I have successfully raised AV's for years. In fact, I have one plant that is a descendant of a plant that my MIL gave me 25 years ago. Last year, I transplanted them all into the special AV pots, using the AV soil mix (Miracle Grow brand, I believe). I've watered only through the bottom pot of the AV planter. Prior to this, I didn't baby them at all. I used whatever planters and potting soil I had handy and just was careful not to get water on the leaves or on the crown. Since babying them with the special pots and soil, I have had trouble with crown rot and those that haven't rotted aren't interested in blooming. What do you AV experts out there use for soil and pots? Any suggestions to help me get my violets back on track?
Trouble with AV soil
You know what? Going from non-babying success to babying problems may just BE the problem. =) Given too much love, yummy soil & attention often leads to rot, I've found anyway. I would add lots more perlite/vermiculite to loosen up that soil, and with the special AV pots, you might want to let them go good and dry, only filling to a level that allows the inset to take up some water for a bit. Too much water in the well (i.e. the inset almost 'swimming' in water) often promotes too-wet conditions.
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Most, but not all, of my AVs love the self-watering planters. These planters can vary, however, in how moist/wet they keep the soil, and for some AVs it can just be too wet.
The biggest thing about using self watering pots (or wicking pots) is to lighten up your soil mix considerably. Even "AV soil mix" isn't light enough for this kind of watering system. Most people have much better luck growing AVs in a mixture of at least half perlite and half potting mix.
The other thing that can give your AVs wet feet (leading to crown rot & stress) is being in too large a pot. I think the general rule of thumb is that the pot should be 1/3 the size of the plant (diameter). Standard AVs should go in a pot no deeper than 4 inches, and smaller varieties need pots no deeper than 2 inches. If the leaves of the plant do not reach out beyond (preferably way beyond) the edge of your pot, you need to down-pot your AV until it grows. Pot size for a mature standard AV can be 4 to 6 inches in diameter, but miniatures and many semiminis won't take more than a 2 inch pot even when full grown.
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Yes, mk is right.... benign neglect is often better for AVs than lots of TLC! LOL
And she has another good point about self watering planters (she posted while I was typing)... Filling the reservoir so the water level only comes half an inch or so up on the insert pot will help keep them from getting too boggy (although I have a couple of AVs that thrive with full reservoirs), and it's also good to let the soil become quite dry every few weeks (preferably not to the point where the violet is wilting).
However, if the soil in the self-watering pot gets *really* dry, it will pull away from the edges of the insert pot and not be able to wick moisture through the sides & bottom of the pot. You will have to also water a little bit from the top, just enough to moisten the soil in the pot so it starts wicking from the reservoir again.
I have the self watering pots as well (norcal brand - I love them) and those in that type of pot are the violets that are doing the best.
I did use a lighter mix when I repotted them. Using the perlite really helps keep from staying too wet.
Here's one that I have in the self watering type
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I have a few pots that are a lot larger thatn they need to be so I fill mine at the bottom with charcoal,perlite and always add about 1/2 perlite to the AV potting mix. Then I plant the AV . One other thing that might becausing a rot problem is sooo many soils have a wetting agent added to the mix...AV's don't really need this in a self watering pot,but adding extra perlite helps and you just have to know it up front.
One other thing is if you combined soils when you transplanted your Av, then you may have too much peat in the old soil and it is holding too much water.
Sometimes it takes a long time for an AV to adjust to it's new conditions before blooming again. It has to fill the space with roots and become slightly root bound before blooming again,asumming it has enough light & fertilizer.
MsC
I bought a lot in the begining . I don't plant in them anymore after going to my first Av local meeting. I do place a wicked plastic pots in them for display :))
Thanks for all the good advice. This weekend I'm going to try re-potting again and will mix some perlite into the AV potting soil mix and see if that helps. I know then it will be another year before I see those beautiful blossoms, but then I guess I'll never see them if the plants all rot away. Sigh!
OH given enough light and regular fertilizing program they'll be blooming in a month or so for you !