Anyone have one? Do you like it?
Thanks.

i have one, and will be getting more. i bought my first one a couple of months ago, and now, don't know why i waited!

I have quite a few of them, and I love them!!!!!

i have all my av's in them.

i went to the flower show this year and bought a few minature's to do as bonsai (possibly, i might just leave them as is). as i researched them (different varieties of serissa), i found that they really, really like their soil to stay evenly moist. so, i put them in the self-watering pots too...they're doing much better since i moved them!

Thanks. I think I'll invest in one

gardeningmomma I found some plastic ones at Big Lots for 99 cents each. I bought 4 also have 4 glass (ceramic)one's I use.
Jimmy

I will be getting them for my AV's since some are now getting big enough for them. The are awesome!

they come in all different sizes! i've plenty in size range from 2-3 inches up to 12 inch. i got most of mine at frank's - and then they went out of business.

lowes carries only the 6-8 to larger sizes, same with walmart - if the store even carries them.

i've also seen the smaller sizes at the small, local nurseries.

I have seen them, just did not want to invest while my plants were still babies. I now have 4 that are ready for bigger pots and they will go into those.

Do you pot them up like regular pots? I usually put in a layer of peebles before the potting soil. Would I still do that?

I am not planning on it in these ones but the soil I use for my AV's I mix with lots of perlite.

Thank you

no need for the pebbles if you're using an av pot. the inner piece, which is unglazed ceramic, is more than enough to restrict the water - just enough seeps through to keep the soil moist.

when i fill the base with water, i only fill it with enough water so that the insert is soaking to the half-way point. you can use more water, if you want. for me it's just a habit - i'm forced to check them more regularly which is good because there are times where they pull more water than others. i'd rather be in a 'check it' mode over a 'it's full, no need to check it' thing.

I love these have all my African Violtes int them. Just wish I could find some big enought to put my calatha's in.

oooh good idea!

Got some 4 inch at Big Lots right now can't find the ceramic ones have four and can get buy without for awhile. Also Noticed at WM they have some 4 inch plastic may have to go there for more as a mile beats 10 miles to Big Lots across town. I have an 8 inch one my DIL gave me she didn't like it I am so glad she didn't. Wm had their buried in among the other pots you have too look close and dig to find things there. They didn't even know what they were when I saw them.
Jimmy

i've seen some pretty large sizes at Sears Hardware and Lowes. now that they're getting the summer stuff in, it's a good time to check out their stock...you could even ask their buyer if they could get in some of the larger sizes.

Where can I find perlite? Is it something that Lowes or Walmart would have? I've always just used the Miracle Grow Soil, which has all the goodies already in it.
Thanks

Yes, both should have it and it is near the rest of the garden soil.

Bought pot and African Violet potting mix. Hopefully my plant will be happy in it's new home

Hope so too!

I've been looking at those self watering pots, the plastic and also the ceramic ones, I wondered if it was worth getting them, now I'll be getting a few of them. So I guess WM is proable one of the cheapest places to get the ceramic ones????

It's been two days since I repotted my AV, and I already see some new growth in the middle. My plant appears to be really happy in this pot. Thank you so much- I really value the wonderful advice I get here.

Just took these babies off yesterday mother leaf on side.
Hac three more waiting on then will be done for a while. These are the 4 inch plastic self watering pots got at WM for >96 cents Ea.

i have lots of those plastic pots. they are my favorite houseplant pots. the thing about the ceramic ones is that they hold the water longer/more evenly than the pastic. BUT like i said, i use the plastic for ALL my houseplants! (i only have one ceramic, and it has my av's in it!)

I planted the two Self Watering pots with the largest of my AV's.





They seem to like their new home. I got mine for just under $5 each at WM.

Can anyone help me find an AV pot? We're in small-town SD and don't have many stores around, so a website would be great. I'm looking for the kind that looks kind of like a two-spouted teapot.

firsttimer the pots above is all I have ever seen. I got four like Triss has cannot find anymore here in DFW area. But still looking. Don't know of an online place to get them. Someone should come along can help you.Welcome to the forum.

Firsttimer, I could check Wal Mart or Home Depot's website. I got mine from WalMart so assume they would be online. Have not seen whet you are describing though.

We have lots here Jimmy, are there any colors you are looking for specifically?

handmade av pots

more handmade pots

this one has the style you want

yet another

one more

edit:

i got mine at home depot, lowes, sears hardware and franks nursery (which has since gone out of business). the above sites have some REALLY nice pots...most offer much nicer products than any i bought in the stores (some are very similar to what i've got, too).

No Triss no special colors I could only get four at the time and now they say they wont get anymore in until maybe next springs. I hust havent had time to check the other million WM they have in the area with gas being so high and all. But thanks anyway. I may also check their website.

Will look for ya next time I head out there Jimmy!

