Hi Meg
I would repot the plant into the same size pot, remove all the dying leaves and sink it lower into the pot. I would also use a very light soil mix. Most people here use a 1-1-1 mix. The light mix will prevent overwatering any you can even wick it using a piece of acryllic yarn.
Fred in NJ

Thanks, Fred. I read the article about root rot in the FAQ, and decided to check the roots. All of them were brown/red. I cut them off, and checked the stem like the article said. I had to cut up the neck a little bit, because I could see that the red had spread into the neck. Once I reached a healthy green, I stopped, planted it into the same pot, removed the dying leaves like you said, and put it in it's own plastic Ziploc bag. I've taken a couple healthy leaves off as well and planted them in case the original doesn't survive. I don't have perlite yet,(I've just been using the original soil..not doing that anymore :( ) but I'm going to buy some tomorrow and make a 1-1-1 mix that I'm going to repot all of my plants into. Do you have any more pointers that I could try so that this doesn't happen again? Is wick watering the best way to go as far as watering methods are concerned? I only have around 7 mature plants...a small collection, but is it big enough to change to wick watering all of them? Thanks so much for the feedback.

Wow, Meg, good job finding the rot and removing it.

It's a wise thing to buy the ingredients to make your own 1:1:1. Also, if you have a tendency to overwater, you can put in maybe a 1/2 part of vermiculite or leave it out. If I watered once a week, my plants would be dead. That you can do that is a cue to me that you may be overwatering.

There isn't a "best" watering method because each of us has different tendencies regarding watering. Many people find wicking not to work. Other love it. If someone studied it, they'd probably find out why it works for some and not others. Until they do, there are multiple methods and each person swears by his or hers. I spoke to John at Cape Cod Violets last week and he swears that wicking is worst and shouldn't be used. He has his reasons. But, a person on another forum I read has hundreds of AVs on wicks and says it's the best method.

Hmmmm.

If you want to wick, you can't use a 1:1:1 mix. It will be too wet. Also, if you want to wick, it's probably best to start with one plant and see how it works.

For now, with few plants, I prefer top watering. It allows me the maximum in control. I water carefully (I actually measure the water a plant uses in 2 days) so that the soil will be dry sometime during day 3 (top inch completely dry to the touch and the pot very light when I pick it up). I don't want any plant still damp after 3 days. That's too much time without oxygen and gas exchange. Then I water again on Day 4. When the roots and plant grow, they need more water. When the plant starts drying out on day 2, I up the water a bit.

To me, the people who are successful have mastered knowing what is the right amount of water - how much is too much, how much is too little, etc.

I purchased some AVs this weekend from an AV person who is a member of a local AV club - a very experienced grower. When I got home, I repotted my plants. The soil was so wet that I could squeeze it and get drops of water. AVs do not like being that wet. If the soil is that wet and the plant isn't large yet or the roots not developed, the plant will sit in the water for days. That leads to rot and death.

When you change your soil, it should not hold as much water, which will help a lot. See how you do. If it works well and you like it, stick with it. If you find it difficult to water more frequently, consider wicking one and seeing if that works.

Oh, not sure if it was said, but AVs need to be repotted every 8 months to a year. Lots of reasons, but one is simply that the peat soils will break down and start getting mushier and wetter. If your existing plants haven't been repotted recently, that is probably a great thing to do next weekend.

Thanks! I'm going to repot all of my plants, as soon as I get the materials. I have AV Soil, and it has some perlite in it, but definitely not enough. I'll have to get some perlite/vermiculite. Is either one better than the other? Should I have an even mix of both? Thanks for the info. My plants sure appreciate it!

Meg

Oh...and another question. I usually water when the soil feels dry and starts pulling away from the sides of the pot. How do I check how deeply the soil has dried out? And is it okay to let them stay dry for a little while? Also, my uncle had AVs for a long time, and he said to water them with a spray bottle until the surface of the soil was wet, and to do it every couple days. He said it keeps the soil from getting too saturated. Is that a good idea?

Meg -

do not wait until the root ball starts shrinking. It will tear the roots and it will be hard to re-wet the soil. You do not want to let the root ball go totally dry. The good way to decide if it is time to water - is just lift a pot - it gets lighter - time to water.

Your uncle invented his own approach and it worked for him.
I would go nuts spraying hundreds of them.

The secret is to keep it moist but not soggy - and as Fred and Lathyrus advised you - the way to get there is to improve the soil.

I wick and I use 1:1:1 soil - and to keep it from getting too wet - I add a layer of coarse perlite on the bottom and I play with wicks - the smaller the pot - the skinnier the wick.

The house conditions are different - so everybody tries to figure out what works for him/her - and use it.

Irina

I imagine you'll get several suggestions - and they may differ. If you have AV soil, I'd read the ingredients and see what it has. Then I'd potentially take 4 parts of the AV, 3 parts perlite, and one part vermiculite. But, that is what would work with how I water.

Watering AVs shouldn't be this hard, should it? And, for some people it's not.

Here are the things you have to think about. If you water with a spray bottle, you are never allowing the deeper roots (which are often the ones taking in water) to get much water. You are also not flushing out salts that may be building up. BUT, if you water so that water comes out of the bottom of the pan (a goal if you are trying to flush out salts and ensure that all the roots are getting water), then you may make it soooooo wet that the roots are sitting in water for days. Not good!

You mentioned that you let the pot dry out until the dirt is pulling away. It sounds to me as if this is too dry. Peat is notoriously hard to rewet once it has dried completely. If you wait that long, you probably have to really soak it to get it wet again. Then it's probably too wet.

