My You're Handsome or "What a healthy starter plant should look like!"

I was fortunate in my early African Violet hobby to meet several exceptional commercial growers who really prided themselves on selling the highest quality starter plants available.  This "lead by example" approach is one that I bring to my violet sales on eBay.

A few thoughts.  Single crown varieties should be, well, single crowned!  If you're buying a starter plant and can see a picture of it, such as you might on eBay, and it has more than one crown the grower is obviously not paying close attention to their inventory.  As such, I'd suggest skipping that particular purchase.

Healthy, clean and a shiny appearance.  If the starter plant doesn't have an immediate heir of health and vigor, skip it!

If the crown (main growing point) is not clean and clearly visible, skip it!  If the leaves aren't crisp and growing horizontally, skip it.

Starter plants of trailers (as seen below) don't necessarily have to have multiple crowns when you purchase them, but they should have a nice shape to them.  The foliage color should also be clean, rich and healthy looking and void of excessive scarring or damage.  If the foliage is curling, twisted or otherwise distorted, skip it!

Remember, if you're in doubt about the health of the starter plant you're about to purchase, error on the side of caution and pass on that particular purchase.

Don't forget to check out my eBay African Violet auctions by visiting my eBay store.  Click here and I'll redirect to my store.

I'm back!

My birthday celebration came and went with little fan fair...which is a good thing!  I want to thank everyone for the warm birthday wishes, they are always appreciated.

Look for some new posts this week on Springtails, Oyama pots and more!

Talk to you soon!

If it moves, its not perlite! or "How to manage a soil mealy bug infestation"

The shear mention of soil mealy bugs (a.k.a. Pritchard mealy bugs) to an African violet enthusiast is enough to send them into a panic.  Nothing creates such despair as the discovery and diagnosis that their collection is infected with these troublesome pests.  Soil mealy bugs are extremely destructive and are very difficult to kill thanks in part to the powdery wax layer (secretion) that covers their bodies.

Optimara Violets® (a.k.a. Holtkamp Greenhouses, Inc.) has a very good section on their website dedicated to the detection and treatment of pests and diseases that impact African violets.  Click here to be directed to their diagnosis and troubleshooting center (a.k.a. Dr. Optimara). 

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  This goes for your personal health as well as the health of your violets.  Regardless of the source, ALWAYS keep new plants isolated from your primary collection for at least three months.  If a problem exists, be it soil mealybugs or something else, it will normally manifest itself within that isolation period.  If you've taken the proper precautions and you still find yourself with a mealybug problem, then here are a few suggestions:

If the infestation is limited to a few plants, it is best to discard the affected plants.  If the varieties impacted are hard to find you might consider removing a few healthy leaves (or crown in the case of a chimera) and washing them thoroughly in tepid soapy water.  Please Note:  Mealybugs have been known to lay their eggs on leaf stems and the primary stem of the plant.  This "soapy bath" does not guarantee that you've removed them but certainly goes a long way in doing so.  It is important to isolate these leaf cuttings (or crown cuttings) just like you'd isolate a newly acquired plant. 

A secondary step you can take after giving your cuttings a "soapy bath" is to treat the leaf and crown cuttings in a solution of Admire Pro, per label instructions, which contains the active ingredient Imidacloprid 42.8%.  Click here to review this pesticide which is readily available on eBay.  You'll note that this pesticide is very expensive ($169/Pint) so you will have to decide what is cheaper...replacing the infected plants or treating them.  If you estimate plant replacement at $10.00 each (plants + shipping), your break even point would be approximately 17 plants.

My thoughts on the use of pesticides:  I'm not in the practice of personally taking antibiotics to prevent a bacterial infection.  As such, I don't dispense pesticides in this manner either.  I think we're all aware that overuse of antibiotics or pesticides can and does create resistance strains of diseases (e.g. Tuberculosis; a.k.a. TB) and pests.      

Cleanliness is next to godliness.  Make sure any area where mealy bugs were found is cleaned thoroughly.  If you mat water, I strongly suggest disposing of all matting where mealybugs were found.  It is simply too difficult to ensure you've killed 100% of the bugs in the matting.  If you wick water in reservoirs, clean (preferable soak) the reservoirs in hot bleach water and rinse thoroughly.  I normally use 1 cup bleach to 8 quarts of water.

Remember, if it moves....it ain't perlite!

"The Nursery" or "What to do with immature plantlets"

Often when you're potting up plantlets from leaf cuttings you'll have plantlets that aren't quite large enough to warrant their own pot but don't deserve to be sent to the compost pile either.  

What I do with these immature plantlets is pot them up into a communal "nursery".  I use a 3" pot and fill it with my regular potting mix and top dress it with vermiculite (the vermiculite prevents the small plantlets from settling/sinking into the potting mix).  As you can see, I can easily fit seven immature plantlets in the nursery.  These "babies" are generally ready to be potted up into their own pots in 6 to 8 weeks or you can leave them in the nursery longer if you're not ready to deal with them. 

