My AV from Rob's Violet Barn came in today :)
I bought 1 Jean Pierre Croteau
If I remember right someone had posted that they repot their AV's from Rob when they come in, is this true?
My First AV
VERY nice! I will hold off on answering as I am not a pro at AVs.........yet!
Congrats!
LOL! I am not pro either but the forum is quiet tonight and if I answer this maybe that will get everyone to swarm in:) I have never received anything from Rob's so I don't know what they use to pot them. I do know that I have ordered from 2 different companies and they use peat. If yours is peat then you will need to change the medium. Peat will get rock hard and will not allow the plant to soak up water around the root area. It can also hold in moisture which can cause the crown to rot. Maybe this will give you something to look at and we will see if I have caused the calvary to arrive LOL!
Congrats on your pretty new baby!
Connie
First I might say that it came from a greenhouse (warm and high humidity) and was tumbled around in a box a couple days. I put my new arrivals in a large clear plastic deli cake container with the top on...make a greenhouse condition for them, there won't be the heat, but the humidity helps them. Not everyone does this. Then after it perks up in a couple days, I take the top off some to let it adjust to my room conditons, by a week or so, it is out of the "greenhouse". Then I repot. I just can't grow violets in the same potting mix they come in, it holds too much water for me. You can use any av potting mix or houseplant mix and just add more perlite into it to repot. Or you can read some posts and find out what ratios others use of perlite, peat, vermiculite, etc to plant their av's. Don't let it get too wet, violets like damp, not wet soil mix. A violet will rot quickly if the soil is too wet too long. You should put down a leaf or two (especially if any got broken) to root. Finally, you need to keep this plant away from your other houseplants for a month or so, just in case it has any insects or disease. This is what I do. Everyone does it a little different.
I don't know why you bought just one! There are so many pretty ones on Rob's website! But hang around here long enough and you'll be buying more!
tish
LOL, I wanted to make sure I could keep the first one alive, before I went gung-ho and ordered a huge box and killed 6 at a time by over-loving them :P
It is probably true that more violets die from too much love than neglect! A violet that dries out alot might not flower as much (because the flower buds dry up too), but it won't rot! We violet growers are always trying to kill off the old saying that violets love to be kept wet..they really don't at all. That is one reason we are adding extra perlite into the potting mix so the soil will drain better and hold less water.
If you get interested in growing more violets, you should go to the AVSA.org website and click the affiliate link to find if there is an african violet club near where you live. You will learn lots of info and they share and sell plants too.
tish