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I have read many books, and love them but they are so tempermental! I have a micro-climate with a few plants together, keep them out of cold/draft and dont overwater. Yet they bloom a bit, then shrivel....The blooms are gone now- I read they have a specific enzyme that gets produced overnight so I leave the artificial light off...I havent overfed them, have bought that expensive a.v. food though.
They are in a nice pot, and I do have a plant that lasted since 2009 which is a record....what am I doing wrong? thanks I really love the colors...just so hard to keep them alive
I have mine in the pots that are 2 pieces, one is the water reservior the other holds the plant. I put water in them about once a week. If you plants are in regular pots with saucers are you watering from the bottom. When I really want them to bloom pretty, I hold off on the water for a couple of days.
also they have to get the right balance of light and moisture and if anything is off , they wont bloom . Mine only bloom once a yr , what am I doing wrong ? I dont know but I have four plants and they are all green and beautiful otherwise .
I have read many books, and love them but they are so tempermental! I have a micro-climate with a few plants together, keep them out of cold/draft and dont overwater. Yet they bloom a bit, then shrivel....The blooms are gone now- I read they have a specific enzyme that gets produced overnight so I leave the artificial light off...I havent overfed them, have bought that expensive a.v. food though.
They are in a nice pot, and I do have a plant that lasted since 2009 which is a record....what am I doing wrong? thanks I really love the colors...just so hard to keep them alive
I once had a neighbor who had glorious African Violets and as well as sitting their pots inside other (slightly bigger) pots and only watering the outer pots...like never pour water directly on to the plants themselves, she also poked (buried) a small nail or screw into the soil of each plant.
It may sound strange but it sure worked for her.
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I have mine in the pots that are 2 pieces, one is the water reservior the other holds the plant. I put water in them about once a week. If you plants are in regular pots with saucers are you watering from the bottom. When I really want them to bloom pretty, I hold off on the water for a couple of days.
I have that type of planter too- the flowers just shrivel...okay I will try to not overwater. is artificial light good for them? some say yes, others not so much
One time I had a couple go celery pale and no blooms. I got a plant light off of ebay. It was just a hanging light that had cool white flr bulbs. To make a violet bloom I had them in 8 hours of total darkness. To encourage blooms under the cool white bulb, I used orange filter film to mimic the sun that creates blooms. Without the film the cool white is more likely just to make it grow but without as many blooms.
They were pale from needing food and more light.
water- brita filtered water warm to room temp. NEVER over water. You should let your violet soil dry all the way out before you water it again. Not totally bone dry but enough that you notice the pot is lighter and the top soil is dry to touch. add miracle grow to your water but in the house plant dilute mix. Always water from below. It saves the leaves and encourages strong roots.
Blooms - pinch em off when they start to wilt. This makes them bloom more. Also remove any leaves that are stressed, spotted or wilting.
Soil - repot them if miracle grow with the feed pellets in it if they do not respond to liquid feeding or if you are afraid of mixing the MG wrong and burning your plant. That soil is fantastic!
Opsimathia makes some very good points. Always water from below. Cut off wilting flowers as soon as they start to wilt - which will encourage bloom and flower formation. I also agree with using Miracle Grow African Violet potting mix, although
I do add a little perlite to the mix. I only use SCHULTZ African Violet fertilizer and I fertilize with every watering. Also, I must agree, wait until the pot itself feels very light before watering again! I get all of my AVs from Home Depot - some do
incredibly, and others do not - a big part of that is "genetics". Some plants just do not have good genes, and won't perform well, while others will be fantastic ! I don't spend alot of money on AVs and have some beautiful plants, all from
Supermarkets and Home Depot !
Has anyone heard of putting old broken egg shells in water in a glass jar and leave for about a month and then water the african violets with it ? because I remember a thread or a post on here about someone saying that their mother did this and she had wonderful african violets from watering with this solution . do any of you all know about this ? im doing this solution but dont want to kill my plants LOL !!!
I didn't know African Violets were hard to grow/keep alive. I've always watered them from underneath. I have had them on and off for years. Right now I just have 1 plant that I keep near a window on the South facing side of the house. It's in one of those two piece pots. Occasionally I put a few drops of the plant food in the water. I try to pinch off any dead flowers/leaves when I can. I don't give it a whole lot of attention nonetheless.
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- I read they have a specific enzyme that gets produced overnight so I leave the artificial light off...I havent overfed them, have bought that expensive a.v. food though. 
Well...
