- The unglazed, semi-conical ceramic planter is where you will place your African violet.
- After planting the African violet, you will place the planter inside the elegant ceramic pot.
- When it’s time to water, take the conical planter out of the pot and pour room-temperature water into it halfway.
- Place the conical planter inside the pot once again.
- The non-glazed ceramic will allow the house plant to gradually absorb a little water at a time.
- African violet soil should never be saturated or completely dry; it should always feel just slightly moist to the touch.
- Empty the decorative dish if you believe your African violet has absorbed enough water.
African Violet Care
The African violet is not a true violet. They are not a member of the plant family Viola. They are a member of the plant genus Gesneriads. These endearing species are thought to have first been seen in the western world when Baron Walter Von St. Paul brought them back from West Africa in the 1800s. The collection of Baron St. Paul was delivered to Germany. With their fuzzy emerald leaves and vividly colored blossoms, African violets were an instant hit and are still among the most cherished and well-liked house plants today.
Over the past few centuries, hybridizers have had a lot of fun with this species of plant. The original common variety of the African violet sported dark purple blossoms, thus its name. Today, you can find African violets in every shade, including lavender, different blues, pink, white, and bi-color varieties, all eager to enhance your home in a way that few other houseplants can. You can find leaves that are flat, green, with a distinctive velvety texture, and flowers that are single, double, semi-double, and ruffled.
Based on the width that the plant will eventually attain, African violet gardeners divide these plants into four size groups. African violets come in a variety of sizes, including those larger than 16, those between 8 and 16, those between 6 and 8 semi-miniatures, and those less than 6. The incredible range provides countless options for your home’s dcor.
In these handcrafted ceramic African violet pots, we do not recommend using peat moss. The best gardeners we know have informed us that this inexpensive product may really do more damage than good to your plant. Purchase a small bag of soil designed especially for African violets from your neighborhood nursery. Sand and pine bark should be used to create it so that the plant’s roots have breathing space. Our African violet pots are made with special features that prevent you from drowning your plant when watering it from above. Using our two-part African violet container to water from below is the best option.
The majority of gardeners concur that growing this plant is best done on a window sill that faces northeast. A lack of light can cause thin, straggly leaves that are straining to find the light source they require, while an excess of light can result in tiny, rumpled, yellow leaves. Dark green foliage and a rounded, compact mounding habit are characteristics of a healthy African violet.
Fluorescent lights will work if you don’t have a window with a northeast exposure. Your African violets should have the strength and stamina to bloom and thrive with an average of 14 hours of light every day from these artificial lights, which should be positioned so that they dangle about a foot above the plants. For this, you don’t need to buy pricey grow lights.
We advise looking for an organic fertilizer for African violets. This is crucial if the violets are placed near food areas, in the kitchen, or anywhere else where kids might play. It is advisable to be as safe as you can while growing plants inside by selecting organic African violet food because chemical fertilizers should not be consumed. Your plants will need regular fertilizer because they are being grown in pots, which will re-enrich the soil.
Aphids are a common problem for gardeners, but they can also appear on indoor plants. Aphids are little white and green bugs. Many insecticides designed to poison garden insects are probably available to you, but we kindly ask you to avoid spraying potentially toxic chemicals inside your home. Each year, over-the-counter pesticide exposure sends thousands of individuals to the hospital, many of whom are young children.
The good news is that you don’t need any unpleasant pesticides to entirely get rid of pesky aphids on your African violet plants. Take the plant outside if it becomes infested, then just brush or blow the aphids away. For this delicate technique, you can use a tiny paintbrush or cotton swab. Be cautious to check the undersides of the leaves and blossoms where the small bugs may be hiding. These tiny insects are undoubtedly enjoying themselves on your beautiful African violet plant, but if you’d rather not have them there, the aforementioned approach is kind to the naive aphids as well as kind to your home and the environment.
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thoughts on “How to use your African Violet Pot
Does anyone know whether the violet’s unglazed pot will lose its capacity to let water seep through? I have successfully raised African violets for many years, but now that they are dying, I’m wondering if this is because the pots have become less permeable over time, preventing water from penetrating.
Are African violet pots appropriate?
All of the houseplants that adorn our windowsills and worktops evolved in certain natural habitats. They learned to thrive in the accessible elements over the course of thousands of years by making the most of their circumstances.
