A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 African Violets

Hello. I'm from Colorado and a new member. I just got my first African Violet (sami) and need all the information on him as I can get. He is not blooming yet so I don't even know what color his blooms will be.
Any input would be nice. Thanks

Hi Nita! There are a few people here who will probably know more, I've only had a few African violets and I don't have any now. What I can tell you is water from the bottom, they don't like their leaves wet at all. That's why they make those special violet pots. Mine got fairly bright light in a south facing window and did really well. And I fed her with Schultz african violet food, the kind in the dropper bottle. The only reason I don't have one now is my kitty decided it was fun to sit in the same window and knock the plant down. African violets also don't like to be dumped on their heads repeatedly!

Thanks gardengal. This site is really nice to have. I have lots of questions on lots of different tropical plants. Is there someone who knows lots of infromation . I have the feeling I will be learning alot from all of you. Thanx again

welcome nita you are right about lots of folks knowing lots of information. there are a few who are master gardenerers and a few who are professionals (either with lanscaping or the new "interior scaping" - read professional house plant people for offices and such) and a whole bunch who have learned by trial and error! kristen gave you the right info on the african violet. if you don't have a sunny window, you can put her under a flourescent desk lamp. they like that!

You'll find smatterings of African Violet info on these pages....

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/quickies2.htm

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/callalily.htm

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/hardwater.htm

Thanx for the information. It sounds like I'm doing everything right. I guess i'll just wait to see blooms.

I have 2 growing and have them in terrauim set up right now so they keep their humidity.mine is not blooming cause i need a bigger pot size& have yet to get lowes to get the size pot I need.I need to go up on size mine is a 3 0z pot.
i'm a mameber of an african violet group called www.rachelsvioletsreflections.com
she has files with all kinds of grow info you can browse through& they have online chats a few times a week mainly niteish hours.they would have better luck ID ing for you.
I do wash my leaves on my plant once a month.I do under facet with warm water and dip in bowl with a lil dish soap and murphys oil soap.
I'm still learning& rachels is a good group to learn from.We love new questions.I find it easier to recieve the posts as a e mial digest.

If I do this right.a picture will appear.I'm still learning.

http://us.fl.yahoofs.com/users/4a79...lets/__sr_/purple+african+violet+9+4.jpg


I grow some tropicals.what ya got?maybe I can help
and welcome to our wonderful group

sorry it didn't work,but I did get a new user error message so guess thats progress

http://photos.yahoo.com/njoynit03

A thought about watering your violet. Instead of actually having to remember to water the plant, you can make the plant water itself. Keep a container full of water next to the plant and put one end of a thick string in the water and the other into the soil that the plant is in. The plant will actually drink the water using the string as a straw. It will take as much water as it needs. Works really well with ours.

Your supposed to wash the leaves?! Gee, we've had ours for years and haven't done that yet. hmmm?? Guess I'll have to do that soon!!!

Umm... I've read a few times that you should fertilize your african violets every time you water but this is from books that say you should always avoid using hard water and to distill if you do. Is it because of the lack of nutrients in the water or should you still feed every time?
My parents have a few and they don't flower very often(once every three months or so wich is probably how often they feed them).