Here is a noid AV a co-worker of mine has had in this pot for at LEAST the past 4 years . . . this is the same plant I collected the seeds from. She has decided that it needed repotting, so in an effort to help break it loose from its pot, I soaked it in water a bit. Up close, this looks pretty bad . . .
Here it is at another angle . . . do you see the way the stalk of the plant is all bending up and around? Her idea of fixing it is putting it in a bigger pot . . . I told her wait . . . let's post a picture or two, and let the ones who really know what they're talking about make some suggestions first . . .
It looks to me like that plant has been growing Up and Out trying to reach more light. It also seems as if the leaf edges either have been sunburned or possibly have a virus of some sort. Here are some pic's where you can check out AV leaf problems: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.steverd.com/violets/leaves/leaf14.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.steverd.com/violets/leaves/leaf-id.htm&h=476&w=640&sz=24&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=W7m8d3JXpAwwlM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dafrican%2Bviolet%2Bleaf%2Bphotos%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX
I think you should definitely remove any damaged leaves and repot the plant into a clean/sterilized pot with fresh well draining soil. You don't want to use a larger pot, probably 4" would suffice. I hope you can save the plant. I think it's great that you got seeds from that one ... that is so cool! I have never seen an AV with seedpods.
I hope some of the more knowledgeable AV/Gesneriad growers will come by soon to offer some advice from what they see in your photo.
Thanks for the link, plantladylin . . .
From what I've been able to find on neglected AVs, it looks like what this one needs is to have is leave the last 3-4 rows of leaves on the plant, then cut the root ball and stalk off - except for the last 3" or so. Then, scrape the stalk (helps with rooting?), and plant it in new soil . . .
Have any of you ever had to do this before?
I do it all the time. I am sure we all do. A nice trim and new soil will do wonders I bet. There may be suckers too. I can't see very well. Yes, it is reaching for light. Bright light, NOT direct or hot light is needed and the plant can be turned each day if it is natural light. Some nice weak fertilizer is good. Has it been fed?
You know, I don't know if she's fed it . . . I know she's watered it each week. I brought a water bottle full of Hill Country fertilizer. I'm thinking that after she leaves at 5pm, that I will work on her plant for her - as a suprise. I won't use the big pot she brought . . . I'll go clean out the pot it's in now, and clean it good . . .
Keep us posted! I hope your co-worker doesn't freak out if you have to do some surgery on her plant but it sounds like you know what you are doing and if she could just bear with you for a little while I know she would be pleasantly surprised at how good her AV will look! Just tell her plants sometimes need a little grooming like us humans.
Syru, what I did with mine is to take all old leaves off, cut the youngest part of the crown off, don't worry about it not having roots, and pot it in new soil mix. It will develop roots in about one month. for easy rooting, scrape the bit of the crown that will be covered by the potting compost.
I then take 1/3 of the bottom of the roots ( on the old crown) and plant it again.
good luck!
I warned her what was "recommended" on AV's in this condition . . . I think she would much prefer the bigger pot, but that just doesn't sit right with me . . . I suppose my backup would be if anything did happen with her plant, I could give her one or two of the babies I grew from the seed I collected from her plant . . .
That is a good back up plan.
I agree with Spider..........the outer rows of leaves, you can pitch and throw awayl.............just save the crown and all the new growth around her. Then you can bury her big ugly neck that you have scraped. I would make no attempt to save the outer lower rows of leaves.........
I took the plung on Thursday night. I didn't take a picture, though. I'll take the camera with me tomorrow.
Well, here is the picture of what it looks like . . . it looks like a mutant, because it looks sideways, but that's the way it HAD to look in order for me to put the neck down straight. It does look like a few of the leaves may have attempted to flip over a little over the weekend . . . which is what I had hoped it would do.
Ok, that one was more of the front view . . . here's the one of the side, where you can see how sideways it looks . . .
I hope someone else speaks up.............I would take all those big leaves on one side off........throw them away and just start with a crown and about 4 or 5 leaves...........you will eventually have a much prettier plant.
I'm sure there was a better way to do it, but I didn't want to freak out my co-worker TOO badly . . . I won't talk about Friday . . . . I thought if it survived . . . and at least looked more "normal", then in 6 months or so I would repot again, taking another set of leaves off.
Well, if that is all you feel comfortable with, that is ok. I too would have taken the leaves off until there are the ones on top. Three rows or so. Then plant the neck. It would look like a baby and probably grow nicely after that. Maybe she will get used to this and let you do more.
It can never look good if she doesn't turn it and give it more light.
This message was edited Jul 28, 2008 8:09 PM
Don't forget, it's not my plant . . . that's what I'm hoping, that she'll see how much better it's doing, so in a few months she will let me do a bit more . . .
loving this conversation..............don't you just hate someone else telling you to do something you don't want to do!! (LOL) (meaning your coworker)
To be fair, she would have had the ultimate say . . . it is her plant . . . but I would not have helped her do it!
Syru, she should be grateful you are helping her plant.It doesn't look like she took good care of it in the first place or it would not have looked so bad before you worked on it.
That is true . . .
I don't think I'll give her a hard time about that now, though . . . she's going to be out for at least the rest of the week . . . her sister was given Last Rites last night . . . maybe it will look better and cheer her up when she gets back.
It's been just over a month, so I thought I'd share some updated pix!
Here is the current top view of previously said ugly plant . . . I don't even need to use the toothpicks to hold the leaves in place anymore!
There is still a gap here on one side, but I figure if she let's me, when I repot it in January or so, I'll be taking the bottom 2 rows off, and that will take care of it, I think!
It is so happy to have room to grow roots, it bloomed to show it's appreciation!
And why not . . . I did take a shot of the nicer side, too!
Well done! That didn't seem to take long. What did your friend say?
I don't think she noticed it for a week after she came back after the funeral. She did say that it was looking good about 2 weeks ago . . . she even perked up after she saw the flower . . .
I'm sure the flower made her happy! A good sign!
Oh my gosh.............I never dreamed that plant would settle down and really grow..........that is a real feat and you need to be congratulated for it...........and a bloom to boot! GReat!
