a much more satisfying experience to deal with mail-delivered plants from a dealer.

Though these plants are, mostly, smaller when they arrive, and they may not be blooming yet (though some are), ... they are much more manageable and I can get exactly what I want. Also, mail-ordered plants are a tad more expensive. I can buy violets from Lowes, etc. for $5.00 or less per plant, while for mail-order, I may pay $7.50 per plant, as long as I buy enough plants (6 or more) to defray the shipping costs.

Understand, I'm not saying that you can't make box-store violets work (many AV experts certainly can and do), ... but, for a beginner, reputable mail-order violets are a better bet, in my opinion.

Certainly ... my results have been much better. I'm finally growing violets the way I always wanted to (with longevity and beauty).

As far as plants that I've had especial success with ... check out Taffeta Blue, Blue Dragon, Private Dancer, Faded Denim, Pink Pearls, Super Duper, and Sea Drift.

These were/are all fairly vigorous growers and bloomers, and are all available from Lyndon Lyon.

I've posted photos of these in Plant Files, as well.

The photo that I'm including here ... is of Sea Drift.

Whatever you choose to do ... I wish you the best of luck.

Enjoy your Violets.


This message was edited Mar 12, 2011 7:54 AM

This message was edited Mar 12, 2011 7:58 AM