African Voilet

HI.. I have 6 of A.V. and they have not bloom again. I pour water on bottom and fertilzer with A.V drops. I water them when it need. THey are by the window of south, shaded by tree.. They do get light by sun.. They look Green and healthy.. But no blooms for long time.. What can I make them to bloom again?? Your answer or option will be appreciate.. Thanks
Tricia

good question Tricia, I have the same problem. Actually I'm really proud just to have kept this one alive!!! It's a first:)

If your AV's are otherwise healthy, the likely cause of lack of flowers is too large a pot. They need to be quite potbound to bloom. In fact, they rarely need repotting.

all my A.V are in small 6 pots size as cup.. Maybe need repotting with new soil for A.V???

Tricia,

Here's what The House Plant Expert (Dr. D.G. Hessayon) says:

They need about 14 hours of bright light (not direct blazing sunlight) each day to bloom. They also don't like drafts, and don't let their leaves touch the window. They also like high humidity, warmth, and are best if planted in a plastic pot. If any leaves are damaged, remove the whole stem, and pinch off dried flowers right away.

Hope this helps.

ok Thank you Cheryl.. I think proabably they did not get enough humidity.... and thanks for the information....
Tricia

My African Violets started blooming a lot when I changed their brand of food. Maybe they needed a different nutrient? They still go through a resting period of about 6 weeks after blooming their heads off but then they go again like crazy again. I have 6 different named ones of which one is a very beautiful varigated one with pink flowers and white, green and pink leaves. Gorgeous in bloom or not!

I would try an east window. If they still don't bloom, try flourescent lights. Works for me. I don't think pot size has a lot to do with it, unless of course, the pot is too large. In that case they stay too wet. Good luck

try these links... http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/Horticulture/g182.htm
http://www.avsa.org/Photographs.asp hope that helps... ma vie

Horray!!!! ten of my african voilets have new baby flowers going to bloom in less a week or two.. ALL I did is I put new shelves by the window and put flourescent lights under the shelves and put all the voilets under the light. In two week later, all of them have new baby flowers going to growing and bloom soon.. Oh I can't wait! I have them for one year.. So now I am looking for yellow color african voilet.. do they have color yellow?????

Mini, yes they do have yellow AV's. I am enclosing a link for the AVSA site. They have a lot of pics and there is one I saw with yellow flowers called Pinapple Sherbert. They aren't the clearest pictures. And I am sure their are others out there. It's just a matter of finding them. I didn't see any with a true yellow here. But I will keep an eye out for you.
http://www.avsa.org/Photographs.asp?Photos=Q
For some odd reason though I can't seem to find any other yellow ones. Or a true yellow.
Maybe someone else can help.
Holly
P.S.
I also found out that there are no true yellow or gold AV's But there are a few out there I did a search at garden web, they have their own forum for Av's a lot of helpful stuff even if I don't like the owner. Here is the link to the search I did and after that will be the link to the AV forum.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/afrviolet/nph-ind.cgi?sp-q=yellow&which=forum&sp-a=00040229-sp00000000&sp-p=all
forum
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/afrviolet/

This message was edited Wednesday, Dec 12th 9:02 AM