African Violet Thread

[N F C]

Other than the violets, my plants are in 3 main areas. And 3 or 4 in separate spots that I didn’t take pictures of.

Living room window. Those 2 big ones were at DH’s request. They have gotten a lot bigger than they were almost 5 years ago.
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We ended up getting a large fake monstera from Hobby Lobby for his dark corner floor plant. But then when the first Christmas came, it got moved to the basement to make room for the tree. After a while we donated it to Goodwill.

Here are two angles of the dining room plants. Those are north and west facing windows.
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Betta in plant bowl.
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South facing window in the kitchen-family room area. I can’t use my desk because it has too many plants on it.

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So my kitchen table is my desk.
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That Swiss Cheese Monstera is my newest plant from Aldi last week!

Thanks for sharing your pictures Finnie, it's nice seeing so much green!

 

[Finnie]

Well they don’t look like much right now as they aren’t flowering.
There are five of them and they came crammed into the basket in the picture. Once they finished flowering I took two out as they were too cramped to be able to water.
I think I need to repot them into bigger individual pots. They are all different colors and were very pretty as a display but I think it is too hard to care for them like that.
Here they are at the moment - they do seem to be putting out new leaves so I guess they are reasonably happy.
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They are nice big plants!

AVs like to be a little under potted/root bound. So the pots they are in might be a good size. If they are still in the dirt they came from the store though, then they probably need fresher, lighter soil.

According to the internet, growers who sell en masse to stores pot the violets in a heavier, more water retaining soil than violets actually prefer. Knowing that in the time it takes them to get shipped, distributed and sold, they probably won’t get watered, so they rely on a moister soil to keep them hydrated.

Theoretically, when you take one home from the store, you should repot it into soil that is at least 50% perlite, so that it will have better drainage, and the roots won’t rot. I’ve done that with some and left others in there store soil. I’ve killed some doing both methods. And I’ve had some thrive in their store soil for over a year. But I do believe that never getting them out of that heavy soil shortens their life.

So, maybe you should try repotting one or two and see how they respond. Then if it’s good, repot the rest. If they don’t need a bigger pot, you can gently remove any loose soil trying not to destroy the roots too much. And then put them back in the same size pot with fresh soil replacing what you removed.

 

[Finnie]

And I agree with you about 5 in that basket. If they are too crowded, they won’t grow in their natural round shape. Not that they have to be round. I think most of them are pretty however they grow.

 

[RoyalChick]

They are nice big plants!

AVs like to be a little under potted/root bound. So the pots they are in might be a good size. If they are still in the dirt they came from the store though, then they probably need fresher, lighter soil.

According to the internet, growers who sell en masse to stores pot the violets in a heavier, more water retaining soil than violets actually prefer. Knowing that in the time it takes them to get shipped, distributed and sold, they probably won’t get watered, so they rely on a moister soil to keep them hydrated.

Theoretically, when you take one home from the store, you should repot it into soil that is at least 50% perlite, so that it will have better drainage, and the roots won’t rot. I’ve done that with some and left others in there store soil. I’ve killed some doing both methods. And I’ve had some thrive in their store soil for over a year. But I do believe that never getting them out of that heavy soil shortens their life.

So, maybe you should try repotting one or two and see how they respond. Then if it’s good, repot the rest. If they don’t need a bigger pot, you can gently remove any loose soil trying not to destroy the roots too much. And then put them back in the same size pot with fresh soil replacing what you removed.

Helpful. Thanks!
I also need to figure places to put them all!