Eight Tips for a Successful Repotting from Violet Magic
Many of us are familiar with someone who works wonders with plants. Under their watchful eye, everything appears to flourish. The delicate repotting skills are frequently what set a miraculous green thumb apart from a helpless brown thumb. This is particularly true of African violets. If repotting is done properly, sick violets frequently recover. If repotting is done incorrectly, healthy violets frequently become frail. Violets can flourish with excellent transplanting techniques. Here are some advice on repotting that will help you become a green thumb.
To ensure strong roots, a high-quality African violet potting mix should have a good capacity to store water and plenty of air pockets. It will be necessary to use more big particles, such as coarse perlite and/or coarse vermiculite, when growing violets in a humid environment. More water-holding materials, such sphagnum peat moss, coconut coir, and coarse vermiculite, are beneficial in extremely dry climates. In plainer language: 1) Increase the perlite content of your mixture if root rot is a frequent concern. 2) Increase the amount of peat moss in your mixture if your violets tend to dry up too rapidly.
Potting mix that is extremely dry could become airborne and make you cough. Violet roots become withered as a result of the dry potting mix sucking moisture out of them. Your potting mix will no longer have either issue if you pre-moisten it. To get the peat to absorb the water, add around 1 part warm water to 4 parts potting mix and stir briskly. The finished product should be moist, crumbly, and neither dusty nor dripping wet.
The mix should always be piled loosely around the cutting or plant. By removing air spaces and increasing the likelihood of root rot, compacting the soil actually stunts the growth of the violet. Air pockets in the mixture will prevent rot infections and promote root growth. It is inevitable that adding water after repotting would somewhat compact the soil. To help the plant stay there, you can top out the pot with a bit additional potting soil as necessary.
African violet roots typically don’t spread out or grow deep. In the wild, violet roots emerge epiphytically from limestone fissures or mossy crevices. Because the roots of violets cultivated indoors don’t need much space, the container should always be smaller than the plant. A restricted space for roots poses a slight threat to the violet’s survival, which causes flowering. Show violets should be three times as broad as the pot they are grown in when they are in full bloom.
Any potted plant’s pot has a lot of chemical activity. Components of potting mix, fertilizer, and water interact and undergo chemical changes over time, usually for the worse. Fresh, high-quality potting soil offers the roots the optimum habitat, but after a few months, that environment can be significantly less favorable. In smaller pots, the impacts of these chemical changes are more pronounced. Violets growing in pots smaller than three should be replanted every two to three months for best results; pots bigger than four should be replanted every six to twelve months.
Tip #6 If you want to continue enjoying the blossoms or buds, don’t touch the roots during repotting.
Violets’ fibrous roots have a tendency to stop working once they are damaged. Open blooms may collapse as a result, and developing buds may open significantly smaller than usual. Lift the entire root ball out of the pot and place it in a larger pot to protect the flowers and buds (this may be easier if the plant has been watered a day or so ahead of transplanting.) When necessary, reapply fresh potting soil around the edges. It’s frequently referred to as a delicate transfer to a bigger container “an easy transplant.
Tip #7 Remove buds, blooms, and more mature outer leaves if you must disturb the roots.
Sometimes a plant has to be potted down (into a smaller pot) or the soil needs to be refreshed (removing all of the old mix). Until new roots are produced, disturbed roots will not perform well. Simply take out the flowers, buds, and outer leaves during the repotting procedure because they will die from a lack of water. This enables you to bury the neck that those dropped leaves have exposed or will expose. This harder repotting is frequently referred to as a “tough transplant
Repotted violets should be placed in a clear plastic bag or a dome to lessen shock.
After a difficult transplant, leaves frequently wilt unexpectedly in ordinary or dry weather. This is due to the fact that transpiration—the process through which plants naturally release water into the air through their leaves—takes place whether or not the roots are active. Increasing the humidity around the leaves may reduce transpiration. This can be accomplished by placing the repotted plant in an enclosed space (once the violet has been watered). Clear domes, single-use plastic food containers, and sizable inflated clear plastic bags are examples of potential enclosures. For a month or longer, violets can survive securely inside these enclosures (out of direct sunlight), frequently without any additional watering or care. It is typical to observe condensed moisture inside the enclosure during that period.
When should my African violet be repotted?
To maintain their size and beauty, African violets need to be repotted around once a year. It is important to first examine them to make sure that their leaves and roots are in good condition.
If your African violet is content and healthy, but needs space to expand or is brand-new from the garden center and needs to leave the plastic pot, move it, add new soil, and plant Espoma’s Violet! It won’t get lanky and will stay healthy thanks to the liquid fertilizer. Additionally, it will allow you to spend quality time with your new or old plants and show them some affection.
African violet repotting procedures:
- For your African violet, choose the appropriate container. A shallow, wide container will function better than a narrow, tall container since the roots of plants grow more outward than downward. Additionally, you need to locate a somewhat larger container than the one it is now in.
- Espoma’s Organic African Violet Potting Mix should be added to the new pot to the point where the root ball is just below the lip. This will provide your plant access to the proper drainage, pH level, and nutrients. Keeping African violets in well-drained soils will prevent root rot because they don’t like to sit in water.
- Gently wrap your hand around the plant and softly remove the African violet from the previous pot. If the plant needs assistance emerging, give the pot a small shake or squeeze.
- In the fresh container, center your African violet. The root ball should be lower than the container’s top.
- Soil should be tucked into the sides of the container as it is being filled up. Be gentle; if you handle the leaves hard, they will snap off.
- Water to help the plant settle. The simplest approach to do that is to pour two inches of water into the pot’s bottom and let the roots absorb it. Remove any leftover water after five minutes. If you can’t soak it, be sure to water under the leaves and only the soil, as African violets don’t like water to touch their leaves. To give it a boost, remember to add the required quantity of our Violet! liquid fertilizer to the water.
Your African violets’ growth and beauty will enhance with repotting or new soil!
When should you repotted an African violet?
Because of their lengthy lives, repotting these flowers is crucial. Ryan McEnaney, public relations and communications specialist for Bailey Nurseries, advises consumers to keep in mind that African violets can live for up to 50 years. To avoid becoming overly root-bound, plants can be repotted into larger pots as they mature. It’s probably time to relocate your African violet when it has doubled or quadrupled the size of your container and the leaves are beginning to wilt, according to McEnaney.
However, you don’t have to repot your plants right away. If your African violet appears to have outgrown its container, don’t rush to relocate it, advises Brian Parker, senior merchant for Live Goods at Home Depot. “African violets are best when their roots are in a little bound condition,” he adds. “They will produce and perform for years and years with just a simple routine of the right light and food,” the speaker said.
Do African violets require larger containers?
Mold potting is one of the most used techniques for potting up plants. The technique is fairly straightforward, but it also reduces the risk of shock.
drainage. If you are watering from the top, this is crucial. In the event that a bottom-watering
employing a self-watering system, grouping your plants together, or misting around the plants
You should be aware that many of them are created with the intention of accommodating