If you're short on space, this is also a great space saver.

The first picture was taken April 18, 2010; the second picture was taken May 19, 2010.  You can see how quickly they grow. The plantlets are large enough now to safely transplant into their own pots or can be left in the nursery for another month.

Repotting Into a Wicked Pot or "An Ilustration of Wicking"

The original intent of this blog entry was to demonstrate how I install wicks into pots but it will actually teach you three things:

1.  How to install a wick;

2.  How to transplant a small starter plant;

3.  How to use a modified form of Texas Style watering;

Things you'll need:

1.  #18 Nylon cord - I buy mine at WalMart (it's cheaper than Home Depot).  The #18 since works great for me on pots up to 4".  If your 4" pots don't seem to be getting enough water, use the #36 size nylon cord.

2.  Pots - I use 3 ounce Solo cups (actually I use the WalMart or Kroger knock-offs because they are about 1 mill heavier than the Solo brand);

3.  Soldering Iron - Required to burn two holes in the bottom of the pot (Warning:  Do this outside on a day with a slight breeze as you don't want to inhale the fumes.  I also recommend wearing a protective mask).

4.  Perlite - Course grade (about the size of a small pea if you can get it)

Step 1 - Cut the nylon cord into 6" lengths and insert in pot (Image 2).  Leave half inside the pot and half outside of the pot.

Step 2 - Add 1/2" to 1" of perlite to the bottom of the pot (image 4).  This layer of perlite provides a great air exchange area for your plants' rot system.  You'll be surprised how this improves your plants' root system.

Step 3 - Add approximately 1 heaping tablespoon of potting mix on top of the perlite and then lay the wick on top of the potting mix so it circles the edge of the pot (image 5).

Step 4 -Place the plant you're transplanting on top of the potting mix in the pot.  If it sits too low, add more potting mix.  The goal is to have the bottom row of leaves at or just slightly above the rim of the pot.  Note:  The black line indicates the level of the perlite in the pot (illustration purposes only).

Step 5 - Fill in the pot with potting mix (image 7).  I dress the top of the potting mix with some vermiculite as it prevents excessive settling of the potting mix when you give the plant a drink and I think it makes the plants look nice.  Plus, Ray Pittman does it so if he does it, it can't be all bad!

Step 6 - Using a water bottle (pictured below), give the plant a good drink of water by watering around the top of the pot with tepid/warm water until it begins to flow out the bottom.  Place re-potted plant on matting or a water reservoir.

Click here to visit my eBay store to see what violets are available this week! 

Mat Watering or "The Lazy Growers Watering Method"

I say it's lazy because you can dump water and go.  My schedule is so busy between the regular 8-5 job (which has me traveling a lot); the gift store that I own and the violets that this watering method is used out of necessity!

While not the best picture to illustrate mat watering, the picture below is one of my many trays that has an acrylic matting material lining the 22.5" x 12" perma-nest trays.  The matting is gray and if you look closely, you can see it runs the entire width and length of the tray it lines.

If the plants on the matting are still moist but the mat has dried or nearly dried out, I'll add 2 cups of tepid/warm water to the tray by simply pouring it into the tray (dump the water and go!).  It's easy.  If the plants have dried out a bit, I will generally add about 2.5 to 3 cups of water to the tray as the plants will absorb quite a bit of the initial water that is added to the tray.

Pros to matting:
1.  Easy;
2.  Reliable;
3.  Increases humidity around plants

Cons to matting:
1.  If one plant sneezes, they all get colds!  Meaning, pests and diseases are easily passed from plant to plant;
2.  The matting will normally dry out in 2-3 days but the plants will normally remain moist for another 2-3 days.

I buy my matting from the Violet Showcase.  The matting they sell is actually the insulation used in ski boots.  It's very durable and can be washed and reused over and over.  I find that this matting will last 3-5 years before it requires replacing.  Click here for a better picture of the acrylic matting I use inside of the Perma-nest trays.

Violet Showcase
3147 South Broadway
Englewood, CO 80113-2423
303-761-1770
www.violetshowcase.com

Click here to visit my eBay store to see what violets are available this week!

"Killing me softly with your love...." or "How overwatering killed your violet"

Roberta Flack wasn't singing about African violets...at least I dont' think she was...but you can definitely kill your violets softly with too much love.

Overwatering is without question the number one killer of African violets. This, I believe, is the result of the new grower simply not understanding the moisture needs of African violets.  Potting mixes that are saturated with water are a breeding ground for crown and root rot which are death sentences for your violets.

Violets enjoy a potting mix that is moist, not soaking wet. I would describe moist as the water content present in a lightly rung out sponge. There is still plenty of moisture for the plant to use but it's not dripping wet.

Remember, if you're going to error with respect to watering your violets, less is far better than more.

Click here to visit my eBay store to see what violets are available this week!