Your responsibility as a plant parent is to replicate their natural habitat in your house. Sandy, dry soil is necessary for houseplants that evolved in desert-like environments, such as succulents and cacti. Because they originated in low-light settings, other species, such as orchids and lilies, like a shaded den over a sunroom.
The Tanzanian jungle’s dark, rocky outcrops were a particularly unusual setting for the evolution of African violets. Even while you don’t necessary need a specialty pot, you should pick one that enables you to mimic their ideal environments. This implies:
- Rocky outcrops have relatively little soil for African violets to root into, so they absorb rainfall from below. Instead, these plants adhere to the moss that is growing on top of them and take up the moisture that their hosts hold onto from the environment. African violets suffer in pots with poor drainage because there is too much direct dampness.
- Direct sunlight is shielded from the environment by the thick jungle canopy. Because of this, the African violet has a peculiar weakness: when its leaves are wet and exposed to sunlight, they burn. Most gardeners reduce burn danger by using bottom-watering pots instead of top-watering altogether.
- High humidity is ideal for growing African violets because they enjoy some wetness. However, unlike other houseplants, you cannot mist its leaves because it dislikes being wet. As a result, you must choose a pot that encourages increased humidity in the area around it.
How should self-watering pots be used to water African violets?
I found that a few of the self-watering pots I bought (somewhere else) never let water seep into the pot where the soil and the plant were. Due to water not penetrating through the inside liner pot, I lost two violets. Any recommendations?
When functioning properly, a self-watering “violet pot” maintains the soil’s consistent moisture by allowing the water in the outer, glazed pot (reservoir) to keep the inner, unglazed pot wet and the soil inside by osmosis. Sometimes you merely need to start the process if the inner pot is clean and unglazed. Before using (potting in), try giving the inner pot a good soak in (hot) water. This will clean it up and, in a sense, open up the pores, allowing capillary action to take off. In the beginning, water the plant from the earth’s surface so that the inside pot and soil are both damp. When the wet inner pot is immersed in the reservoir water, the self-watering procedure should start.
Are smaller pots preferable for growing African violets?
- African violet plants won’t reach their full potential if they are potted in either a tiny or large pot.
- Growth could be slower, leaves could be smaller, and blossoms or buds could not form.
- The African violet plant will still thrive, but its growth pattern will be irregular.
(a) African violet kind should be considered when selecting pot size.
- Finding out what kind of African Violet plant you have is one way to choose the right pot for it.
- The optimal pot side for an African violet plant is between one and two pots if it is little or mini.
- Miniatures have a six-inch maximum diameter.
- The best pot size for semi-miniature (semi-mini) African Violet plants is between two and 2.5 pots.
- Semi-miniatures can have a maximum 8-inch diameter.
- The recommended pot size for an African violet plant is between three and four pots whether it is a regular or large plant.
- The maximum diameter for standards is 12 across.
(a) Choosing a pot size based on the African violet plant’s diameter
- The size of the pot should be 1/3 the size of the African violet plant.
- Therefore, the diameter of your African violet plant should be three times that of your pot.
- Your African violet plant, for instance, should be in a 1-pot if its diameter is 3. Your African violet plant has to be in a 2 pot if its diameter is 6. Your African violet plant needs a 2-3 pot if its diameter is eight inches. If your African violet has a 9-inch diameter, put it in a 3-pot. Your African violet plant needs to be in a pot with a diameter of 4, otherwise.
- The diameter is calculated by tracing the line from one leaf’s outer edge across the crown to the leaf’s opposite outer edge.
(c) Choosing a pot size depends on the size of the roots of your African violet plant:
- The size of the pot you choose for your African violet plant should be similar to the length and/or width of the plant’s roots or rootball, as a final option.
- The container should be just large enough to accommodate all the roots in a neat fit.
- Just enough room should be left around the roots so that dirt may be added to fill the pot.
- The roots shouldn’t protrude from the pot’s top or emerge from the drainage hole at the bottom once the soil has been added.
- If this occurs, pot up, or plant the plant in a pot that is one size larger.
- African violet plants require container sizes that increase by one at a time.
- For instance, if your African violet is currently in a 3 pot, pot it up in a 4 pot the following time.
- In contrast, if your African violet plant has a smaller root system and it is potted in a larger pot, the soil will hold onto too much water and the plant will have too much soil relative to its roots.
- Long-term exposure to this can cause crown rot and root rot in plants that are planted deeply in soil.
