Isn’t it about time you grew African violets?
Imagine a house plant that blooms all the time and can do so for years – up to half a century or more by some accounts. In fact, if two months go by without any flowers, it means you need to make some adjustments to your African violet’s maintenance regime.
Moreover, this is a plant that is constantly giving you clones of itself — suckers that spring up around its base. These should be detached, however, since their presence will diminish flowering. You can root the suckers easily enough if you want to grow more of the same variety or pass them along to friends.
African violet (Saintpaulia ionantha) was first domesticated in 1892 after Walter von Saint-Paul Illaire saw it growing on a rock outcrop in a mountainous rainforest near the border of Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. African violets are endemic to this area, meaning that their habitat is restricted to this single location on earth. Saint-Paul sent two species of the plant back to Germany where they were hybridized and their offspring hybridized. Presently, more than 10,000 African violet varieties exist. Flowers appear in every version of violet, purple, and pink, and there is even a yellow cultivar that was bred with painstaking persistence. Leaves may even have ruffled edges.
African violets should be repotted soon after purchase since the soil they are grown in consists almost entirely of peat moss. Peat moss is a hydrophobic material that quickly goes bone dry unless it is kept in a humid greenhouse. There are plenty of African violet soil mixes available at the nursery but you should mix them half and half with perlite to create ideal soil conditions. You can also make your own mix consisting of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 perlite.
Since fertilization can be as frequent as every time you water there will be a build-up of salts that will necessitate changing your soil every six months to a year. Note: The soil of all tropical indoor plants should be changed no less than once a year. Crowding in a pot, however, can increase flowering in certain plants so just because you change the soil does not mean you need to replace your current container with a larger one. With African violets, the rule of thumb is to keep a plant in the same-sized pot until the distance of the foliage from one end to the other is more than three times the diameter of the pot. It is also wise to grow African violets in shallow pots, no more than two or three inches deep, keeping in mind that, in their habitat, their roots grow on the surface of moss-covered rocks and growing in soil is unnatural to them. Deeper pots result in lots of root growth at the expense of more leaves and flowers.
Water when the soil surface is dry. Distilled water is best but those who use tap water let it sit for 24 hours before application since this will allow chlorine, which may burn African violet foliage, to volatilize harmlessly into the air. Watering itself can be done either from above or from below. In either case, the pot should not be left in standing water for more than a few minutes to avoid soil fungus problems. To keep humidity high, put pebbles in a dish of water under your plant, making sure the bottom of the pot rests on the pebbles, or place more African violets or other tropical plants close by. A humidifier especially designed for indoor plants will also keep relative humidity elevated which, for African violets, should be at least 50%. Keep water off the leaves and keep your hands off them too. If you are going on vacation, make sure your soil is moist and then place your plant in a zippered plastic bag to keep it hydrated.
Fertilization is best done weekly. Some liquid fertilizers will tell you to put a certain number of drops in a gallon of water with each watering. Others may recommend a teaspoon of fertilizer in a gallon of water once a month; yet, since watering should be done weekly, it is preferable with such a product to add a quarter teaspoon of fertilizer per gallon of water every week. A balanced fertilizer (20-20-20) is generally recommended although, to encourage flowering, the percentage of phosphorus (the middle number) may be elevated above the other two (nitrogen and potassium).
African violets do best with 12 hours or more of ambient light but cannot tolerate direct light since it burns their leaves. An eastern, morning exposure is the best, similar to that suitable for the ubiquitous moth orchid (Phalaenopsis), with your plant kept 12-18 inches from the window glass. Low light results in thin, deep green leaves, while too much light may lead to rampant leaf growth. In both cases, flowering will be sparse to non-existent. You can test your exposure by putting your hand between your African violet and the adjacent window with the back of your hand next to the window. If a shadow is cast, the light is sufficiently bright, but if the back of your hand heats up, then the sun is too hot for your plant and will burn its leaves. If your residence is without sufficient natural light, you can employ either fluorescent or LED lights to grow African violets. Keep the lights on for 10-12 hours a day at a height of 12 inches above the plants.
African violets are easily propagated from their leaves. Detach newly formed leaves in the spring, cut into the leaf stems or petioles at a 45-degree angle, leaving an inch of petiole below the leaf, and insert into a light soil mix, such as half-sand, half-vermiculite. Within one month, roots will begin to form from the petioles (leaf stems) and by the end of the second month, new baby leaves will emerge at the soil surface. By the end of six months, plants will be of sufficient size to be placed in pots of their own. Leaf stems, like those of many other indoor plants, will also root in water. Older outer leaves should be discarded and not used for propagation.
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Due to the widespread quarantine on citrus trees because of citrus greening disease, local nurseries selling citrus trees are now rare. However, Mark Meahl informed me that Garden View Nursery in Irwindale has hundreds of citrus trees certified by the state of California that are growing in screen houses. The nursery is located under power lines at 12901 Lower Azusa Road. In addition to citrus, they have hundreds of avocado and other fruit trees in five-gallon to 30” box sizes. Nursery hours are 8 am – 5 pm Tuesday-Saturday and 10 am – 4 pm on Sunday.
California native of the week: As its name suggests, wavyleaf soap bush (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) can be used for hygienic purposes. A member of the lily family, its roots and bulb fibers produce a soapy solution when mixed with water. If you are looking for its bulb, be prepared to dig as it resides as deep as two feet underground. In addition to its unusually wavy leaves that can grow 18 inches long and cluster at ground level, soap bush has flower stalks that can sky to a height of seven feet and burst into a cloud of white blooms in July. Doug Kent, who brought this plant to my attention, used it for washing up on a bike trip in Northern California. He found it growing abundantly along the coast of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. Closer to home, it thrives in the Cleveland National Forest and is spotted when walking along certain trails in that locale. Wavyleaf soap bush seeds may be ordered at plantflowerseeds.com.
If you have an African violet success story to tell, please pass it along to joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions and comments as well as gardening problems and tips are always welcome.