My husband and I finally sold all the horses, cows, chickens and the farm and moved to sunny Florida to retire. He has his boat and fishing and I finally have the time for my garden and plants.
I remember when I was a little girl, the AV's my Nana grew. I remember how beautiful I thought they were. Those violets were her "babies" and I spent many happy hours looking at them with her.
So, I thought I'd try my hand at growing them.
I don't know if I started out with "good" violets or not. They came from Wal-Mart and all had a sticker that said Optima on them and the name of the violet. My husband put shelves up for me in the kitchen window and they did very well last summer...were in bloom all the time but didn't seem to be getting much bigger.
As the days shortened, the blooming stopped. Through the winter they grew better but there were no flowers. This spring I pruned the roots and re-potted into the same sized pots. As soon as the days warmed up, I began taking them out on the porch during the day. It is brightly lit but no direct sun. They started growing like little weeds!!! And the blooms started up again and now, all twelve of them are full of flowers and very full with leaves.
What do I do now? Do I leave them out on the porch all summer? Evening temps are only down to a low of about 65. The plants that are getting really big...do I put them in a bigger pot(they are in 4" pots now) or do I root prune them again? Do I pinch off any of the leaves?
Do I get my husband to put up grow lights for me or do I leave them on the shelves in the kitchen window and let the blooming stop for the winter. I know some plants do better if given a "dormant" period.
I really love my violets and would like to expand my collection of them. Can anyone tell me where I can get really good quality violets? I would prefer mail order as I live in a rather secluded area of FL.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Marsha.
What's the best thing to do with my violets?
Marsha you have come to the right place. There are so many contributors to this forum that know what they are talking about...I am not one of them. At the begining of this forum there are 2 "stickies" and there is a lot of information there. There is a list of sources for AVs and most, if not all are mail order.
The plants that you have are fine but if you go on line you will find amazingly beautiful AVs that Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. don't carry. Also lots of the folks that meet here have very extensive collections...I am not one of them, but I am working at it! LOL. If you play your cards right, love AVs, promise not to harm any AVs and swear that you will give them sufficient fertililzer I am sure that there are a few folks that will send you leaves to put down if that's what you are interested in.
By the time you check this again you will have lots of response to review. Good luck!
April
Marsha HI !
Welcome to the wonderful World and African Violets and Gesneriads forum and Welcome to Florida !!
African violets are the number one grown House Plant the Queens of indoor Gardening Kingdom there's no better they do not go dormant and they bloom all year long !
There are many other reason other than flowers all year long making African violets the number one indoor plant !
These plants cheer you up regarless of the weather out-of-doors.
There are over 30 thousand varieties and over 15 thousand in First Class Data Base of named African violets.
Features such as flower color, leaf shape, size of plant allow us to choose plants according to our own individual tastes.
The ease with which African violets can be progated strongly figures in their popularity. There's nothing like it ! The joy of putting down babies and sharing ! Growing a new life babies.
Exchanging leaves cuttings is common practice among African violet addicts. ! Everyone enjoys gift giving to a friend, and what a better gift is there than a living plant you have nursed from a leaf cutting to a beautiful flowering African violet ! Your friends will be greatly impressed and you will touch their heart and they will appreciate their thoughtful gift.
Very little space is needed for growing African violet ! Ask me HEHE :)) A windowsill, corner of a bookshelf, or tucked away on a decrative shelf in the bathroom; African violets are very easy to obtain and there is a hugh list of mail ordering sellers in the Stickys above and many DG African Violets and Gesneriads forum friends here that love to share !
African violets again the ease of propapating allows them to be increased and shared at practicall no cost !
Number one most important Light , The First Consideration....
Without light your plant will not eat and drink healthy, can't grow and bloom to their potentional.
Please give your African -violets all the light -and as much sunshine-as they will stand; not full sun all day in the summer, but several hours of sun in the winter , especiallt suring the morning. Sunshine produces flowers , but too much hot afternoon sun will have ill affects on the foliage turing it yellow , burning the leaves causing malformation. Seek a happy medium. A lace curtain , or blinds that can be closed during the hot part of the day can protect your African violets.
African violets can also be grown lights and a good 12-16 hours each day will give you healthy African violets that bloom all year long. During the summer I decrease the number of hours to 8-10 it's just too hot here and I run my lights at night. Helps the A/c not to run so hard :))
But always remember " Light" is most important even more so then food. You can take the food away and give light your plants will bloom. Take the light away and give food they will not bloom. ~
Then concider Temperature ~ 70-72 degrees is best 74 during hot part of the day will be OK. And they do not prefer under 60 degrees.
A Bouyant Atmosphere. A fresh atmosphere is essential for flowering . Fresh air movement, no plants touching.
Gas escaping from a stove to cigerrette smoke will harm your plants
Proper watering and feeding ~
Cleansing of foliage
Blessed Humidity ~ We have in Florida
Soil mixtures ~ Light is the best
Soil treament
Fertilizer
Pot Size
All above are important and we can get into any deep and sticky s have links with pictures about everything !
