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little_ms_mae

Strange leaves

Little.Ms.Mae
9 years ago

I got this poor plant as a gift a few weeks ago, and it was in full bloom with a bunch of horrible looking leaves. I snipped the flowers so that I could trim off the worst leaves and it could focus on growing new ones as opposed to more flowers. Now I am worried that there is something wrong with the leaves, as they all came in kind of funky looking. All my other plants grow nice flat leaves that radiate out in circles, but this one is all tight and twisty.

Is there something wrong here, or should I just let the plant do its own thing?

This picture is from just after I ditched the flowers, you can see the original leaves were fairly normal before they started dying.

This post was edited by Little.Ms.Mae on Fri, Jun 13, 14 at 15:53

Comments (7)

  • Little.Ms.Mae
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This is what it looks like now.

  • philpet
    9 years ago

    The plant looks like its recovering but I see two problems,pot way too big and soil too heavy.you need a much lighter soil one that has lots of perlite.you mention growing other plants,violets I assume that grow flat and ok,do you also grow them in this type of soil,I am no expert but I have learnt from the experts here that violets like small pots and light and fluffy soil,also the reason this one might grow this way is that it looks as if you have a sucker on the main plant causing it to maybe lean to the other side.i would repot,to a smaller pot use perlite in the soil and also remove the sucker.velleta

  • Little.Ms.Mae
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I haven't repotted this guy yet, as I wanted him to grow some new leaves. This soil is what it was grown in, as is the pot. I grow my other plants in completely different soil. I also think the next pot size down would be far too small. I've noticed there are no in between sizes in my area. It's this size, or the tiny size.

    I guess I will take him home this weekend and try changing his soil at least, and see if I can get rid of the sucker. I wasn't sure if that's what it was, since they look completely different when they pop up on my other plants. More like 2 completely separate plants growing from one stem.

    I got a plant from my husbands grandmother that I was able to split because the sucker was the same size as the main plant.

    I think this guy is actually about to start flowering again, I noticed some small buds growing yesterday.

    Thanks,

  • philpet
    9 years ago

    Ok,but about the pot size remember a violet likes a pot one third its size,so your plant should be three times its pot say a nine inches plant only needs a three inches pot.also if you do decide to split it, it would be much smaller.so I think a three inches pot would work or even a two inches.i use solo cups and burn holes in the bottoms with a hot nail,I have also realize the grow much better with only one crown,but this is a matter of choice.Velleta

  • Little.Ms.Mae
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I think I might try to split it, in which case the smaller pots I have would work. It will depend on what it looks like once I get it out of the pot. I would rather end up with one healthy plant rather than 2 half mangled ones. :)

    Thanks,

  • Little.Ms.Mae
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Looks like it was 1 main plant with 3 suckers growing off of it. I split the main and the largest sucker, and we'll see if the other 2 little ones decide to grow without any roots.

    Definitely not impressed with whoever grew this plant in the first place.

  • PRO
    Whitelacey
    9 years ago

    Velleta is correct: you need a much smaller pot especially when you remove the sucker. Violets need a pot 1/3 the size of the plant as Velleta said. There several reasons for this-violets are extremely sensitive to over-watering. Too big a pot and that plant sits in too wet soil for too long. Over-potting and over-watering are the number one cause of death for violets.

    Over-potted violets will spend most of their growing effort in filling that pot with roots at the expense of flowering. Also, flowering tends to be a 'last ditch' effort to reproduce. A plant that is in a smaller pot will be fooled into thinking its growing area and nutrients are restricted and this will often send it into bloom/reproduction mode.

    You also need a lighter soil-again so the violet does not sit in soggy soil.

    Your center looks fine. Remove the older leaves only when you are sure your violet is growing well. Damaged leaves are better than no leaves on a recovering plant. Re-potting will not hinder leaf growth. Often, the new soil will encourage growth.

    Linda

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