I water just when the plant is dry in the top inch. It isn't pulling away from the pot at this point. That would happen the following day or two. For me, this means that day one they are moist, but not wet (if I squeeze some soil together, my fingers get damp, but not wet and no drops of water fall). Day two, it would be barely moist - my finger picking up the top soil would be cool, but would barely register wetness. Day 3, the top would feel dry, but if I stuck my pinkie finger deep into the pot, it would be cool.

Does that make sense?

Oh, you asked if perlite is better than vermiculite. They serve different purposes. Perlite holds little or no water. It helps add air/oxygen to the mix and provide holes in the soil where air can be held. With AVs, you want to use a relatively large perlite - it comes in different sizes. Vermiculite holds water, as does peat. It also hold some air. But, it breaks down relatively easily, so it loses it's ability to hold air and simply starts holding lots of water (and nutrients).

Some people find that using it makes their soils too wet. I like using a bit of it, but not as much as a 1:1:1. A lot depends on how you water. If I was only going to get one of them, I'd get perlite because it adds more air exchange.

The vermiculite might be the cause of the problem with my Crimson Ice AV. There's a lot of it in the pot that I got it in; it constitutes probably more than 50% of the mix. I think it might have been keeping it too soggy underneath even when the top looked dry to me. I've got to repot that violet and my other plants in a better mix, and put perlite in it. I'm going to experiment a little with how much water I give them, too. Thanks for all the advise!

Meg

I did some experiments with mixes and water when I first started this. It was amazing how long some mixes can stay wet.

Two days ago I bought some leaves that were already potted. I came home and the soil was soaking wet, so I dumped it and repotted them all. I put all the soil into a bowl and set it on my dining room table. It is only about 3 inches deep (the soil) and has at least 8 inches diameter of exposed soil.

I checked it a few minutes ago and it's still wet. I mean, wet! And this is what those poor leaves were in (and in bags, too).

I am going to leave it to see how long it takes to dry out, but I bet it's many days.

I checked all of my AVs last night, and what do you know? I haven't watered them for at least 3 days, and they're all still wet about 3/4in down. There was only one that was dry, and that one hadn't been watered for probably 4 days. The mixes are all too heavy, so I'm going to repot all my plants as soon as possible.

Thanks!
Meg

Hi Meg,
I grow all my AV's on wicks and have had some success with them. I have posted a link to my album on filckr which will show you some of my plants all of which have been wick watered.
Fred in NJ

Here is a link that might be useful: Flickr photos

One of the problems with a heavy mix is that the top may be dry while the bottom is wet. If you wait for the whole thing to dry, it's hard to rewet AND part of the plant is without water for days while part of the plant is sitting in wet soil. If you water before the bottom is dry, there is not gas exchange taking place.

A "fast" soil resolves many of these problems. I still contend that there must be a better mix than one with peat, but I haven't experimented enough yet. I believe that one reason we all use such different mixes isn't our environments but because we all find a way to deal with the fact that peat retains too much water and isn't as light as it appears. We each find a way to prevent over or underwatering - from spray bottles to adding perlite to the bottom.

Wow, Fred! Your violets are gorgeous! If wick watering is what does it, I'd love to try. First I'm going to mix up a light mix that doesn't cause my plants' roots to rot. I never figured out what had made my first AV die (it did the same thing as my Crimson), until I saw this one drooping, and found out that it had root rot. I had kept that one in the pot/soil I got it in. I guess I just need to replace the soil in any new pots with my own mix, and toss any soil I receive new plants in. Hopefully then I can keep them alive and beautiful. I'm still in the experimenting stage, and I'm so excited to find what works! I might try wick watering with a couple of my violets and see what happens. I've got quite a bit of acrylic yarn, so I think I'll use that. Thank you so much!

Meg

Hi Meg~ Just as I expected you're getting a wealth of info here. I'm fairly new as well, and everything I know I learned here. And when something comes up that I don't know how/what to do, I simply come here and I'm on track :)

I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth about wicking. I had two small rooted suckers from a mamma plant that I reconstructed. I put them in the right mix 1:1:1 and potted them in a 2 oz solo cup, one I wicked and the other I choose to water from the top. They grew in the same window sill and gave them the same nutrients (I use VF-11). As they grew the wicked one had much, much lighter green leaves, the crown wasn't as perfect as the other, and when I went to move them up to a bigger pot, the roots in the wicked one were much smaller than the one that wasn't wicked.

I have no idea why this drastic difference happened, and I know a lot of ppl use the wick method. That's why I did the experiment, to see if there was a difference. And to see what worked best for me. Mind you I have a very small collection so watering them regularily isn't an issue for me.

The moral of my post is that everyones watering techniques vary. What works for one doesn't work for someone else. With that being said, I think you're wise in trying the wicking with a few of them. That way you too, will know what works best for you.

Hope you're still having success.

Maid

What Maid said is so true. I was talking to John at Cape Cod and I got the impression that he believes wicking is not a good thing to do. He told me that the only method to use is top watering.

He's a violet person and I am sure he has his reasons, one of them being the fertilizer buildup issue that causes tight, distorted centers. Yet, there are people like Fred who LOVE wicking and have great success. And, there are people like one on the Brat Forum who loved it for a year until something started happening (don't remember what) and then she switched back to another method of watering.

Try ONE plant for several months, maybe a half a year. See how it grows.