Glad you made it over here! I've been growing them for all of a month,lol.

You'll need a grow light for them. See my topic I did today where I added a picture of an AV on a table with a regular table lamp but it has a fluorescent bulb.

If the only problem with the plant at your store is that it's losing blooms, that's to be expected.

You'll get a lot of help here. Also do a Google search on "How to Grow African Violets." There's a ton of info out there on the Net.

So... are these AVs worth buying then? Will the blooms recover?

I think if they leaves look ok, that is, they don't look dead or dying or terribly stressed, that it is ok. You will get new blooms although it might take a while.

I like bargain flowers like that to... bought 3 AVs this week for $2.50 each. One or two of them might be chimeras.

Hi, and welcome to the board.

Only you can decide if they are worth buying (or losing what you paid for them)

Pull the root ball up out of the plastic pot and make sure you don't have little white bugs (mealy bugs) in the soil. Check the leaves for white bugs. If it's clear, then they probably are worth the $2 or $3 cost.

Bring them home, remove the outer ring of leaves, repot them into some AV soiless mix and then bag the plant for a few weeks.

Keep us posted and good luck,
Dora

Dora, why should the outer ring of leaves be removed?

When you remove the outer ring of leaves (and any flowers/buds), it forces the plant to pour all of its energy into the crown and new growth of the plant. It's like a jolt/wake up call that gets it going in the right direction.

It's also a way of grooming the plant to help it look better.

Dora

How would I know when to do this? I have three medium plants that are blooming. I did pick off the dead blooms the other day. I guess first I need to make sure I'm giving them the right light before I go pick on them. lol.

I bought two Optimara noids for $1.99 each, both had already dropped their blooms and were in good shape. (I felt sorry for them, I didn't think the average consumer would buy non-blooming flowering plants and I knew they would not bloom again in the grocery store set up.) They have bloomed several times since then, and are doing fine.

Posted by nwgatreasures (My Page) on Fri, Mar 19, 10 at 21:32

"Pull the root ball up out of the plastic pot and make sure you don't have little white bugs (mealy bugs) in the soil. Check the leaves for white bugs. If it's clear, then they probably are worth the $2 or $3 cost."

Oh dear. It does have those white bugs. They look like styrofoam. What do I do?

On the same note if there are two nearly broken off stems, do I remove them? Toss them? Stick the stem in the soil?

Sorry again if these are stupid questions.

A follow-up to my previous message. The "white things" are on the top of the soil and not on the AV itself.

Are you sure it's not Perlite in the potting soil? It looks like white styrofoam. Do you have a magnifying glass to make sure?

Yes, I think you need to cut off the broken stems, they can't recover.

I didn't know you bought your plants! Do have enough light? Remember, they won't grow in a north window, that's considered "low light."

Posted by oakleyok (My Page) on Sat, Mar 20, 10 at 16:02

"Are you sure it's not Perlite in the potting soil? It looks like white styrofoam. Do you have a magnifying glass to make sure?"

As per my moniker I'm fairly new to this. I had to do a google search to find out what perlite is.

I'd say it looks a lot more like perlite than mealybugs, going by google images.

The object in question just sits there, even when handled.

"Yes, I think you need to cut off the broken stems, they can't recover."

They have some stem attached to them and still look vibrantly healthy. Throw the broken stems away or plant them?

"I didn't know you bought your plants!"

Last night. It was staring at me, begging to be adopted. What was I supposed to do?

"Do have enough light? Remember, they won't grow in a north window, that's considered 'low light.'"

Fluorescent lighting. That is something I looked into. :)

Hi NewbiewNew - and welcome to the life long addiction.

I have oodles of violets and do not need another one - but I picked Rhapsodie Cora yesterday in HomeDepot for $2.97. I love this variety - and it is so unusual - you do not need a tag to recognize it. Out of 5-7 - I picked the one with the best color and shape of the flowers (not the one that looked the rattiest and the most pitiful), I paid for it, got out and disbudded it at the nearest trash can. I got home, took it out of the pot - shook the soil off - what a tarry substance - no air for the roots - and then washed the roots under the lukewarm water trying to catch the runoff - and trash it outside not to clog the drain. No mealy bugs, very healthy. I potted it in a good mix with Marathon added - and put it under the dome for isolation and recovery. There were a couple of broken leaves I removed - and put them down for the babies.

Did I do everything right - I did OK - am I guaranteed that I didn't get any passengers - no.

Irina

Hi,
As Irina said welcome to the world of AV addiction. I have been growing them for almost 30 years now and I still get turned on when I see a beautiful blossom. I have made this offer to many people here on the garden web. I have 3 sheets of info on av's that I gave out when I went out to clubs to lecture. If you are interested, email me and I will email them back to you.
Fred in NJ

oakleyok - you said that AV's won't grow in Northern exposure, but I have one that was in a North window and it grew relatively well and even has a few flower buds.

I'm not the most knowledgable on AV's but knowing other houseplants, I'm assuming even though it grew leaves and buds it's far from optimally healthy and would be quite susceptable to diseases and infestations, no?

Bunnygurl, I had no idea an AV would grow in a northern window! I may try that,....but our north window in the living room has a porch roof in front of it which I'm sure makes a big difference. I have a Pepperomia growing there and it's doing great.

Bunnygirl -

northern window will work well for a lot of foliage plants - but a few flower buds on a violet... not enough. And it can be cold in winter. Anyway - if it is the place I would choose to grow my violets - I would hand an additional fluorescent fixture above them and turn it on for several hours every day. It will help them bloom and make you happy all the time. They are programmed to bloom 9 months out of the year - so why not.

Irina

I only had it in a North window 'cause I had no other place for it. I recently moved and it's now in an East window. Is this better?

I too grow African Violets and Streptocarpus in a North window with great success. Some of my plants are on the window sill and some are 3 feet away from the window.

What I do for cold drafts is put household insulation between the window and storm window to cut down on drafts. For the plants that are away from the window I have aluminum foil lined on the shelves of my plant stand to help increase the light. Plants bloom just fine. Actually have a chimera (Granger's Red & White) in full bloom 9 months out of the year.

Just a note, single blossom flowers seem to bloom more freely than doubles, though they may not last as long they tend to make up for this by blooming over a longer period of time. This just my observation as I have grown both.

Most importantly, buy a plant that looks healthy until you have had more experience growing. And always be on the look out for any sign of pests. If looks iffy, stay away from it!

Hopefully this will help.

Dave

I agree completely with davioletman about north windows. I keep box store NOIDS on my north window shelves and they bloom all winter in what I call my happy NOID area :) All are single flowers, no doubles, my whites and purples bloom the most there. They also are a bit more tolerant of the cold near the window than the "named" varieties I've gotten from the Violet Barn and other places. The "named" varieties I've tried bloom much less or not at all in a north window for me. They would definately need some sort of supplemental light here. These are just my conditions, I'm sure things are different in other places. But I definately keep my NOIDS in a north window with success and no additional light. This is the main reason I wouldn't be without them and do bring home box store violets, they put color in an unexpected place.

It all depends - northern exposure in Arizona and in Maine - it is not the same - and there can be trees or roof overhang, the windows can be small and the glass can be tinted etc.

My best columneas and aeschynanthus bloom was on a northern exposure bay window. I couldn't vacuum spent flowers fast enough.

And I very much agree with Dave - give yourself a good start - get the strongest and healthiest plants you can find. No sense in rescuing semi-dead plants - even a healthy plant gets shocked while it gets used to your home - the weakened will probably die. The plant should be very special to spend time reviving it. May be it is a rare variety - or may be it is the one Granny grew for 50 years.

Irina