With fuzzy leaves and fairly flowers that are available in white, purple, and blue, African violets are a captivating houseplant. This information will present you precisely find out how to assist your favorite houseplant thrive with African violet care ideas that actually work. Plus, learn to propagate your vegetation too!
African violets are often called friendship plant and are sometimes used as a logo of loyalty, devotion, and faithfulness. For these causes, it’s lengthy been a favorite for gifting! Whether or not you bought one among these cheerful vegetation or obtained one as a present, this information will show you how to preserve them thriving.
I’ll present you find out how to look after African violets in addition to a few of my propagation ideas so you may have violets galore! It actually is the present that retains giving.
With correct care, African violets can present virtually steady blooms in a rainbow of colors and leaf shapes. Though flower dimension, petal sort, and color fluctuate broadly, vegetation usually develop from 4 to seven inches tall, with furry leaves and tightly grouped clusters of flowers.
The African violet belongs to the household Saintpaulia and is native to Africa. They’re one of the crucial standard cultivated houseplants on this planet as we speak and are significantly nicely suited to the house setting. There at the moment are hundreds of types in existence, with new hybrids being developed virtually every day.
So, with out additional ado, right here’s my African violet care information!
Fundamentals of African Violet Care
Though African Violets are hardy little vegetation, they nonetheless require their very own distinctive care. Comply with these steps and you’ll have a cheerful little plant that likes to share their blooms with you.
Wicking African Violets for Higher Water Supply
Correct watering is crucial to African violet care. In reality, protecting these vegetation wholesome usually comes all the way down to watering. By far, the commonest strategy to kill an African violet is to overwater it. There are some things you are able to do to make sure you are correctly watering your violet.
All the time water on the base of the plant, and keep away from getting water on the leaves. Leaves are prone to rot in the event that they get too moist. You additionally need to make sure you solely water with room temperature water as chilly water can chill the roots and trigger your leaves to curve downwards. Solely water as soon as every week and permit the plant to fully dry between waterings.
One ingenious approach of creating certain your African violets are by no means over-watered is by organising a wicking system. To take action, draw three lengths of string from completely different factors on the base of the plant down by way of the soil and out the opening on the backside of the pot. With marbles or small stones, increase the pot off the drip tray by at the least half an inch. Safe the strings below the layer of stones.
While you place water within the tray, it’s drawn up by way of the strings into the planting medium the place the roots have protected entry to it. This methodology of watering ensures that the plant receives an everyday supply of moisture however is rarely left with its roots sitting in water.
The Finest Soil for African Violets
For African violets to flourish, they require a particular soil composed of two elements peat moss options, one half perlite, and one half commonplace potting combine. This retains the soil well-aerated. The soil needs to be free and well-drained. You may as well add natural matter to the combination if you want.
When choosing pots, the smaller the higher! African violets do nicely in small pots and don’t essentially should be repotted fairly often. You may repot right into a barely bigger pot annually, however additionally they will flourish and produce extra blooms when rootbound.
African Violet Care – Holding Them Wholesome
African violets are very hardy and do finest in oblique or filtered daylight. Whether it is getting an excessive amount of gentle, you might discover brown spots forming on the plant. On the other aspect, a violet that’s not getting sufficient gentle will produce skinny, darkish leaves and leggy stems. Different indicators embrace yellowing leaves and failure to supply blooms.
To make sure your plant is getting equal quantities of sunshine, strive rotating the pot each time you water. In any other case, you might discover your plant reaching for the sunshine. This isn’t distinctive to violets and is definitely an excellent routine to implement for many houseplants.
I like to recommend fertilizing your violets each two weeks through the spring and summer time seasons. In addition they want an acidic fertilizer specifically designed for them. You may fertilize with particular African violet meals or a fertilizer with a excessive phosphorous stage. I make my very own fertilizer and apply it to all my houseplants. For those who discover decreased flowers and pale leaves, it might imply that your violet just isn’t getting sufficient fertilizer.
With regards to temperature, your African violet will comply with you. For those who really feel comfy, so will your African violet. In addition they actually like humidity, so if that’s one thing you additionally take pleasure in, then you have got much more traits in frequent!
Though their temperature necessities aren’t essential if they’re maintained within the dwelling, they need to be saved nicely again from the window if temperatures exterior are going to be close to or under freezing.
Encouraging Extra Blooms
Most individuals purchase African violets to understand their blooms. After we fail to get blooms or have only a few, that’s once we start to scratch our heads. If there are not any flowers, it might imply the plant just isn’t getting sufficient gentle. Alternatively, violets want at the least eight midnights to bloom which may very well be a problem should you use develop lights.
Another excuse might truly be too many leaves. Every rosette of leaves will produce one spherical of flowers. For those who prune off the biggest outer layer of leaves, it’s going to encourage extra violet blooms.
As talked about earlier, protecting your violet rootbound also can encourage them to bloom. Lastly, all the time take away spent flowers and foliage to encourage your violet to supply extra. Have a look at your violet and see if any of those could be the perpetrator behind zero blooms!
Propagating African Violets
Who doesn’t desire a ton of tiny little African violets!? I prefer to propagate African violets usually since they appear so beautiful in clusters. All the time you’ll want to begin off with extra cuttings than you suppose you’ll want, as all of them might not be profitable.
Whether or not you need extra or you’re propagating a bunch for gifting, that is my surefire strategy to propagate violets.
Select wholesome leaves from the center of the plant, because the outer ones can be too previous and the inside ones can be too younger.
Make a slicing on the base of the stem, cautious to go away no stem on the host plant as it’s going to rot. Shorten your cuttings to at least one inch.
Water your soil and place it into SMALL containers. Poke a pencil within the soil to make room for the stem.
Non-obligatory. Calmly dip your stem right into a rooting hormone and faucet off the surplus. This may assist encourage the leaf to develop roots.
Place your stem into the soil, letting the tip of the leaf simply contact the floor of the soil. Pat down the soil firmly.
Put a help behind your leaf to assist maintain it up.
Non-obligatory. Place your pots in a makeshift greenhouse, similar to an empty salad container. This may assist to maintain the humidity stage in and preserve heat temperatures.
Place your slicing in a well-lit, vibrant spot that received’t get too scorching. Wait and be affected person!
Transplant when the leaf has sprouted an excellent root system and some small leaflets have grown.
African Violet Care FAQs
Most individuals select to propagate African violets from cuttings or plant divisions, however it’s doable to develop them from seed. Nonetheless, it’s essential to cross-pollinate two vegetation for the plant to supply seeds, and the ensuing seeds might not be the identical sort of African violet because the dad and mom.
For that reason, it’s finest to buy seeds from a good vendor reasonably than attempt to save the seeds your self. I’ve not personally grown African violets from seed, however different sources say they’re pretty easy to start out from seed.
Your flowers can change based mostly on the situations wherein they grew. While you first get them, they could have huge blooms as a result of they grew in a greenhouse with optimum situations. At your private home, they could have much less daylight or fertilizer than they’re used to, in order that they’ll produce smaller blooms. The extra beneficial the situations, the larger the blooms can be.
When correctly cared for, African violets can bloom year-round. To encourage extra blooms, be certain to deadhead any spent blooms by trimming them with sterilized scissors. Appropriate gentle can also be important.
I hope by now, African violets are rather less intimidating than they have been earlier than! With a bit planning and understanding, African violets can beautify your private home and be enjoyable and simple to develop.
Extra Useful Care Suggestions
