African Violet
I had been told that African Violets (Saintpaulia) were hard to grow. I thought “Pish posh! How hard can they be?” and decided to see for myself. I read up on African Violets, and then bought this pretty dark blue Vermont variety about two months ago. It’s doing quite well as you can see. I was hoping it would sprout a few more leaves, but still not doing bad considering all the horror stories I had heard. So without further ado, I give everything I’ve learned over the past few months about African Violets:
Watering
African Violets enjoy slightly moist soil. Avoid over watering and water again just before the soil dries out completely. There is some debate over bottom watering or top watering with this species, mainly because the leaves and flowers are very sensitive to water. Standing water on the leaves can cause yellow water spots. If you’re skilled enough to avoid wetting the foliage, then I don’t see any problem with top watering. If you’re just too darn clumsy to trust yourself, like me, then water from the bottom. You can easily find African Violet self watering pots pretty much any where garden supplies are sold. I didn’t like most of the one’s I saw though, and opted for a regular bottom watering pot and simply wicked the soil with some cotton string, though panty hose works well too.
Light
Bright indirect light. Avoid putting in direct sunlight. A bright curtained window with lots of morning sun is best, but they also do well with lots of artificial light when natural light is not available. Avoid sudden changes in light or temperature.
Soil
This is the fun part of growing African Violets! They are a bit picky when it comes to soil, but once you have the mix right then it’s easy to maintain. I’ve heard many different recipes for A.V. soil and was quite perplexed as to which one to follow. In the end I bought a premixed African Violet blend from my local garden center and added just a bit of perlite to make it lighter.
Tid Bits
Even though they don’t like water on their leaves, A.V. does seem to benefit from some amount of humidity in the air. The best way to achieve this is to place the pot on a tray filled with pepples. You can see an example of this in the picture above of my African Violet in its normal spot. Pour some water over the pepples and as the water evaporates it will provide the needed humidity. I made sure to place my African Violet in with a few other tropical plants that enjoy a bit of humidity. Killing two birds with one stone as it were!
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POSTED IN: Flowers, How to Grow Stuff
1 opinion for African Violet
Jennifer
Jul 19, 2007 at 11:56 am
I always bottom water my Violets — I don’t really know anyone who can avoid getting the leaves wet. But I did not know you could buy special planters. I just lay mine (the pots) on some water soaked rocks which seems to do the trick.
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