Some questions:

1. Did you water your plants from the top until it drained from the bottom when you first put them in the self-watering pots? If you didn't the capillary action may never have started and this plant hasn't been adequately watered in two weeks. Just because the bottom layer of soil is wet/moist doesn't mean the top ever got what it needed.

2. When you repotted this time, did you add a layer of perlite to the bottom of your pot as Terri and I suggested?

3. What is your ratio of soil-perlite-peat?

The perlite in the bottom helps the capillary action of self-watering pots. There is no set amount of time between filling and when refilling is needed; each plant is different.

From the photo and what you describe, your plant is 1) dying of thirst (the drooping) and 2) getting too little light (the "reaching"). African violets like to be "evenly moist." Sitting in bone dry soil is not a good thing. Wouldn't you know it, but they also droop when too wet. Oftentimes leaves such as the ones you show never recover.

"Necky" is when leaves die out and all you're left with is the neck of the plant and a few crown leaves. Yours is "reaching" for more light. It hasn't really grown; it just looks that way because the leaves are reaching upward. Some plants will thrive in the same spot others will find lacking. That may be the case with yours if the others are fine.

Growing conditions determine how violets look. The ones you bought grow "parallel to the ground" because they were evenly lighted from above at the nursery. That shape is not always possible when they're in a window unless you constantly turn them so they don't lean toward the light or get a plant light.

Watch this plant closely; you've effectively repotted it twice in two weeks and the stress might be a bit much for it.

Hope this wasn't TMI. :-)

Linda

Your plant has gorgeous flowers! I don't have much to add to the excellent advice Linda gave you except that you can actually gently massage off original mix from the roots if you are going to a self-watering pot. That way, once the wicking action starts, the plant's roots don't get too soggy. Often the mix in plants bought commercially is heavy in peat, which holds water. That's good for the time a plant spends in shipment in a truck and on display in a store when it might not get watered, but bad once it is adopted into a nice home. Your plant looks pretty healthy and I'm sure it'll respond to the care Linda suggested you give. You'll be taking off in no time!

Yes. This is how I prefer to water - from the top.
I make sure to pour out any water left in the saucer after 30 minutes

Well...it's because I'd read so much about over-watering and root rot ...I waited quite a bit between waterings as I kept testing the soil and when my finger would reach all the way down towards the bottom of the pot, it still felt a tad damp so I kept waiting. I may have waited a bit too long to the point where the lower leaves of this one started to cry for water. As I said, one leaf got really bent in the process and it seemed to have suffered a bit of breakage - so I cut it off. But the other leaves seemed to have recovered after the watering, except one that is till slightly bent towards the ground, but OK - so I am leaving it there.

Goodness, I only remembered this at the end - unfortunately; so I ended up adding a bottom layer of perlite with only ONE of the four AV-s. However, I changed the soil for all of them to a 30% AV, 30% peat and 40% perlite. Or something like that. I hope the soil is airy-er now.

As mentioned above.

.

Although the pots I have are supposed to be self-watering (with that lip saucer), I don't use the self-watering technique. I don't trust it in these pots - they have too many draining holes and I am afraid the AV-s would just sit in water for too long if I just filled up that saucer and left the pots sitting on it.

...

I think it was indeed very high time for watering, even though, like I said, I didn't think the bottom soil was bone dry or anything when I took the plant out of the pot; it still seemed very slightly damp to me, but then again, it could be that AV-s would literally die by the time the bottom mix would become bone dry too, just like the one at the top!

<... and getting too little light>.

Yes. I think this is a problem. They are on an East-facing windown...which I later realized is actually a slightly North-East facing window, and I have been keeping them with the sheer curtains on (the sheers have in fact a slightly opaque texture)...so I really think they were not getting enough light. I thought I wanted to make sure they don't get into direct light, but now I think they will be better off with the curtains drawn away, even if they will get a few direct sun-rays on them through the window, during the first part of the day. After 1:00pm it's complete shade anyway and the morning sun is not that strong.

.

This is why I cut the one that was really bad.

Yes, I realized mine is not a case of "necky-ness", at least not yet. But it's clearly asking for more light.
Funnily enough, the other AV which was sitting to the right of the one with problems, remained shorter and with leaves parallel to the ground (even though they both looked the same height and size when I got them). It just so happens that the normal one was to the right (east), so slightly closer to where the sun-rays are falling. I am just not sure whether being slightly more to the right in such a small area would really make a difference.

You can see the two AV-s in the link below. The one to the right stayed OK, the one to the left developed the problems I mentioned.

Thank you so much for all the info, no such thing as TMI for me. As you may have noticed, I am not exactly the concise writer either! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:362706}}

Donna-C

Thank you for the compliment - but I've only had these AV-s a few weeks and I feel that all that blooming was already started by the nursery. When I got them home they continued to bloom - but the question is, will the next generation of blooms be as numerous?

Some of the current blooms are starting to spend away and there are still a few small buds coming up - but not as many.