- You will notice roots emerging from the top of the soil and through the drainage holes if your container is too small for your African Violet plants.
- The inadequate soil will cause the roots to become “rootbound and compacted.
- Rootbound refers to when roots fill up all the available space in the pot and begin to loop around the existing roots to produce a compact root ball.
- Your African violet plant may be deprived of hydration, nutrients, and air spaces as a result.
- The growth of the African violet will slow down, causing the older leaves to fall off or turn yellow/mushy, and the leaves to grow more slowly from the crown.
- This may result in a neck that is longer. To understand more about African Violet plants’ long necks, How Should I Bury and Re-Pot Bare Stems or Necks of an African Violet?
- The African Violet plant will stop blooming and developing buds, and the leaf stalks will also lengthen.
- Find out what size pot your African violet plant is currently in first.
- Select a pot that is 1 size larger than the one you already have.
- Remove your African violet’s existing pot with care. If the container is made of plastic, you can accomplish this by gently squeezing the sides to slightly dislodge the soil/roots.
- Then, tilt the pot, tap the base of the pot lightly with one hand, and carefully yank the plant out of the pot with the other hand while gripping the base of the stems.
- Do not remove the stems or force the plant out of the pot if it won’t do it on its own. The plant should easily come out of the pot if you gently squeeze the pot sides once more and tap the pot base a few times. This will loosen the dirt and roots.
- Examine the roots of the plant after removing it from the pot for any infestation or bugs. If everything appears to be in order, brush or shake off any old dirt.
- Avoid moving the root mass or the root ball.
- Place your African violet plant in the new pot after that.
- The plant should be placed in the pot such that the lip of the container is barely touched by the outer leaves.
- Crown rot might result from the plant sitting too deeply in the pot.
- Add a fresh layer of dirt to the pot to keep your African violet plant from growing too deeply inside it.
- This dirt will serve as the foundation for your African violet plant.
- Place your African violet plant in the pot after that; it should now be slightly above the rim and not too deep.
- Now that the roots and any empty spaces in the pot are covered, soil may be added to the container.
- The soil doesn’t require to be patted down. Don’t compact the dirt.
- Alternately, you might add coarse perlite to the pot’s base rather than dirt.
- The perlite layer at the bottom of your container can help your plant’s water drainage.
- The opposite will occur if the pot is too big for your African violet plant; the roots will become buried under all the extra soil.
- The plant will neglect to grow the top half of the plant (leaves/flowers) and instead concentrate on growing the bottom part of the plant as the roots continue to try to fill up the pot and expand (roots).
- Long-term, this will slow the growth of African violets above the soil, and they will flower more slowly.
- If the soil is constantly damp despite having adequate drainage at the bottom of the pot, it is another indication that the pot is too large.
- The African Violet roots will merely sit in the wet soil because there aren’t enough roots to absorb all this extra water, which can eventually cause root rot.
- First, gauge the size of the plant’s present pot for the African violet.
- Then choose a different pot by reducing the size by 1. Repot, for instance, in a pot that is 2 sizes smaller if your present pot size is 3.
- Since the diameter of a pot is how its size is expressed, 2 denotes a pot with a diameter of 2.
- Typically, a pot’s base and top measure the same. It’s acceptable if they are separated by a mere half inch.
- the identical procedures as those outlined in the preceding section (potting into a large size pot).
- The potting procedure is consistent. For further advice on repotting African Violet plants, see the article How Often To Change African Violet Potting Soil Mix & Why?
- On occasion, you might decide to drill the holes yourself in the container you use to pot African violets within your home.
- When performing this, keep in mind:
- four-inch pots
- 4 to 6 holes, 1/4 to 1/8 in diameter
- 3.5-inch pots
- 3 to 4 holes (diameter: 1/4)
- 2-3 holes (1/8 diameter) in 2-inch pots
- 1/8-inch pots with one hole.
- Hole should always be present underneath a pot. African violets must be planted in containers with drainage holes.
- African violet cultivators prefer pots with a shallow depth and a wide length.
- African Violets would do well in containers akin to azalea pots.
- can use a pan pot to create space for African Violet trailers to spread out horizontally.
- Measure the length or spread of the trailer plant to determine the pot size.
- Next, pick a pot that is 1/3 the size of its spread. So pick a 4 pot if your spread is 12. Choose a 3 pot if it’s a 9, and a 2 pot if it’s a 6 spread.