I've had a few plants arrive that were not in the best condition, as well.

Some survived, some didn't. Usually, the grower will be willing to replace plants that were compromised upon arrival . Be sure to take photos of how the plants looked when you got them.

Remember, as you contemplate repotting, that AV's should be placed in pots no larger that 1/3 of the diameter of the plant.

To be ready for 4" pots, your African Violets would need to be 12" across. I know from experience that overpotting is a bad idea. The problem is that a large pot will, by nature of its size, hold more water than the plant is capable of dealing with. So, the roots rot, and the plant dies.

I just got a shipment of smaller sized plastic AV pots on ebay.

I've learned my lesson ...

This post was edited by aegis500 on Thu, Sep 19, 13 at 8:08

Hi Aegis
Thank you for this advice.
My instinct is to remove the plants that seem wilted
due to apparent overwatering and put them into larger pots so that there is some soil and vermiculite to soak up
the excess water.
The grower wick-watered them, they arrived quite wet.
I am not familiar
with this method and I did write to the grower for advice.

They already are much, much wider in diameter
than the teeny pots they came in, which are about
1.5 or 1.75.

But I am waiting to get advice first. So I appreciate
what you suggested.

They are very long-petioled in
very tiny pots.
The foliage looks way too long for the pots, and
they cannot stand without support.

I will have to find
some intermediate size pots, perhaps on-line.
There is one supplier who sells pots and has
a website.

Joanne

I normally order leaf sets , I gain more satisfaction from the plants that I have started myself . Also with leaf sets , the chances of bringing in "pests" that will affect my other plants are much slimmer .

I have ordered 3 plants in total , a Jolly Jubilee , Blue Dragon and Black Light streptocarpus . The Blue Dragon and Jolly Jubilee arrived soft , all they needed was a drink ( not saying this is the case with your new plants) .

I did not re-pot immediately , they first went into quarantine , well away from my other plants . I use a small aquarium with grow lights for my quarantine house . I did not them around my potting area until I was sure they were pest free .

Hi Phillip,
Thanks for this advice! I read in the book
Growing to Show that plants often arrive "leggy"
and limp! So that reassured me.
The plant is doing better now that I repotted it and
gave it the "spa" treatment (staying for many hours
in a very humid bathroom with strong lighting.)

I removed two leaves to "soak," as explained in the book,
Growing to Show. One of the leaves has perked up.

I think the plant will recover.

Joan

Joan,

Re-potting a wet plant into a bigger pot so there is more soil to absorb the water does not work. You are trying to get the plant to absorb the water, not the soil. You will still have the same amount of water for the plant to deal with. Sometimes, if I have a plant that is staying wet too long, I just remove it from its pot and let it sit until it has dried out somewhat. Or, you can remove it from its pot, remove the wet soil and re-pot into a drier mix. I like the first option for newly arrived plants as it is less traumatic.

The reason new plants are leggy is that when plants are grown in a greenhouse, they are tightly packed together so there is the most room possible to grow as many plants as possible. In order for the plants to receive light, the leaves stretch upward and get very leggy. (Yes, I worked in a greenhouse, too).

If your plants are in a 1.5'' pot, they are nowhere near ready for a 4'' pot. You need a 2.5''.

Linda

Thanks, Linda!
I was debating what size to put them in next. Thanks
for explaining the legginess of plants I got from two
different growers. Anyway, all seem to be doing
better now. I will shift the one I put in the too-big
pot down to the correct size.

In watching Annie's podcasts, I realize the 4" pots
I have are too tall and narrow. I will have to find
the "azalea" pots she demonstrates.

I often think I would have liked
to have worked in a greenhouse. I would like to
have a small greenhouse outside now rather, than
plants in rooms meant for people!

Joan

Joanne, I use the white plastic solo cups, the bathroom size ones, I think they are 2 oz. A plant can stay in that size for quite a while. I snip holes on the bottom edge with scissors in about four places, you can also burn holes with a soldering iron. I propagate my leaves in these and keep my smaller plants in them too. For small leaves I put more than one in these cups or sometimes use condiment containers or even coffee creamer containers for really tiny ones. I got some clear plastic 1 oz. cups at Party City that also work great for miniatures and I burned a hole in the bottom of those.

Hi Perle,
Great suggestions! Thanks! I will start looking around
for these smaller-size cups. In receiving such helpful
replies, the lightbulb has gone off, I realize I have
been overpotting even the leaves when I started
out with 2.5".
Joanne

I love the idea of using the starbucks sample cups...I am totally going there tomorrow and getting some ;-P

Joan,

In my experience, azalea pots are difficult to find. I have never used them and if you can't find them, just use regular 4'' pots. The trick is not to over-pot. A 4'' pot holds a 12'' violet.

Linda

Hi Linda
Again, great advice.
progress report:
I've started a bunch of rooted
leaves in tiny 1.5" pots with perlite in the bottom, a bit
of soil mix on top of that. I forgot to get wicks. I still
have not figured out what to use for wicks. Once
the leaves send up babies and I move them to 2"
pots, I will get wicks. They are all under domes.
My hardware store had domed trays.

I potted up the "leggy" plants from 2" to 3", but
again, forgot the wicks, and put in a layer of perlite.
So I guess I will be top watering. With all that
legginess, there is plenty of room.

i moved all the new plants that were not leggy
but not in regular soil that came from a different
grower that I had put into 4" pots down to
3" pots and they are in the warm, humid bathroom
under fluourescent lights. I had ordered 3" pots from
a grower. Also, a fertilizer to add to water for rooting.

I read the ingredients on the orchid food, it contains urea, so I went back to violet food for the AVs in bloom.

I gave away another batch of plantlets that had
grown into decent size plants, all potted up
into the right size pots. (I had to move some down
from 4" to 3")

There is a batch of plantlets coming up in 1/5" pots

What's next are the plants that have suckers on them
or a second crown to divide. There are just three of
those.

Joanne 47