There’s no better time than the present to spruce up your African violets for spring.
Now that longer, warmer days are stimulating growth for African violets, it’s easy to help your saintpaulias grow into more beautiful, well-proportioned plants.
Study Each African Violet
First, study each plant separately. Is it too small or too large for the pot?
The step-by-step drawings at right show how to repot your plants in containers of the right size and how to divide multiple-crown plants.
For an exquisite display, pot up a white or pink African violet in the same pot as a light blue or rich purple one.
A 4”-inch fern pot would be the right size to use. Choose saintpaulia varieties with similar leaves so that the different colored flowers will appear to be growing from the same plant.
Ideal Potting Soil
Potting soil should be loose and friable. If your collection is small, purchasing sterilized potting soil is hard. Moisten this soil slightly before it is used.
If your African violet collection is large, it will be less expensive to prepare your potting soil.
Mix together the following in almost any combination to make a loose compost: well-rotted manure, loam, leafmold or peat moss, vermiculite, and a little bonemeal.
A small number of bonfire ashes or wood ashes will be a beneficial addition.
Sterilization of Potting Soil
Sterilization of potting soil is not absolutely necessary, but with the prevalence of fungous spores, nematodes, and other pests and diseases, it is a worthwhile precaution.
As needed, we sterilize the potting soil in small amounts by baking it in a 200° to 250° degrees Fahrenheit oven for about an hour.
Do not have the oven too hot or bake the soil too long, which would be harmful.
When the compost has cooled, moisten it slightly and let it “set” for a day until it is the proper texture for potting.
Potting Time
In potting, we usually place a small piece of brick or broken pot chip over the drainage hole, then a small wad of sphagnum or peat moss before the potting soil is filled in.
Each plant is placed carefully so that the point where the lowest leaves join the stem will be just above the final soil level.
We then firm the soil around the plants and add a thin layer of vermiculite or chopped sphagnum moss on the surface.
This will help prevent the rapid evaporation of water from the soil and will aid in maintaining a more uniform humidity around the leaves.
Repotting For Large Plants
Large plants, whose leaves extend beyond the pot edge, should not be removed from pots by turning them upside down and tapping the pot rim on a table edge. This method usually breaks some of their leaves.
Whenever our large plants need repotting, we find removing them easily by pushing a small stick up through the drainage hole and gently forcing the contents from the pot without disturbing the roots.
Be sure your plants receive plenty of light. Inadequate light is perhaps the main reason why some African violets refuse to bloom.
Direct sunlight is not advisable except during the early morning or late afternoon.
Plants grown for foliage alone require less light than those grown for flowers.
For Best Blooms
As a rule, the best blooms will be produced in light that is too strong to develop the best foliage, so a compromise must be made to obtain the best flowers and richest foliage possible.
You can tell whether or not conditions are satisfactory, as small buds will develop with amazing rapidity in spring if all is right.
If the buds fail to develop as fast as you think they should, move the plants to a spot where they will receive more light but avoid the unshaded midday sun.
Carefully Watch Temperature
The temperature at which you grow your plants should be watched carefully. African violets do not like less than 60° degrees Fahrenheit at night.
They thrive best at higher temperatures, but over 75° or 80° degrees humidity must also be maintained to do well.
We prefer to grow our plants at 65° to 70° degrees Fahrenheit at night and even at 60° degrees Fahrenheit.
In early spring, the plants will remain in bloom much longer without requiring division or repotting.
Higher temperatures force the African violet into a shorter growth cycle, and it becomes necessary to keep young plants coming along to maintain a blooming display.
Proper Watering
Proper watering is an important factor. African violets should be moist; never bone-dry or soggy-wet for long.
We water them with warm or almost hot water either from the saucer or at the surface, pouring the water into the spaces between the leaves.
Do not wet the leaves, except to wash off dust with warm water every few weeks. This will also help discourage insects. Make sure the plants dry out of direct sunlight.
For Stubborn Plants
If your plants refuse to bloom even when large enough, plunge the pots into a dish of very warm water deep enough to come halfway up the pot.
Leave them there for an hour or so and then drain off excess water before setting the plants back in their usual places.
Do this whenever they need water; if light conditions are satisfactory, buds should soon develop.
A weak soluble fertilizer or liquid manure applied about every two weeks during the spring and summer will promote growth and flowering.
Increasing Humidity
In sections of low humidity, it may be necessary to place the pots in flats or trays on moist sphagnum, coal cinders, peat moss, or vermiculite.
This will increase the humidity around the plants to help produce the growth necessary for abundant bloom.
If your plants refuse to bloom despite this, add a pinch of superphosphate to the surface of the soil. Sometimes this will force bud formation.
44659 by Kenneth H. And Ramona Mosher