Thom, welcome to the addicting world of African Violets. Looks like you're getting off to as fast of a start as those cars over in the speedway!

I'm still learning, so I'll let the pH experts give you guidance about that. However, I finally found 3 oz. plastic cups at WalMart. Before that I tried 3 oz. paper cups from the grocery store, which I DON'T recommend. They quickly dry out, fall apart, and grow fur!

Anyway, glad to see you here and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your plants.

HI Thom,
It sounds like you got off on a good foot. Welcome to the world of AV addiction. My word of warning that I give to everyone who is new is to start out correctly by learning to isolate any new plants you get from now on before you put them in with the rest of disease free plants.
Fred in NJ

I second Fred. Even if Violet Barn people are very meticulous - you need to keep the plants in a different room for some time for observation.

The stuff that comes with NOIDs is almost always thrips. So - check if your older plants do not have spilled pollen. If they do you need to spray your plants and get rid of the pests before the new ones come.

About Miracle Grow soil - you are doing everything right, but you need to know that they add some fertilizer to the soil. So use just plain water for your plants for a month to get them use this fertilizer up before getting into the constant fertilization routine.

You will definitely fill your shelves in a hurry. Your plants from Rob's will come as starters - but Ma's varieties are hefty standards when they grow up and you need to give them space around so they do not touch - and then they grow very symmetrically and will be real pleasure to look. I think Ma's White Elephant is large - but the huge white flowers are to die for.

Welcome and looks like you are going for it like a pro!

Irina

Oh - and do not worry about your Ph slightly above 6.5. The peat moss in the mix goes more and more acidic when wet - and the soil will adjust itself.

I.

Welcome!
I found the 3 oz cups at Kroger in the paper goods section. Plastic bathroom cups - burn the holes with a stencil cutter/saudering iron.

I agree that it won't take long to fill those shelves and you'll be looking for additional space to add a second.

Happy growing!
Dora

Terrific information, just what I needed. Thank you all for your attention and making me feel welcome.

I found 3 oz cups. Wall Mart is so big that they could have been in a half dozen places, and being a male of the species I have a hard time asking for help lol.

I started checking my flowers for Thrips several weeks ago when I learned about them and didn't see a problem. The only symptom of Thrips I see today are a few white specks on each of my plants. They brushed off easily with a small, soft artists brush. I checked my plants with magnification today and I believe we are Thrip free. From the Google images I saw, I would expect you could see them with the naked eye.

I'm glad you got me thinking about parasites and disease. I lost an aquarium full of Angel fish that I had raised from babies when I introduced a new fish without quarantine. ( I had years of experience and knew better. I will never know why I did that)

Hope you had a great weekend and have a better week.

Thom

That is a shame about your fish. We all do something that we "know better" and end up paying the price.

I just want to say if you got that cheap ph tester-meter that is a metal stick, priced about $6-7 at walmart/lowes...they don't really work. Try putting in indoor/outdoor soil, soiless, baking soda, etc, it's about the same no matter what.

My Walmarts don't carry the plastic 3oz cups, but I can get them at the grocery stores.

I love those oyama pots! Only thing I can't see the water level, but I can pretty much guess when they need refilling. Make sure your potting mix is not too heavy, you don't want it to hold too much water in these pots. You know you need perlite in the bottom of the top pot. Roots will grow right down in there!...its okay.

When I get new plants, I put them in a different room for a month or more. I wait for them to get used to their new environment and over the shock of the mail service adventure, for a couple weeks, and then I repot in my own soil. If its a noid or something from the grocery store or lowes I get that peat-soil off right away and repot.

Have fun with your plants, you're jumping in with both feet! tish

Hi Thom,

I just read your post about pH testing, and I don't think that you are making too a big of a deal about it since potting AVs in a potting mix that is not close to the ideal range of 6.5-6.8 can cause all sorts of problems. If you do a search here on this forum you can probably find some good discussion about the problems that pH can cause, such as slow and stunted growth, poor bloom development, tight centers, fertilizer lockup, micronutrient toxicity, etc. One might possibly suspect that they have the dreaded mite problem when in fact the real issue is pH.

You had mentioned using a 1-1-1 ratio and I am assuming that you are probably using sphagnum peat as one of your ingredients. If so, please be advised that sphagnum peat can be very acidic and it will greatly affect the pH of your entire mix, causing it to be way to acidic. For months I had my violets potted in a 1-1-1 ratio mix of sphagnum peat, vermiculite and perlite, and when I finally purchased my pH meter and tested the potting mixture of my plants it was in the 4.6 range, which is 100 times more acidic than 6.6 pH. I found that I had to add a significant amount of dolomite lime to my potting ingredients to get the pH into the ideal range. I am sure that this is why I was never happy with the results that I was getting as far as the growth of my plants were concerned.

If you are simply buying a commercial AV mixture and then just adding vermiculite and perlite to make it lighter, then pH may not be a problem since dolomite lime is often added to the commercial AV mix and it is close to being in the right pH range when purchased. But if you are mixing your ingredients from scratch, as I do here, then you probably do need to be concerned about the pH of your mix.

In case you are wondering about the pH instrument that I use, I have posted a link to the site.

https://www.pro-measure.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=PH%2D212

Sorry for the late post, but I am just now reading this thread.

Curtis

Thominindy,

I assume you are in Indianapolis....if so, did you know there is an AV club in Indy? The next meeting is in May. You can find the info on the AVSA website under affilliates.

If my assumption is correct, I encourage you to go to the next meeting. I think you'll have a great time, and find some new leaves in your AV life.

Barbara

Yes Barbara, I have been watching. They have not yet posted their schedule for this year. I am told there are good clubs and shows in Cincinatti and Dayton OH. These towns are less than two hours away.

Curtis: I am willing to spend more on my hobby than many on this forum, but I cannot spend $100 to test my PH. It looks like quality testers with good reviews start at around $70 I will keep looking.

Have a wonderful weekend. Thom

Good morning, Thom,

I just received an e-mail from the contact person for the Indy club. And, they have a show and sale coming up in a couple of weeks!!! Her updated e-mail is turtlelovin@att.net, name is Laurie Mitchell. You're the 'avid AV fan", give her a shout.

Barbara

Thank you Barbara. I did give Laurie a shout. I'm anxious to meet local people.

Thom

You are so lucky......a club in your town, a show and sale in a coule of weeks! Life doesn't get much better than that!!

Barbara, with a big YEEHAW!