Thank you so much Joclyn! That's exactly what I was looking for!

you're welcome!!!

you can keep other plants in these pots too...anything that is really sensitive to water levels and needs to be kept evenly moist do really well in them!

What kinds of other plants? I love the one I bought for my African Violet.

i've got my minature roses (aka serissa) in them. when i was searching for info on these mini's (for bonsai) i learned that they tend to drop leaves if the soil drys out...so i put them in the really small av pots that i had stored away. overnight i saw a differnce in the 3 plants!!

i'm planning on getting another polka dot plant - they're sensitive to the moisture level - as i found out the hard way. so are anthurium.

Joclyn
Do you keep your mini roses in the house or outside?

Does anyone have a problem with the water not passing through the porous part easily? My AV soil is bone dry Any suggestions?

I just started mine but so far so good on the soil being moist. How long have you had yours?

rose, they're inside - right now, they're only a couple of inches tall. i went to the philly flower show this year specifically to get something for bonsai and didn't want to do the usual plants... i'll have to find out if i CAN put them outside - the natural light might be good for them. not sure about high temps tho...

snap, you've got to fill the resevoir up enough so that the unglazed inner pot sits at least 1/2 way in the water. i usually add enough water so it's almost touching the part at the top that is glazed...i fill, then put the inner pot back in & let it sit a moment and then pull it up so i can check the water line on it. the more water you put in when you refill, the less often you need to check the level

i've had this set (i've got 4) since 2002. they were given to me - all of them cramped into one large pot - just a regular 6 inch green plastic thing. after about a year they weren't growing too much - or flowering, so, i transplanted them out to seperate av pots and they've all doubled in size and now they flower constantly.

I've got one of the ceramic type and I love it. Helps take the guess work out of watering and you don't have to worry so much about root rot.

Mandy

yup!

I have mine in ceramic two piece pots that I made at ceramics class.The plant loves it-Water goes in the bottom piece and the plant soaks it up thru the unglazed top piece that fits inside the bottom.The edges are fluted and quite attractive.If you know a place that sells finished ceramics product it would be a good investment or a friend that does ceramics maybe could do one for you.All the girls in cermaics use them and also make as gifts.

mine is ceramic and I keep plenty of water in the base, but I think that the roots are too short to pull it through. The pot is a little over a year old and I didn't notice problems with it until a few months ago. I tried refreshing the soil, but the bottom leaves are dying while the crown is so tight it won't allow buds to reach the sun and bloom.

snap, the self-watering pots were designed to take into consideration the fact that av's like to have a constant supply of water (altho they don't like to actually sit in sopping wet soil) as well as the fact that they don't like their roots to have to go too far to find it.

altho av's also like to be a bit root-bound they don't like it when their roots have absolutely no breathing room. could it be possible that your av just needs a slightly larger pot?

also, what to you do in the way of maintenance? by that, i mean do you do any pruning? is so, what, exactly, are you doing?

does it matter how much water I put in the bottom of my pot? When a flower or leaf dies, should I cut it off or let it fall away?
Thanks

you want to put enough water in the bottom so that the insert is sitting in it deeply enough that the plant is getting the amount of moisture it needs to thrive - at least 1/2 way covered. i always fill them up so that the water level is pretty high...then i only have to check them every 3 weeks or so to refill as needed. that works out well if you hit a busy period and don't have time to check the water levels every week

it's usually best to take the flower stalks off as soon as the flowers have dried up - you'll get new stalks and blooms sooner.

i try to get the leaves when they are in the process of starting to turn brown and wither. sometimes i find small leaves underneath the main bunch that are dried up and it doesn't seem to hurt the growth any.

so, no I'm fairly sure it doesn't need a larger pot.... it's dying underneath (I just plucked out 5 leaves that were brown and dry)the root is minimal to say the least (about an inch and a half total tap root). So now I'm really thinking it's not getting any water at all (soil still bone dry).... so anyone know anything about increasing root growth in AVs?

snap, av's grow from the center of the plant and the leaves that are the oldest (and first to die) will be 'underneath'. that's the normal growth pattern it's also a constant thing - at least in my experience. when i see new growth at the center, i know i'll be seeing some of the older/larger leaves dieing off.

if you have dead leaves, you should have new growth too. sometimes they slow down with the growth and sometimes they take a break from flowering - all totally normal.

do you have enough water in the pot so that the insert is immersed in it? is the insert unglazed? on the inside as well as the outside? a bit of glazing around the top rim (of the insert) is okay.

the soil isn't going to look wet, it will feel slightly moist tho. if you've missed a refill and the soil goes totally dry, you'll need to refill and let the soil become remoistened. or, maybe there's a crack in the base and the water is leaching out instead staying in there for the plant to drink?

also, when you redid the soil, did you use av potting mix? it should be lightly tamped down not packed solid...the roots need breathing room.

could you post a pic of it? side view as well as from above.

oh, another thing: did you move it to a new location right before you started having problems?

