African Violet Buds!

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

I had one survive in a terrarium but it didnt thrive, eventually just withered away. How do you keep yours in the terrarium?

Never been an issue, Caesar. If anything, they grow a bit too well sometimes for me in terraria. My 55gal and 90gal terrs respectively:

[My Green Pets]

Beautiful terrariums.

I bought a mini african violet a few months ago and repotted it, and within days all the blooms and buds had withered.

The leaves are nice and green and growing, but no buds. Liquid ferts and more light you say?

[Tindomul]

Awesome.

[RandomGemini]

Cambria, I have mine an inch or two from an east facing window. Similar light to what I give my phals, but a little bit more shaded, because a tree filters the light to this particular window somewhat. I'm using miracle gro liquid fertilizer for African Violets, mixed at a rate of approximately five drops to 16 oz of water and that's what I water the plants with. I also repotted the one that's in bud after it dropped its blooms, miracle gro african violet mix is what I used.

I'm looking to see if there are better mediums and fertilizers and pots out there, but at the same time, I'm thinking, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

Beautiful terrariums.

I bought a mini african violet a few months ago and repotted it, and within days all the blooms and buds had withered.

The leaves are nice and green and growing, but no buds. Liquid ferts and more light you say?

Newly bought African Violets do not need to be repotted. They generally need repotting when overgrown.
Your plant withered because you disturbed the fine relationship between the root hairs and soil around it by repotting it. Also, when repotting, unlike orchids, you have to try your best to keep all the potting mix around the roots intact and just add more fresh mix around the larger pot (or new pot of the same size).

I grew these for years in the same pot without repotting ever with great results.

With time, the plant will come back to life, but some (if not all) of the withered buds may not come back to life. They will continue to bloom when conditions are favorable to them.

---------- Post added at 09:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:25 PM ----------

Originally Posted by RandomGemini

Okay.. wow... tapatalk posts TINY pictures!

I will not be posting photos with tapatalk anymore.

The buds (larger):



The older pic:



The pink and purple violet: I'm not sure what to call this coloring.

The flowers in the second picture are my kind of African Violets.
I love the blue violets of all shades and then the white one with blue halo, or the blue with white halo.

[RosieC]

Really lovely! Never tried these, my Mum always used to grow them.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

Beautiful terrariums.

Thank you, CW (and everyone else).

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

I bought a mini african violet a few months ago and repotted it, and within days all the blooms and buds had withered.

Bud loss could very well be due to a combination of repotting and overall change in its growing conditions from where you obtained it. I wouldn't worry about it. They tend to be prolific bloomers. (It is VERY common, in fact, for folks who show African violets to completely disbud their show plants a month or so before showtime. By the time the show comes around, the plants will then be in full bloom.)

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

The leaves are nice and green and growing, but no buds. Liquid ferts and more light you say?

If you did a major repotting (changing of media) then your plant may be still adjusting to the repot -- establishing a root system, etc.

I, personally, would not fertilize at this time. If the plant is still adjusting from the repot, fertilizer can wait. For that matter, the new media should have plenty of nutrients. AVs that have been grown in the same pot for a year or more tend to benefit from fertilizer as they deplete the nutrients that were present in the media originally.

More light could very well be key. Are the new leaves growing more vertical or is the plant maintaining a more or less flat rosette?

[RandomGemini]

I have to agree, it was probably too soon to repot. I repotted my violet, because it had suckers (multiple crowns) It was time to divide it. Once I removed the additional crowns and got it into fresh potting mix, I started seeing buds on it again. If it hadn't been for that, I probably wouldn't have repotted it at all.

AVs like to be in tight pots. The rule of thumb is that the leaf span should be about 3x the diameter of the opening of the pot they are placed in. So, a plant correctly potted in a 4" pot, will have a 12" leaf span. I don't think over potting them will keep them from blooming though, but I do believe that they bloom better and more readily in a tight pot. My AV that is in bud, is over potted. I put it in a 5" pot after I performed surgery on it, because that's what sized pot I could find.

Some people like clay pots. Some people like azalea pots. I'm using self-watering pots, because I'm lazy and only really mess with my violets once or twice a week. I check on them when I check on my paph. They won't get enough water that way because they like to stay pretty moist.

Edited to Add:

Rosie: You should totally try them. They're inexpensive plants, even if you order them from a nursery that specializes in them and they're really, really lovely. For me, it's like having a little piece of my grandma right here with me.

[Optimist]

I have an over 30 year old African violet-- just a plain frizzy white one with a huge rhizome. It was given to me by a friend who I lived with and recently died of cancer. It was his mother's and she had it since the 70's or so. It has almost died so many times. I just dropped it recently and a lot of leaves cracked off. I put it in a sheltered area, put some water in the dish to wick upwards and it is filling out and making little white flowers.

After he died I lost my home (I lived with him) and had to move down to where I live in New Mexico. That little African Violet was in my cup-holder the entire 700 mile journey. I saved it from being tossed in the dumpster when they were clearing out his house to sell it.

I want to get some more violets and their kin. Between orchids, epiphytic cacti, iris, succulents, and violets, an herb garden I have quite a lot of plant interests.

[Tindomul]

30 years!!! Wow.