Naively re-potted African Violets into large pots!
 

Hi all,

I recently purchased 2 beautiful African Violets that were sold in 3 inch pots. Not knowing that they prefer a more compact environment, I re-potted them to 5 inch pots.

It's been about 2 weeks now and they don't seem to be in distress, but I'm wondering if I should re-pot them again into a smaller space? Would it be worse to put them through another re-potting or to leave them in the larger pots? I'd say they are about 8 inches in width.

Thanks!

I would leave them alone. We're going into winter. It's best to repot them in spring.

Divide span of leaves by 3 and it is approximately the size pot for it. So if between 8 and 9", then a 3" pot. But it won't hurt anything to leave it as is for now. AV's need to be repotted once a year anyway, and they're actually a pretty hardy plant.

They have a shallow root system, so the main thing is to make sure it gets enough water soaked up to reach the roots. With a pot that size, you can probably leave it in a saucer with water, then after the water is gone, fill the saucer again. Never water from the top.

I was reading up on the AVs and I can only add that they are extremely tolerant.

I had no idea how they liked to be grown and just treated them like I do my normal tropical plants and they are all thriving and flowering

I soak them from above. Grow them in hanging pots and under a patio
I found out after the fact that I was so wrong and so I have adjusted my watering a little

THE VIOLET BARN - Violet Barn has good info even if you're not buying.

Awesome, thanks so much everyone! I'll leave them be for now. I have been watering them from the bottom and if I leave them in water for about an hour they end up soaking up water all the way to the top.

Great! Just let it ride for now. And Violet Barn has some great violets, in the event the AV bug bites ya again. :biggrin:

AVs are a lot like Cattleyas and Phals - they survive enormously longer periods of time with dry roots than with waterlogged roots.

Just wanted to update that a few days after I posted this thread my violets started to decline quite a bit. They started spreading out and the blooms were falling. I took the risk and repotted them in smaller pots - the soil was still drenched even after weeks of no watering! I think it’s because there was more soil than the plant could handle so it was just sitting there drenched. It’s been about 5 days now since I’ve repotted and they seem to be doing well.

Also make sure you have a well-draining soil. Could be a combo of both pot size and soil.