It's been a really bad year for me and my av's. I dodged the bullet on the cyclamen mites but the got infested w/ mealies.I finally found Bonide Systemic Granules containing Di-syston. Dr. all my plants 2 weeks ago w/it and spent yesterday knocking my smaller plants out of the pots,washing off the roots and spraying down the plants and roots w/ Safer Soap before I potted them back up w/ the granules mixed in the fresh potting mix. A lot of my bigger plants,I tore down,cleaned up the leaves,struck them and then re-potted the crowns after giving them same treatment as the smaller plants.Washed up all
my trays w/ hot,soapy bleach water. Got my fingers crossed I can get these beasties on the run and keep them off and out of my plants.
Lost a lot of starter plants and mother leaves w/ babies.I want to buy some more leaves but now I'm leary.
Back in late April I put 3 trays seed grown epsicias out in my un-heated greenhouse. We had a cold snap and I lost probably 2/3's of those....but I did keep two very nice specimens from the lot in the house so I'm glad I still have those. Will post pix later.
So here's hoping things will be looking up.
P
I'm not having fun yet!
newly struck leaves
Foxwood Trail blooming nicely. Haven't seen any mealies on this one so far. Couldn't bring myself to tear this one and a few others down so I took 2-4 leaves of each just in case.
Optimara NOID. It was about 6 inches across but the bottom row leaves where ratty looking so I pulled them and now I need to re-pot it.
Pink Patch's...still looking healthy
Champange Pink...lost a lot of it's variegation as it's gotten older or maybe it's because it's gotten hotter. No blooms seen as yet but it's growing well w/ no beasties detected.
Allen's Fallen Angel... again as with Champange PInk...growing good but loosing most of it's variegation. Tries to bloom but the bloom dries up before it has a chance. What's up with that?
Those are great pictures You look like you are doing a great job the colors are great.
I have this book that I got from Home depot Miracle-gro complete guild to houseplants
Its said the 3 most comon things of failure is lack of lite,insufficient humidity and improper temp.lack of minerals or an exess of nitrogen Just said give plant flowing plant food
I hate to type but maybe this will help
Have a great day
Dimmer(AKA) kim
They're on a light bench,I feed them Optimara AV food and it's just naturaly humid here in Ark.
Thanks for the complement on the pix. The Optimara mini isn't blue as in pix but rather purple. Wouldn't mind if it was that blue though.
P
I thought (and that doesn't mean anything) that temps for african violets need to not have much difference in night and day temperatures. If you grow them in a greenhouse how do you control the dif in night and day temps around 70-75? That may be causing lots of problems for you. Except for professional greenhouses highly controlled I don't know of anyone attempting to grow avs in a home greenhouse.
Somebody else pop in,,,
they're not in a greenhouse....on light bench here in the computer room
Well,it's been almost 3 weeks since I put the systemic in my AV's and tore down and/or potted up almost all of them . I think I have those blasted mealies on the run. A few days after I put the systemic in the pots,I noticed the bugs had moved up to highest point on the plants ( thought I was going to have to pull off all my bloom stems)then after a few more days the numbers started dwindling so maybe my AV's(and me) are on the mend. I even put the systemic in the pots of leaves I struck....might as well get an early start on combating the lil beggers. Now I think I feel it's safe to buy some more leaves and give it another shot.
That's for listening to my whining.
P
bigred those are very pretty AVs. I like the pink patches very much.
Lovely plants! I love them, but really love the P. Patches.
Hi, Sally......glad to see you on line already.
I have three Wrangler's Pink Patches and only one has bloomed so far. They are hard to grow I have decided. At least mine are taking their time doing what they want in growth.
You really have some nice plants, Bigred and good to see you back around on the AV forum.
I didn't know they were hard to grow. I know some plants are harder for sure. Sure are pretty!
I grew these from a leaf over 6 months ago and here they sit. I am going to change soil this week and see if that helps. They say avs need to be repotted every 4 months at least.........
Thanks.
gessiegail,
My old computer bit the dust,I was off-line fore 2-3 months before I could finally buy another computer.
Some of my av's had stopped growing too. Hope changing out the soil will get them going again. Haven't had a chance to really look at them for a week or two,except to water them.Pink Patches has been in that 3 "pot for a while yet w/ no growth so I don't know if I should go ahead and repot or not.
Gail, I LOVE those plants!!!!!!!!!!! Pink Patches? How was the bbq?
Sally, I am getting ready to get dressed for the picnic! (LOL) It is this afternoon a 6 at Sarah's house. Wish you could be there. I had forgotten that Sarah wanted a Wrangler's Pink Patches, so once I started packing I just filled two giant trays with too many leaf grown avs. It is easier to take them to a meeting than to pack up for shipping for my good av forum buddies. Sorry I took the easy way out.
Bigred.....it never hurts to change the soil and put them back in the same pot size.
Have fun. I have had a tough day. My COLD on top of the surgery pain is really bad with coughing, sneezing... NOT fun with the incisions.
I know Sarah will love your Pink Patches! She did want one that sale day. Nice of you.
I love that one and I really want a Willodene too.
Willodene I bought from the club over a year ago and I loved it but no longer have it!
Hard to find it. I was bidding on one and FORGOT a couple of months ago. Lost it. I want Silk Orchid and Skies Over Italy also. I am a leaf gal!
This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 10:06 AM
Pretty pretty foliage and blooms. I bet you can find them if you google the names.
So far no luck, ha. I will keep trying. I have tried over a few weeks. I keep watching Ebay too.
Sally, I just updated my FC today. Let me see what they look like.