I do not know if you know it or not, but I have never had an AV bloom for me after it lost its initial flowers that it had when I bought it. Usually I buy one, it flowers, then the flowers die, and that is it for me. It never flowers again. But this time, it is going to flower a second time and this is so excititng for me. I just wanted to share it with all of you. I wonder if it has anything to do with the VG-11. I am just so happy. Here is a picture of the plant.
JesseK
Here is an upclose shot of its pretty little bloom. I will keep you updated on its progress.
JesseK
JesseK
GREAT! Way to go!!!
I think if you hang out here long enough you will find it's easier than you think and you will have many reblooming! I am glad you are part of this forum!!
just from my own experience, I'd have to say yes, the VF11 may have something to do with it.
Mine seem to love it from leaves an up!
Thanks. I sure hope so. That little bloom meant so much to me. Now if I can get my leaves to make some plants, I'll really be happy.
JesseK
jesse..sounds like you're becoming a "pro" at this...he he...keep it up..
You're doing a great job! Keep up the good work
Morning Jesse!
Congrats girl!!! That is a very pretty color! I know that feeling....sometimes when I spot a new pretty flower I just squeel with delight!
Doesn't take much to make us happy!
TFS!
Joanne
Well done Jesse! Beautiful flower.
Way to go Jesse! Congratulations :-)
Sharon
yaaay!!! *clapping hands*
maybe better care all around? congrats!
she's a beaut!!! congrats Jesse!
Oh Jesse she's beautiful ! Do you know which plant it is ? Re-potting plants in very light soil less mixture helps too. And yes VF-11. Great job ! Ohh soo Precious :))
May I make one helpful hint keep plant groomed and clean at all times. Take off any foliage that is cracked , broken, bruised, old... no need for the plant to put it's energy into healing when it can be blooming :))
Thanks everyone. I am using the soil that most people here have recommended. I am using ⅓ AV soil, ⅓ Vermiculite, and ⅓ Perlite. I hope this is a good formula. I think that I am going to repot them anyway because I finally found the little 3 oz cups. I will pot them in those and use the wick system. After using both methods, I have found that the wick system works best for me.
JesseK
Thanks guys. I really am trying hard at this and with all of you helping me, I am bound to do something right. I will keep taking pictures of this flower so I can monitor its progress.
Just as a side note, my DH had bought one of the large chrome shelf units from Sam's. But I still did not have room for all of my plants and I also wanted to devote one whole shelf unit to my AVs. So guess what he did? He bought me a second one. Then, when I least expected it, he went to Sam's and bought me another one. So now I have one devoted only to my AVs and I have two of them with all of my succulents and cacti. Our living room looks like some sort of.....ahhhh.....ummm.... well it is very unique. It looks more like a plant nursery than a living room. But that is okay with me because my plants make me so happy. We have a small living room with three huge shelf units, all of them 4 feet wide, 6 feet tall and 18 inches deep. So that takes up most of our living room. We do have one other shelf that is smaller. It is made out of pine and sort of blends in. I have decided that since I do not have an outside garden, I will decorate my shelves with little things that I find in gardening sections. I figured, "why wait until I get something outside to decorate?" So I am decorating my inside with cute little things like the gnomes. I would love to have the little gnome cottage from Big Lots but it sure does need to go down in price before I can buy it. It is $25, too much for me.
I must brag on my DH. We bought the first shelf unit a couple of weeks ago I think. Then one day I came home from an appointment somewhere and he had set up the second one that we had purchased a couple days before. Then I was really sick and in bed for a few days. And do you know what he did? He took on an extra job just so he could buy me my third set of shelves, just for my AVs. Then he took a bus to Sam's, bought me the shelf unit, and then took a taxi back home, just to surprise me because I was sick. That was a lot for him to do since he is legally blind. He is the most wonderful guy in the world. So that is why my AVs are so important to me. I want him to have some nice plants that he really enjoys. And he just loves them and his sago palm and his parlor palm, compliments of Lorry. I used to have a Madagascar palm that he really liked but it died while we were away on a business trip. We were only supposed to be gone for a week, but we wound up staying for a month. That is also when I lost all of my AVs and lots of my succulents. Chris and Lorry sent both of them just for DH and he was so surprised. That made him so happy. He was so shocked at the site of his sago palm. He has wanted a sago palm for so long but they were all too expensive or they did not look very healthy and I am thankful to all of you on this forum that have helped me out so much.
Thanks,
Jesse
You she have a wonderful husband Jesse ! Lot's of nice plants stands ! WOW I bet the one for your African violets fill up soon.
I wish my husband would let me take over the living room. lol
Do you have lights for your stands ? Took me about six months to get all my light fixtures for both my stands.
Jesse you are a great asset to our forum too and I am so Happy your here ! I am so Thanksful for your givings each day and all the other wonderful plant lovers here too !
Jesse, your DH sounds like a keeper - sweet!
Mine rolls his eyes and jokes that I've never met a flower I didn't like, but as soon as I mentioned starting daylily seeds indoors, he had a plant stand made for me -and cheerfully digs up more and more of the back yard for gardens...aren't we lucky to be so blessed?
