African Violet
Streptocarpus sect. Saintpaulia
African Violet
Native to Tanzania and Kenya. Flowers several times a year or throughout the year.
Since Oct 2021
Purchased already blooming from Home Depot
Journal
- October 2021
- Purchased
- January 2022
- 23: After the first flowers went wilted and removed, it hasn't flowered again yet. But the foliage is bushier.
- February
- 8: Nothing has changed. Problem: Hasn't been flowering since maybe Nov.
- 18: Budding!!
- March
- 1: There are 2 stems of buds. Each has 7 buds, and the top ones (2 of them in total) are quite large and about to bloom.
- 9: Blooming profusely. 4 full bloom, 1 opening, more than 10 buds. Distributed in 3 flower stems.
- 11: 6 full bloom, 15 buds, 1 more stem (bud not counted)
- 25: Watered thoroughly in preparation of 10 days holiday.
- April
- 3: Back from holiday, plants look very good and thriving, jammed pack with so many blooms. Only 2 blooms are wilting.
- May
- 10: Back from mother's day camping weekend, most of the flowers have now wilted. 35 deadheaded and the stem without flower at all pruned down. No more buds. In total there were 10 flower stems. Now only 8 flowers left from 6 stems. This flowering period probably had about 50 flowers at the peak.
- 10: young leaves that are too crowded and in the way in the middle are pruned and propagated. Now in water, but might move them to soil soon.
- 16: roots not appearing yet.
- June
- 5: Budding!! Observed: 2 stems of buds. Still tiny. Will check better tomorrow.
- 6: Noticed there are 2 distinct crowns.Dividing the plant into 2. Replanted in water control Miraclegro potting mix, then fertilized with rose formula following the regular biweekly schedule. I wish I didn't remove leaves due to crowdness back in May 10. But oh well, I didn't know back then. Let's name them:
- Avi 1 (the bigger one) - Has 1 flower stem. Fertilized
- Avi 2 (the smaller one) - Has 1 flower stem. Turned out to be 3 crowns! More dividing needed. Fertilized
- 6 evening: Divided Avi 2 into 3 parts this evening. They are all planted in Jiffy Seed Starting Soil, watered with warm water. Consider fertilizing not happening since soil is changed.
- Avi 2 - with flower stem
- Avi 3 - the larger of the no flower stem
- Avi 4 - the smaller one, also 6 leaves got severed during root cutting. They are planted as well.
- 8: Avi 2 is moved to bigger container (ex summer savory) and fertilized
- Mid: 2 largest plants moved into new container with hole.
- 20: 2 smaller ones are moved into small clay pots with Harry and Olivia names. 8 older cuttings grow ball of roots and the rest tounger are not yet. Since 8 is plenty, the younger ones are discarded. The 8 are moved into 1 long container for tidy keeping.
- 20: Avi2 blooms. Avi 1 almost. Avi 3 (Harry) and Avi 4 (Olivia) also have flower stems now.
- September
- 19: Avi 1-4 have been blooming so vibrantly and beautifully. They survived 10 days vacation too. The leaf cuttings also thriving. 2 even blooms, even though flowers from one blooming plant didn't survive the vacation. There are some dried up growth in the cuttings too, but they are removed without problem. Overall, 6 of them are kept.
Care
- Bright but indirect sunlight.
- High humidity, but don't let the leaves wet, other than light misting.
- Water with warm water. Better to put the water spout deep in the soil when watering.
- Good temperature is about 21 °C. Don't let it go under 15 °C.
- Fertilize biweekly.
- For baby planlets
- Takes 3-4 months for the plantlets to emerge.
- Do not remove mother leaf too early, it supported the base. But if it gets mushy or dried, just cut off the damaged part.
- Once the plantlets emerge above soil, fertilize with 1/4-1/2 strength
- Usually from a single leaf, we get 4-5 plantlets