came home an hour ago (night shift) to find my african violet from Violet Barn toppled over on it's side in its itty bitty container. large bottom leaves are droopy and soft. Parked it back in the window sill again for the day. Last watering was Sunday.
help??
OK so my green thumb isn't so green this week.............
Did you take it out of the pot and check the stem and root ball to see if there is rot?
Remind me how long ago you bought it and which one it is.
tish - atlanta
It came in on Nov 19th from Rob's Violet Barn. It is the "Jean Pierre Croteau". I'm not seeing any rot on the rootball. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I park it in the window all day and move it farther in the house during the night so it doesn't get too cold. And I water from the bottom with a dish and then dump the dish.
Was it completely dry this morning when it had fallen over and how large is the rootball?
it's not desert dry, it's still slightly moist but not wet. I'll take a pic of it tomorrow and post on here. The root system is small. the container is 1/3 the size of the leaf span but the root system looks small.
A picture would be be great.It it is still in Rob's soil it may be completely dried out and still read moist.That mix is very high in peat,which can be very difficult to remoisten under home conditions,rather than greenhouse conditions.
well I thought the soil might be the problem, read a couple of comments about the "soil of death" they come shipped in so I repotted. Probably didn't help it was store bought miracle gro african violet mix I moved it into. You live and learn. This is my first african violet, I figured all my orchids had been doing so well that we could bump it up a notch. lol. And now I'm plain determined that I TOO can keep an african violet alive. Although I'm starting to think it MIGHT not be this particular one :(
The boyfriend keeps telling me we can go to the african violet nursery in Boerne Texas in 2 weeks and try again with one from there so I think he's accepted the plant's fate before I'm willing to :(
This message was edited Dec 4, 2009 2:07 PM
You can use the soil that Robs sent it with or any potting mix but you HAVE to add more perlite. The mix that says its for "african violets" also needs more perlite maybe almost a third more perlite.
What I would try...If you can find a bag of perlite, take off a couple of the wilted leaves and try and root those, then repot the plant, with your barely moist mix (that has the perlite added) and drape a bag over it. Hopefully in a couple days it will perk up and you can wean the bag off.
Basically I agree with Tish,but if you are going to try rooting wilted leaves I would rehydrate them in water first.
As she said,barely moist is important if you are going to bag them.
Lynn
How I rehydrate mine is to make a fresh cut on the stem, soak in WARM water for 10 - 15 min. I take it out and lay it on a paper towel to dry it off some and then I put it down in soil to root. I like to use the clear deli containers, also the clear drink cups work too and if i don't have a clear lid to put on I use that sticky saran wrap stuff.
I'm sure others do it a little different, but this works best for me.
tish
Bally, if your plant does not make it, I have a small starter plant I would happily depart with. You just have to remind me in the Spring!
Shanika
Shanika....Where have you been, Girl!!!!????!!!!! You need to d-mail me and give me an update so I don't hijack this thread. (I already hijacked one...)
Connie
LOL, okay, dmail coming shortly.