updated ....Saturday, July 18, 2009 07:10 PM |
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| My carefree african violet care and propagation methods. | ||
| There are a few things we should get out of the way first so let me start off by saying | ||
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Adjustments to the care of my african violets were made necessary because they must suffer long periods of neglect by myself. At these times my husband takes over and he has done magnificently well as a substitute. He is willing and faithful, but lets face it - He does not have the interest. He does it because it is for me and because he cares that I have an interest to occupy my time and thoughts with on my "better" days. Here you will find some very unorthodox methods, but they work for us, and it enables me to keep enjoying my hobby. I am the first to admit that my african violets could be better, especially when you see the great "show quality" stuff out there in magazines or an african violet show. I have never been to one, someday? I hope so! |
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| I am a Hobby Grower and as such am satisfied with the lesser distinction of having the nicest violets around the area. Albeit an area that sees very little of the new varieties, and doesn't even realize there is such a thing as a variegated african violet much less the "yellows" and "reds" we have today. People come and "ooh" and "aaaah" over them and that is satisfaction enough for me! I do not require more than that. | ||
| I consider myself blessed that I have a help-mate to tide my violets over until we meet again, they respond so quickly to such a little bit of attention, that I fall in love all over again each time I return. When things start feeling dark and gloomy, I look around and I will always find another violet showing it's beautiful face to be admired, or stretching out it's variegated leaves to be counted. They are such responsive little plants that you cannot help but admire the beauty they show even when you know they have just suffered weeks of the barely adequate care of a person who could care less....but for the love of another. | ||
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Environment, soil
I have never found a soil on the shelf that I have been happy with no matter what the price. I buy regular potting soil, fine peat moss, coarse vermiculite, and perlite. Equal portions of each come close to what I would use. I buy charcoal, lately I have had to resort to finding this in a pet shop and pay a horrible price for it, but I like to add some of it to my soil to keep it fresh. I am now into wick watering and for this you would not use any soil, or at least very little. The recipe is the same, just drop the potting soil. There are some good recipes out there for regular potting soil, for manual watering, be careful here to understand the difference. In wick watering the soil, "medium" is a better word for it because it is really a soil-less mix, you must feed your violets on a regular basis. They depend on you for the nutrients they need to grow. The medium must be "light" for air and drainage purposes. |
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| This recipe should not be used while wicking. It was developed by Ernest Fisher, a great grower and hybridizer of african violets. This particular recipe has been around for years and is still used today. The following is directly quoted from his Violet Culture in Depth booklet I acquired about 30 years ago with my first light garden from his greenhouse in Toronto Ontario. A good porous soil mix is essential for use in plastic pots, one that drains readily. The following is our soil formula which we have used for many years and which you may like to try. 2 quarts sterilized clay loam 2 quarts perlite 2 quarts medium or coarse vermiculite 2 quarts fine chip charcoal 8 quarts sphagnum peat moss (screened and pressed into container) Mix separately the following: |
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Light African violets will grow just about anywhere. A girlfriend who received a violet from me, wanted to keep it on a table where she thought it looked nice. She worried because she had diffused sunlight at best and then the table was a bit away from the window. I knew her and asked if the table she wanted to keep it on was far from her "big" chair. Well no, she said as a matter of fact there is a lamp on it I use when I do my knitting. I told her it was just perfect, the lamp will double duty as extra light for her knitting and the violet. It has been over a year now and the violet is almost constantly in bloom for her. Other tenants in the apartment building asked her what in the world she was doing to keep her violets (plural?? yes, she's been bitten) so nice. She told them about the supplement lighting, they began their own collections and are now calling her for advise. I am lucky enough to have what I call a garden room. I love just going to sit there. The room is in the basement where it is cool even in summer, with one small window on the north side with mini blind closed at all times. My lights are on timer. They come on around 9am and stay until 8pm. The timers are ideal as it helps make the days independent, care-free and most important consistent. You may of course go out and buy the very high priced gro-lite fluorescent tubes they have today that are supposed to imitate the "sun". But actually it does not matter to the violet itself. The gro-lite assures the plant looks the same color when you get your new baby home, but other than that there is no difference in the quality of the light to the violets. You can grow them under the cheapest "cool" white tubes and have just as beautiful results, but once the violet is removed from the "cool" light it appears to be a different color! Obviously this would not be satisfactory in a "shop" but in my garden room it makes no difference! I use 1 "cool" and 1 "warm" in each set-up. This is not so hard on the eyes and there is not such a drastic change in the appearance of the plant when removed from the stands. Wicks I use the Zellers baby wool for my wicks and find it works very well. I cut it into about 7" pieces and draw one end up through the hole in the pot and make a full circle around the bottom, your wick should be thoroughly wet to do this, then set a pre cut , tiny square of paper towel (is what I use) right over top of this and then fill with your soil mixture. (more on wick watering here) |
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Humidity and Watering, Very important: when I refer to water in any area here it is always warm water. Yes, they like humidity, and if your violet is not or will not be put in direct sunlight you may safely mist as often as you wish! Contrary to what used to be the rule "do not drop water on violet leaves you'll kill the plant!" Violets love to be clean! I actually thought of violets as dusty, dirty little plants. Oh, I admired the blooms but was not interested in keeping a plant that looked so dingy, and dusty. Until.... I was out visiting one day, I don't even remember where and her violet was beautiful!!! I swear the leaves had a shine to them! I commented on this and of course and got into a real discussion with her. She had never heard of not getting water on the leaves and rinsed hers right under the tap. Well, after hearing this and seeing her violet I was hooked! Do not get water right in the crown of the plant. I keep my water almost as warm as you would a baby bottle, well after all........!!! African violets would benefit from a morning shower every day. Do not expose to a chill, or you could be in trouble. Also remember, direct sunlight through a drop of water, acts as magnifying glass would to any leaf, hence a burn, hole, spot, would develop. |
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