Growing African Violets, part 1



Esther's African violet



Today we'll start a new series on growing African violets (Saintpaulia).  African violets are a popular houseplant because they are relatively easy to grow, bloom nicely much of the year, and have attractive foliage even if they are not in bloom.  Many of us remember our grandmother's and mother's collections of African violets that proudly sat in a north or east window of their homes.  They are long-lived plants and are easy to propagate.  One of my African violets is a descendant of a plant I inherited from my mother-in-law 31 years ago. 

We'll start with watering, since over-watering or improper watering is the cause of death for many African violets.  African violets need enough water to keep the soil moist, but it should never be allowed to become soggy.  Soggy soil is likely to cause a number of bacterial and fungal diseases in your African violets, all of which are hard to treat and many of which are deadly.  Over-watering also causes the nitrogen to leach out of the soil, which then does not provide the plant with the nitrogen it needs to grow and stay healthy.

Water should always be room temperature.  Water that is too cold chills the roots of your African violet.  African violets are native plants of, you guessed it, Africa, and they don't like cold roots.  If you notice the leaf edges of your African violet begin to curl downward shortly after watering, it's an indication that the water that hit the roots was too cold.

Water setting on the leaves of your African violet is never appreciated, but cold water will almost immediately begin to kill the tissues in the leaves, leaving unsightly brown dead spots.  If you do spill water on the leaves, wipe it off immediately with a soft towel.  We'll talk later about misting your African violet, but misting is different than water setting on the leaves.  Misting does not leave large water droplets behind and doesn't cause damage, if the water used for the misting is room temperature.

Softened water should not be used for watering African violets.  Softened water contains high amounts of saline, which inhibits the African violet from absorbing water and nutrients.  If you have a water softener in your home and are not able to take water from a diversion valve before it runs through the softener, you should use bottled spring water or collected rain water.  Distilled water is not the best for plants, as virtually all the nutrients and minerals are removed in the distillation process.

Even if your water is not softened but has high chlorine content, you should consider using another water source for your African violets.  A little bit of chlorine doesn't hurt your plants.  In fact, chlorine as a trace mineral is actually required for photosynthesis to occur within the plant tissues.  But, if you can smell any chlorine in your water, it is too much for your plants.  Too much chlorine causes leaf burn and diminishes its ability to flower.  Too much chlorine in your water is easily remedied by pouring the water into an open container and letting it stand for 8 to 10 hours.  This serves the purpose of allowing your water to obtain room temperature before its use, too.

African violets prefer to be watered from the bottom.  Bottom watering eliminates the concern about getting water on the leaves or into the crown and causing crown rot.  The important thing with any type of watering is to not leave water standing in the base of the planter.  There are special African violet pots, which consist of an inner, porous pot that holds the violet and an outer pot to pour water into to immerse the inner pot.  These are attractive pots and they work very well for many people. 

I prefer a simple clay pot with a larger, detachable bottom basin or drip tray.  This allows me to water from the bottom, dump any excess water, and still allow the pot to "breathe" and dry out.  In my environment, the African violet pots hold too much humidity in the inner pot, even if I empty excess water after the violet is finished drinking.  The inner pot fits quite snugly into the outer pot and limits evaporation.  In a very dry environment, that can be a plus, but I have found that it often keeps the soil too moist, leading to disease and fungus gnat problems.  And I despise fungus gnats!

Tomorrow we'll talk about light for African violets.