You give him a smooch from all of us, for enabling you so well...hehe!
Furniture is over-rated, anyway, don't you think? I mean, it doesn't BLOOM or anything...
I am so very happy for you Jesse. Continued good luck to you and your plants.
Deb
I agree. I do have a wonderful husband. I hope my african violets fill up fast. I love them and so does my DH. I have some of the lights I need but I'm still collecting. It will take a little bit more time to get them all. I really do love this forum and the people of this forum. You guys are great and I am so glad to be a part of this group.
JesseK
Thanks guys. I will make sure to give him a kiss from you. He really is a good guy. He used to really hate my plants but now he doesn't mind them and went and got that second shelf unit by himself and I did not even ask for it. He is definitely a keeper.
JesseK
Any DH's that enable their plant nut wives are OK in my book and Keepers for sure. Mine cant understand the whole plant thing, but at least he never makes a peep and did build my greenhouse for me, and offered to build a second one when I could no longer squeeze myself into my first one.
JesseK you have a gem!
Awww, Jesse, give that guy a big hug from me too! It's wonderful when somebody who loves you goes out of his way to do something for no earthly reason other than knowing it will delight you. :-)
I'm thinking there are a bunch of "gem" hubbies on this forum!
Congratulations on your reblooming AV! I just scrolled up again for another peek... I'm thinking you might encourage it further by removing that outer row of leaves.... That's more leaves than it needs, and the outermost ones are often a little "tired" and not helping the plant much. Fewer leaves can mean more flowers. :-) Also, I wonder if I am seeing a sucker forming on the right side in the photo, under the larger leaves... almost looks like a small little crown... if so, potting up a sucker cutting is a great "instant gratification" way to propagate AVs!
Here is an update on this little AV. It is still growing. Slowly but surely.
JesseK
Yaaaah!!!!
congrats jesse!! I am happy for you. How sweet your husband is to you! Mine likes outdoor gardening but doesn't have any patience for my indoor plants. I wish i could get him interested. he my ban me from this site all together as i am getting many many more plants since i joined lol! this site is super addictive! i love it lol!!!!!!!!!
Kelly
Oh my it looks great ! Good job grooming Jesse. And you re-potted ? It's going to take a while don't worry. Give it as much light as possible, good circulation, keep warm, feeding program . Bath it love it :)) It will reward you with bouquets of beautiful flowers !
It's nice to know there are good men out there...send one my way, will ya???
Jesse - I love the bloom on your AV. Allison, how would you describe it?
Single white /variable vivid purple-red patches.
Okay, here is what I did today with this plant. I could not tell what were suckers and what were not so I took off most of the leaves and put them down in plain perlite as an experiment. There were two other plants other than the main one. So I potted them up. So now I have the main one, the two little plants and 16 leaves down. Here they are. The first one is of the main plant.
Jesse
Here is the leaves in plain perlite.
Jesse
And here they are all together.
Jesse
Very nice Jesse :))
Is that plant ; Hawaiian Pearl (S. Sorano) Semidouble-double ivory star/dark lavender-rose band. Dark green. Standard ??????
I'm not sure what it is. How do I know?
Jesse
I would like to know where to find AVs that are not listed anywhere. I just got two and one is called Flash and the other is called Sunbeam. They are both beautiful but I could not find them online.
Jesse
Allison,
I did some research online and found some photos of Hawaiian Pearl and it is identical to my plant. So I guess it may be.
Jesse
There are thousands of registered varieties and thousands of noid (no official ID) varieties, and it's virtually impossible to make a solid ID of an unnamed plant, especially if it might be an unnamed or unregistered cultivar. (If you bought from a vendor who sold only named Optimaras, and the tag fell off one of your plants, you could probably look it up and be sure of your ID... that's a different scenario.)
On the other hand, it's fun to look at photos & descriptions for an idea of what your AV "might be," but I'd suggest calling it "Hawaiian Pearl lookalike" or something along those linesm especially since you're planning to propagate it.
Named or not, however... that's a stunning plant! You did a great job rejuvinating it, too, and congrats on getting those two little suckers from it! It'll take a little time to grow some more roots now, and maybe put out a few new leaves, and then I bet it'll just bloom its head off for you!
Jesse
I thought maybe you had bought your plant or Lorry sent it as you said your plants cam from Lorry .
I also was thinking maybe you knew the name. Thanks why I asked if it was Hawaiian Pearl .
Jesse I grew several Hawaiian Pearl and still have some extras . I can put one in your box ( it's a baby) if you like grow them together for fun ! Do you know where you bought it or who from ?
Thanks, Allison
Sure, that would be great. So the best way to do something if we don't know for sure is to write Hawaiian Pearl lookalike to at least have some idea of what it might look like.
Jesse
Jesse just lokking to see if I could find your plant you lost your name of. I came across here back March you also set leas down in Perlite. How did these do ?
They are still growing tiny little babies. Not very big yet but they are growing and making babies. I'll take some photos next time I'm up.
Jesse