In my experience all plants I bought bloomed spectacularly after arriving from the nursery but once the nursery-started buds matured and went through their natural cycle, I was ne ver able to bring back the original blooming.

So I am afraid these presently pretty AV-s will never look this pretty again.

Below is a link to one of my other two: the pink ones which I got from the grocery store (as opposed to Pikes nursery, the purple ones).
One of the pinks is in an East window, the other in a South-East one. They both have been doing better than the Pikes purple ones, interestingly enough.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:362707}}

The biggest complaint from AV newbies is they can't get their violets to rebloom with the beauty as when they first got the plant. The biggest reason is what box store/nursery suppliers use as potting medium: pure peat which dries hard as a brick and is almost impossible to rehydrate.

The reasons on the buyers' side are (IMO) a lack of knowledge and a lack of consistency.

You are addressing the first by coming to this forum for advice. The reason you may not have been as successful in the past may have been that lack of consistency.

When a "blooming" plant dries out, the first things to wither are the buds. This makes people think their plants aren't blooming. They're trying but they need moisture so the buds will stay viable.

Please don't misunderstand: I'm not saying this is your case. But if you let your blooming plants dry out that could well be the culprit. What a simple fix, huh? :-)

Good watering practices (whether from the top, bottom or wick/reservoir), flushing once a month or so to rid soil of salt build-up, constant light fertilizer, adequate light and the right sized pot (no larger than 1/3 the leaf span) will keep your AVs happy and blooming for a long time.

The caveat: Sometimes they go through a dormant cycle after you bring them home until they get used to the lower humidity and different growing conditions. Once used to your conditions, they will start blooming their little heads off with only the occasional dormancy. They can also go dormant for a while after repotting.

You're on the right track. Just don't beat yourself up; and don't expect too much of your plants, either. You're learning and they're adjusting. Heck, I've been growing AVs for 40 years and I lost one last month. Don't know why; it just went phfft.

Linda

Thank you so much, Linda.

Would you mind clarifying the part about letting the buds go dry? You were implying that I should make sure the soil has enough moisture at all times, right?
I may have been too defensive about over-watering so I think I went just a tad too long until the next watering. They seem fine now.

Also, is it OK to pinch the flowers as soon as they start looking spent/withered?

Finally, if anyone could direct me towards a store that might have the type of violet below, I would appreciate it. I am crazy about that ink blue color - but I haven't seen it at my local Pikes.

Thank you again!

Here is a link that might be useful: Crazy blue AV

When you let the soil go dry for a long period of time, if there are any developing buds (ones you can't yet see), the buds wither and die. That's why evenly moist soil is important. Mine often dry out when I'm not paying attention and that's okay. You just don't want them to go through constant dry/wet/dry/wet cycles. I guess what I'm trying to say is going slightly dry for a day or so is no biggie; it's being dry for longer.

Yes, remove the flowers as they start dying out.

As far as that African violet, I would Google for dark blue (unless someone knows the hybrid). I think the camera had a lot to do with the deepness of the blue; don't think it's quite that "electric." But I could be wrong.

If you have a local African violet club that would be a great place to learn...and to buy some nice starter plants. Go to www.avsa.org and follow the "club" links.

One word of caution (wish someone had told me [not that I would have listened]): Don't overwhelm yourself and buy tons of violets until you get yourself into a rhythm with the four you have. That's what happened to me; there were so many beautiful ones out there that I just had to have one of each. Bad decision! I should have learned to grow my initial five well before I took on numbers six and beyond.

Good luck,

Linda

Begonia2005, I really like all of your plants! Below is a link to an article with tips for good blooms. Don't feel overwhelmed - it's not as complicated as it seems at first to make your plants happy and blooming. One technique not mentioned in the article that is used by show growers to get lots of blooms is disbudding, or removing all buds for weeks to months. Once the plants are finally allowed to bloom, they respond with large numbers of flowers. I enjoy seeing flowers all of the time and don't show, so I don't disbud.

Here is a link that might be useful: Secrets to Blooming Success

Hi, Begonia:

Don't know how the heck I missed your post with the quotes but I did. Senior moment, I guess. ;-)

In six months when you repot your violets, cut the mix to 3:1 perlite:peat and use the pots as intended. Ditch the AV soil when you repot. Soil need to be really light for self-watering/wick watering pots and AV soil is too heavy.

Donna is right and I forgot (thank you, Donna!): The nurseries do like the show growers and disbud until they ready for sale. If you don't disbud you will still get plenty of flowers but not in the profusion as when first bought.

Regards, Linda

Oooh....is this a trick nurseries apply to other flowers too?
For example, I have had a few geraniums for a couple of years now. They've been doing well and one has been blooming constantly; but after having those heavy initial blooms with buds started at the Nursery, I never got such blooms again.
I will definitely try the disbuding technique with at least one of the four AV-s.

And no, I was not planning on getting more violets - just one like the blue one above if I run across it. :-)
Otherwise I plan on having these four for a good while. I don't even have that much display space.