That's what I was concerned about. I have quite a few leaves that are dying off and my av has stopped flowering- however I have quite a few new leaves in the center. So do you think my plant is doing okay???

yes, i think it's fine. they sometimes drop some leaves after being transplanted and they definitely stop blooming for a bit, too.

new growth at the center tells me that the plant has recovered from the shock of being transplanted (every plant goes into shock when moved - with some it's just more severe/evident).

you might want to give it a light treatment of av food, tho. certainly couldn't hurt! use the liquid type and just put one drop in the water. if you have more than one plant, mix up a batch that's large enough for all of them - follow the directions on the package for, say, a gallon of water, and then split it between all of your av's.

I was just thinking that I should give it some food. It looks good and I noticed a new flower starting today

terrific!!

Happy to report that my 2 AV's in their new self watering containers are doing great! They are growing already and look so good where they are. No transplant shock and I am simply amazed at how much better they look and they were healthy to begin with. I cannot wait to get all of my AV's in these kinds of pots!

I have had the AV pots for over 5 years. It's the only way to go. It's great for vacations just fill your water and your good to go. My AV are always beautiful and full and blooming like crazy. I always use the AV soil and feed. before this I killed them evertime.

yup, triss!! the av pots make a happy av extatic!!

fuschia, i've been using them for about 3 years now, and i'll never put an av in anything else!! as i said earlier here, i also use them for other plants that need consistant moisture...pink polka dot and serissa, for example.

i agree, they're great for when you go on vacation!!

I just bought 5 of the ceramic type and 4 of the plastic type, I am sure hoping they work as good as I expect them to.

AV's don't have a deep root system, so don't be concerned with there not being many roots, as they don't have many...only a shallow root system.

Triss, Do you add the perlite to regular potting soil or the soil especially for AV? I got 2 pots at a yard sale for a $1 each. No AV, yet. Sue

i've always had much better luck with the soil that's specifically for av's.

I want to start with AV's too, and this week I asked at our local Walmart for AV pots and they said they've never heard of them.
Could it be that Canadian Wm's don't carry them or am I asking for the wrong thing?
Would a pot with an open bottom be just as good?

it's probably a case of the person you spoke with didn't know what they are. you'll need to speak to the manager of the garden department or the store manager.

i'm sure they carry them in the canada stores. maybe another store would have them in stock? (i find that the store near me, which is not that big, doesn't carry some products because of space restrictions. the other store that is close by, and is much larger, has a huge choice of products - they have at least double the floor space).

my goodness.... you all have been busy! my poor AV is a conundrum. dying, dying, dying and then today when it's more dead than alive... it sprouts a flower! the whole plant at this point is no bigger than 2.5 inches across and it flowers? it was huge (like the more normal 8 in across). So I guess at this point, I just wait and keep feeding.

Snapdragon- yay! That's awesome. My av did the same thing. I thought it was gone... suddenly it had some new growth. I must be doing something right!

This is as good a place as any.

I have two AVs in my downstairs bathroom, this window has glazing on it so they don't burn and they love the steam from my wife's shower.

I planted them into self-watering pots a couple weeks ago. I have had them for almost a year and they have blossomed continuously!!! (The one upstairs has been blooming longer than that!!)

The question I have is should I remove all the blossoms from these plants for a while and let the plant itself rest and grow larger? They seem to be quite small. I probably could cover them with my hand.

The leaves on the two downstairs look healthy and green but they just seem small. The leaves upstairs are fading but I think that one is getting too much sun, going to relocate that one for a while.

Thanks for any advice. David

Rosepetal go to walmart online see if you can find them there. They will send whatever you order online to your nearest store for you to pickup. My Wal-mart can't keep them in stock but the Nursery across the street is wanting $25.00 for the same pot Wal-mart is getting $4.95 for. Also look around in cornors that is normally where I find mine if they are not in eye sight. Wal-Mart does not keep all gardening supplies in the garden center I have found them in pets and also around swimming pool supplies go figure

dave, take the spent blooms off - the whole bract (sp? not sure if that's even the correct term for the stem) not just the blooms themselves. they will bloom again when they are ready to.

make sure you've got the water level up high enough so that it will leach through the insert and get to the soil.

you'll see more growth with having them in the self-watering pots. they really make a difference!!

av's will regularly lose older leaves. any that are turning yellow can be pinched off - pinch as close to the base as you can. use small scissors or clippers for larger stems...your finger nails will do fine for smaller leaf stems.

i regularly turn my av's so that they don't end up growing funky. i also move them around - again to promote even growth.

also, some plants do better at this window and some do better under the grow lights.

i'd suggest switching yours around and see how they do.