African Violets My Way - Part 2

Part 1 here

Sterilized soil is an absolute must. Today it is easy to buy bagged soil in small quantities or, if you need a lot, you can sterilize the soil yourself by baking it for an hour in an oven set at 180°. After the soil cools, stir it to aerate it; then wait three days before using it. I just wouldn’t attempt to grow saintpaulias in soil that wasn’t sterile.

Then, there is the matter of watering. Once, when I had to refuse a weekend away because I had made no provisions for having my African-violets watered, my friend said, “Oh, I water mine only every other day.” Now that’s smart if you can manage it, but I find that I must examine my plants every day; sometimes they need water and sometimes they don’t. Perhaps I pamper them too much, but the same plants never seem to need water on the same day. They just won’t go according to schedule. Heat, sun and their own conditions of growth and flowering are the variables they respond to.

Another reason I have to inspect my plants so often is that some are growing in 2-1/2 -inch pots and some in demitasse cups. If you’ve never grown African-violets in these diminutive cups, I hope you’ll try these most decorative containers. I can’t imagine anything prettier than the sweet, double-flowered, white-edged African Violet for instance, in a demitasse cup with a faint “grey lace” pattern. As soon as I am able to buy more cups like the ones I have, I’ll grow more African-violets this way. These cups, which are just right, are 2-1/2 inches deep and slightly less than 2-1/2 inches across the top. For drainage I add half an inch of small gravel to the bottom of each cup.

The petioles of African-violets growing in China cups or plastic pots are not as inclined to rot as those growing in clay pots. In 3-inch green plastic pots, which rest in plastic saucers, I have numerous ones all doing very well. Plants growing in the cups or the plastic pots need to be watered only about every third day (but to be sure the plants need water, feel the soil between the fingers to see if it’s dry).

Wick Fed Pots

I also grow African-violets in wick-fed pots, which are well designed and convenient. Before refilling the saucer reservoirs of these pots, I take care to let the soil really dry out. Sometimes I water these pots from the top to carry the fertilizer salts away from the soil surface. The plants set on pebble trays and those growing in wick-fed pots are the easiest to leave unwatched for a few days.

When I water the tray plants, I add water until the pebbles are just barely covered. Then the plants can draw up what moisture they require. After a few hours the water level ought to be no higher than the bottoms of the pots. (And don’t laugh, but when I’ve flooded the trays, as I’ve sometimes done, I’ve been crazy enough to use a baster to draw off the excess water. I know that it would evaporate in time, but meanwhile it worries me to see the plants standing in it for so long.)

Room Temperature Water

It goes without saying that the water used for African-violets must be of room temperature or tepid, as for a baby’s bath. On a low bookcase shelf I always keep a watering pot filled with water; thus I always have water on hand that is the correct temperature. When I need more water that must be taken from the faucet, I always make sure it is lukewarm. Water used to syringe the African-violet foliage or to dilute an insecticide should also be lukewarm.

The plants can be watered from the top or the bottom; either is all right; however, it’s difficult to water the little pots for the foliage soon gets so dense that it is hard to find an opening through which the water can be applied. However, occasionally I like to water the plants from above so that fertilizer salts don’t collect on top of the soil.

Saucer watering is probably the simplest method. My three trailing African-violets stand in deep glass saucers. Every morning I pour a little water in each saucer, and if it isn’t gone by noon, I pour it off, knowing that I have applied too much. Indeed, I think that we all tend to overwater plants. I know I do. And the reason, I suppose, is that watering African-violets is such fun!

Groups of African-violets in shallow bowls or planters add greater variety to the window garden than rows and rows of pots. The planter I put on one of the half shelves catches everybody’s eye. I especially like the cup plantings, for they too are attention-getters. Placed on the top shelves, they lighten the heaviness of the wider shelves below. I also use the planter or specimens growing in cups as table centerpieces; A “blue flowered variety” is the perfect accent for a lavender and silver-striped luncheon set, and the pink varieties look charming with squares of rose linen.

I’m not enthusiastic about large plants, and even the big ones must be content for a long while to grow in a 3-inch pot. To keep my African-violets in scale with their small pots and also with the window garden, I frequently remove some of their outer leaves. Of course, I am not growing exhibition plants which must have perfect whorls of leaves positioned exactly. The way I remove foliage from my African-violets might even be termed mutilation by exhibitor’s standards. Great exhibition plants can be handsome indeed. However, to obtain a plant with a 2-foot spread, you must have an area somewhat more than 2 feet across to grow it in, and lots of us can’t spare that much room.

by Evelyn Pelt

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