In the summer in Florida it will be too hot to leave on the porch. I know it's cooler where you are but tomorrow here will be 90's and giving African violets don't like over 75 they would not be happy outside.
Is your porch screened ? Just a word of warnign Pest that harm African violets can come threw screen.
Anything at our home that has been grown outside stays outside. And all new plants are washed , neemed oiled, and isolated . Pest that really harm African violets can not be seen without a 30x power loup and then the pest hide. So most often you will not know until there is damage to your plants.
So as your buying named African violets , building your collection, please isolate them . Keeping your plants pest free is important for you and also anyone you may share with down the road.
Pot size can be derteminded on size of plant and root ball. A good rule is the 1/3 rule the pot should be one third the size of the plant. Miniature plants will do well in 2 inch pots, Semi-minis 2-2.50 sometimes it may need 3 inch .
And standard 4 inch. Some large growing will need 5 or 6 inch pots at maturity.
Always when re-potting use new bleached pots and new light soiless mix. You can water from the top, wick or bottom water, some people like texas style.
Summer quarters is important Plants MUST be kept cool .
Keep plants clean and groom always taking off spent flowers or old leaf off. When re-potting take some old soil off even trimming some of the old roots can be helpful.
Oh my hope I answered lots of your questions and hope to answer more !
Please check out our stickys the two threads when you first come into the forum. They are filled. I use them everyday !
This is the best forum with the best caring giving people hang and visit here. Hope to see you often ! Welcome.
Allison
Marsha, welcome to the AV forum!
I'm not sure I can add much to all the info Allison gave you.... but there is a ton of great culture information in the sticky threads too.
It sounds like your AVs are doing great, but the next time you repot you might want to try the lighter soil mix (50-60% perlite added to ordinary soil-less mix) that many of us have had success with.... But, again, if yours are doing fine with heavier soil, you might not want to mess with success, LOL. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
And since you have such a green thumb with growing them, you'll have to try propagating by leaf! Rob's Violets has a great tutorial on this with step by step pics, so check the link in the sticky, and I know there are some good threads on this forum also.
Above all -- have fun with them! They are such beautiful, amazing plants! :-)
I knew you guys would come to the rescue; I just pointed her at the stickies.
Critter you are right, having fun is the bottom line!
How wonderful that you all so willingly share your knowledge and information! I appreciate it so much! This sounds like a really fun forum and I hope to visit it often. One night I spent about 2 hours just looking at all the gorgeous violets you all are growing. I don't know if mine will ever look as nice...but I will have fun trying.
I guess the first place for me to start is with the reading.
Can I ask what "neem" is and where you can get it? I have heard it mentioned in many of the forums. Sounds like something I should have.
I need a computer course, too. We got a new computer just last week and it has all kinds of neat stuff to use with the digital cam but I have to learn how, first.
Thank you all, so very much! It was a pleasure meeting you all and I hope to get to know you all better in the near future.
Marsha.
Marsha,
I don't have much to add about how to grow AVs but the one thing I would like to say is that this is the best forum I've ever been on and that comes from the great group of people that are on here. When I started out I had one AV and now I have very many, not to mention all the babies that I am now growing from leaves that others have shared with me. I have learned how to do all of it from the wonderful group of people here on this forum. I hope you enjoy coming to visit with us each day.
Jesse
CeeB
Neem oil is used the same way that other folks might use dormant oil...it kills bugs by smoothering them, makes all the leaves nice and shinny and I think it is also effective against some diseases or fungus, others know more than I do about those properties.
Most of the folks who use it w/ AVs lean toward buying 100% pure Neem Oil- some people are lucky enough to be able to buy that locally, unfortonuately others, like me, have to buy it on line.
April
Hi Marsha!
Welcome! I live in Canada and am fairly new to the forum as well.
There is so much info here and so many gifted with knowledge on how to grow violets.
Joanne
CeeBCross
glad to see someone from my home town,i live in homosassa now,
welcome, you,ll find everything you need to know here.
You can buy Neem oil from Rob's Violet Barn ~
You can buy it here I buy a lot of stuff here;
http://homeharvest.com/orgfert.htm
Home Harvest Gardne Supply
You type in Search to find anything they pretty much have it all. I bought my Eleanor's-VF11 a great fertilizer from here, and neem oil, just ordered a speical spot light grow light to go over my larger gessie plant.
I even have this special spray thats safe to help with fleas are bad this year. Even with bathing and special expensive fea drops I want to try this also .
Concern® Citrus
Home Pest Control
New from Concern... water based, citrus home pest control kills and repels hidden bugs including ants, roaches, palmettos, silverfish, fleas and others. May be used around food, humans and pets. Made from orange peels, it can be used indoors and outdoors and keeps working for weeks.
Concern Citrus Home Pest Control can safely be applied directly to pet bedding to control fleas. Contains 5.8% d-Limonene and 94.2% inert ingredients. Concern guarantees your satisfaction or your money back. 32 fluid ounce (946ml) ready-to-use spray bottle.