Another pic

My jar place :p one homes a snail. One holds some hornwort trimmings and marimo. And the other has seamonkies. (And the av :D)

That is way too much dirt.

African violets dont need that much room for their roots.

Also, there is nowhere for the water to drain.

You should take it out of there and put it in a little pot. Then you can set the pot in the jar if you like. Your AV won't mind being in a jar. But, it will make it hard to water it. You dont want to be getting water in the crown as it can lead to crown rot. And of course cold water will spot the leaves.

Laura is right, that is a lot of soil for one small plant - it would make watering (little enough) near impossible, and is not likely to get it to bloom...
When I plant my av's directly into a fish bowl, I dig out a hollow, fill it with perlite, then plant it in there (with a bit of potting mix). Essentially creating a light inorganic 'pot' around the plant... I has worked so far on getting some feeble ones to get sturdier and grow, but I didn't leave them long enough to see if they would bloom.... The easier option is to just fill the bottom of the jar with pebbles and place the av in a pot on top of them.
Also, make sure you don't leave the jar in direct sunlight (seen as that would cook the snail too, you probably already know it :-). )

Karin

Haha you cant see (ill post another pic) i put rocks in 1st inch or so and i water it with a spoon :D most of the dirt is the roots then i just got the spoon and put in in the little space around it :)

Also...in the event of death i have 10 leaves from 2 months ago that have baby plants on them :) (from this plant)

That might work to keep the plant alive, but it would be much more likely to flower in a little pot. African violets flower after their roots have filled the pot. And that little AV will never have a root ball that big.

Soil, not dirt. Sorry, it's a Horticulturist's biggest pet peeve. Like fingernails on a blackboard. Mea culpa.

Linda

Chalkboard, not blackboard. It's a unicorn's biggest pet peeve.

There could be unicorns lurking, you never know :-( Dont look at me like that.

What?! I'm trying to help! You just...never mind.

I use 'soil' and 'dirt' interchangeably.

Similar to (not really) how a friend of mine regularly uses the word 'defiantly' in place of 'definitely' and every time she does it, it aggravates me more than the last time.

Hort 101-the very first class the prof. said, "The stuff you plant in is soil. Dirt is the stuff you get on your hand, face and clothes from the soil. If you use the word dirt when you mean soil, you will be excused permanently from this class." And he meant it. So, it was a lesson quickly learned!

I have a friend who has 'ideals' as in "I have an ideal where we can go for dinner." What??? He also has breakfastess in the morning.

Linda

Haha the plant is looking great as of now its really greened up! Will post pic soon

I have AVs in jars too, but the plant is in a little pot on top of the jar and the jar is used for wicking.

Even if the mini could get a root ball big enough for that much soil, it would need more space for it's leaves with a root ball that big. I agree with the others there.

AV's love terrarium types of environments. The drainage was really important, you can cut off all blemished leaves- always keep a rosette center (5-6 leaves) add some moss (New Zealand blonde moss around the violet) NZ doesn't rot and can handle moisture. I do terrariums when I'm board! ;)
I love the moss, because when I spritz spray water- no soil ever bounces on the leaves. Violets can get wet- they just need to dry completely before placing in light! And they will burn in full sun.
Michaels has huge glass globes- I do micro minis in them occasionally-and hang a few in my kitchen window. Colored glass bits (from the dollar store) bounce light really beautifully too (sprinkle a few randomly).

Debbya,

How do you hang the globes?

Linda

P.S. We had blackboards.

With the 'question mark' small screw hooks screwed in the ceiling (by the window) and thin ribbon laced in the metal hook (glass globes).

I'd love to see a picture. It sounds lovely.

Linda

â¢Posted by Lauraeli 5
That might work to keep the plant alive, but it would be much more likely to flower in a little pot. African violets flower after their roots have filled the pot.

Nonsense. If that were the case, there would be very few AVs flowering in the wild. I have had various AVs planted directly in large terrariums (55 gal and 90 gal) flower profusely and regularly. I assure you, their roots had not by any means "filled the pot".

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As Deb mentioned, crown rot is only an issue if you do not have decent air circulation. Leaving the top off the jar -- should the crown get wet -- until the water evaporates would suffice. For that matter, the plant would likely benefit from have the top left off much of the time to promote better air exchange.

Watering "with a spoon" would seem to be rather tedious. Had you not already had the AV planted, I would have suggested going with straight sphagnum moss or even an inorganic, very gritty mixture. With such, a drainage layer is not really necessary unless a person is typically heavy handed with watering.

This is a great thread! Advice, humor, and beauty all rolled into one. Lol

Love the pics, Paul. I would never have thought of doing that!

Sue

Michael, your jar selection is interesting. I hope your mini does well. Do you know what kind of a violet it is?

Sue

Paul,

You told us before but I can't find it-what is the plant that is growing to the left of the violet in the first picture?

Linda

No problem, Linda, but can you be more specific? Ones on the "ground" or the ones mounted and hanging?

No i do not know what type of av it is :P it is doing alot better in the jar. We will see how it goes :) (and yes i leave the lid off) also i cut the ratty leaves off that is why it is half the size :)

Paul,
The silver gray one on the ground. It's gorgeous!

Linda

Oh! You meant to the RIGHT of the AV. (The further descriptors helped immensely.)

It is Vriesea espinosae. Got it in trade (along with an number of other plants) from someone years ago. Wish they had sent me more of them. I keep hoping it will pup for me but no luck so far. From what I understand many Vriesea species are extremely stingy in the pupping department.

Paul- perhaps it is true, then, that an AV (an individual plant) flowers best when it has reached the largest size it can, within its specific environment?

An AV which has 'filled the pot with roots' cannot grow much bigger, and so flowers instead. Inside of a terrarium, it can grow to its full size under ideal circumstances, and so might flower beautifully after reaching full size. I have never grown in a terrarium setting, but i do know from experience that when a plant is up-potted it focuses on first roots, then leaves, instead of flowers, until it has filled the new space with roots.

Sorry-I meant the AV's left.

Linda

i'm sorry this is an old thread but it's such a good one, I couldn't resist.

Michael my suggestion would be to use a turkey baster to water the av, I think it would be much easier and you can water the bottom of the pot rather than risk the leaves.

I also think that as an experiment this is great... some av's prefer more humidity but I wouldn't close the top since the evaporating water is providing enough humidity for this plant. What I think will happen is the plant will grow much larger and the leaves will moosh themselves against the glass. I think it will look much better in a round bowl like a goldfish bowl.

In that jar i'd put a micro African violet, that would be more visually pleasing, but of course this is your experiment. :)

Paul your terrarium is gorgeous, so gorgeous it should come with a warning label.

The Vriesea espinosae just started my interest in bromeliads. It is beautiful and does well in the same environments as African Violets ... I think you mentioned this before but the terrarium is uncovered? As you said on another thread ... there's a difference between stagnant humid air and fresh humid air....

Debbya i'd also love to see some pictures of your terrariums ... (and I do need to visit the terrarium forums, I know ... :)

Linda that is the very best definition of soil and dirt ... lol....

Silvana.

Some call it dirt, some call it soil
It's the same stuff in which we all toil
The dirt this side of the fence is hoity toity soil
The soil that side of the fence is plain old dirt
Whatever stains your shirt,
Be it soil, as in the detergent adverts
Or dirt that is grime to scrub spic and span
Doesn't matter to me, it doesn't need to scan
As long as whatever it is does rhyme

This post was edited by lucky123 on Mon, Nov 17, 14 at 19:13