FAQ: Page 9

The Violet Barn

Question: I grow my violets under florescent lights, but always have a few for decoration in other rooms. The blooms on these plants never have the deep, bright, colors that they do when under my lights.

Answer: This will happen when plants are taken from a brighter location and put into one less bright. Since most of us don't hang shoplights above our dining room tables, we suspect this is the case here. This is one advantage to growing under florescent lights. Not only can we regulate the hours of light our violets receive, but also the intensity--something we can't do when growing in windows.

Another possibility is that the light bulbs being used don't approximate the "natural" light they are seen in during the day in another location. For example, plants grown under "Gro-Lux" bulbs appear to have blooms much deeper in color than would be seen in natural light (i.e. sunlight). Shades of coral and red appear that aren't actually there. The more commonly used "cool" white and, to a lesser extent, "warm" white florescent bulbs tend to give blooms a dull, washed-out appearance. We like the "Gro-Lux WS" (wide spectrum) bulbs because they most closely approximate natural light.

The discussion refers only to how the plant appears to your eyes, not the colors that, in fact, are the actual colors. The distortions are being caused by the different color spectrums of light produced by the different light sources. Having said all of this, light intensity (brightness) and duration are much more important than the color of the light. One need not invest extra money in "grow bulbs" for healthy, blooming plants.

Question: I'm very careful with my watering, not to get any on the foliage of the plant, but many of my violets still show what seem to be stains on their leaves. These appear mostly on the leaf edges.

Answer: This is a very common problem, particularly when nights are cool and soil is damp. What's happening is that cool nighttime temperatures are causing "dewdrops" to form on your plant's leaves. When the "drop" evaporates, it leaves behind a stain. We find this particularly a problem in the spring and fall, when days are warm and nights are cool, and usually after we've watered and the soil is wetter than usual. The solution, of course, would be to moderate daytime and nighttime temperatures, and to water plants early in the day. This would let they dry some before temperatures drop at night. Doing these thins will also help control powdery mildew.

Question: How can I maximize the number of babies that I get from a single leaf? Sometimes I have only one to spare.

Answer: This is a problem most of us in this hobby don't have. It was years before we realized that we didn't need to root every leaf ever removed from our violets. Not to mention that we didn't have the space to grow all of the resulting plantlets! Sometimes, though, you have only one to spare--say, one purchased at a show, from a special plant.

Fortunately, African violets are very easy to propagate, in a variety of ways, from leaf. Here's what we do. If the leaf is large enough, cut away all of the leaf blade, leaving a "dime-sized" portion still attached to the petiole (stem). Cut the petiole at an angle (cut-side facing up) at a length of perhaps 1/2", and root as you normally would, using a very light and porous rooting medium. The more surface area exposed by the cut, the greater number of plantlets you are likely to get. The trade-off is that the rooted leaf may be more difficult to root and produce less vigorous plantlets, since a greater number will be competing for the same space and nutrients.

The section of the leaf blade that was removed can also be rooted. Remove the center vein. Take the resulting sections and firmly place the, center-side down, into your rooting medium. These leaf "wedges" will also produce plantlets (though more slowly). If the leaf blade is large enough, a number of small wedges can be made. Lastly, if plantlets are carefully removed from the rooted leaf, it can be used a second time.

Question: What pesticide do you use in your regular, preventative, spraying program? I would like something to control fungus gnats and springtails in particular.

Answer: Since we spend most or our days working amongst our plants, we try to use toxic chemicals as infrequently as possible. In short, we don't have a "preventative" program of spraying. We do use them, but only when a specific problem makes it necessary. Fortunately, we've never found pesticides to be needed to control fungus gnats or springtails.

Fungus gnats are those very tiny black flies that hover around your plants and in your lights. They're especially common in summertime, since they easily fly through window screens. Springtails are very tiny, light-colored, thread-like pests that can be found on the surface of damp soil or in water saucers, and can "jump about". Neither are much of a threat to your plant's health, unless found in very large numbers.

We've found that the simplest solution is to let the soil dry between waterings. The plant needn't go limp but, since both these pests desire moist conditions, eliminating the damp environment will eliminate the pest. For those using wick or capillary-matting systems to water plants, let the reservoir/mat dry thoroughly before watering. Also, these pests, like many others, feed on decaying organic matter--meaning dead or rotting leaves and blossoms. Good culture and regular grooming can prevent a host of potential problems.

Question: I've had problems with compound crowns in trailers, also occasionally a compound crown sucker in a miniature. This occurs even in plants that haven't been subjected to any unusual stress. Also, leaves from these plants will produce offspring with this same habit.

Answer: "Crown-suckers" can be very frustrating, particularly since they are difficult to remove without damaging the center of the plant. As you noted, suckering is frequently induced by stressful conditions, since this is just another means of the plant trying to reproduce itself. Showplants are notorious for suckering more when disbudded--preventing one means of reproduction only encourages another. Any form of stress--heat, irregular watering, overuse of fertilizers or other chemicals, can induce suckering.

Sometimes, however, suckering occurs even under good cultural conditions. Since this habit seems confined to a few varieties in particular, our guess is that this trait is genetic in nature. Some varieties are just more prone to (crown) suckering than others. As hybridizers, we also know that it's a trait that is easily passed along in seedlings, and has to be "bred out". In other cases, this conditions is present in only a few particular plants (a "strain") of the variety. Acquiring a plant of this variety from another source (who doesn't have this problem) would be the best solution.

Question: I plan on going on a two-month vacation this summer, and would like some ideas on what would keep my violets alive for this long. They won't be cared for while I'm away.

Answer: Though there may be a better idea, here's what we would do. Out of necessity, it's something we've done in the past with portions of our collection (before it became a business and we paid for "babysitters"). First, repot your violets, removing all but the center and, perhaps, the first row of leaves. Remove all buds and flowers. The idea here is not to leave anything on the plant (leaves or blossoms) that will need to be pruned or removed during your time away, since you won't be around to do any grooming.

You also need to keep the soil from drying out while you're away. One solution would be to wick-water the plants, being sure to leave enough water in the reservoir to last until your return. Another option is to place the plants in a transparent, covered, container, such as a plastic "sweater box". Since this prevents evaporation, the plants should stay moist for quite some time. Be sure to leave enough room inside the container for the plants to grow. This works very well with miniatures or very young plants. Be sure plants are well groomed and disbudded, to avoid anything from rotting.

Keep the plants in their usual bright growing area. Put lights on lamp timers, which will turn them on and off at regular intervals. Avoid leaving them in windows, since natural light can't be controlled while you're gone. If all goes well, your violets should do just fine. In fact, having been repotted and disbudded, you might just come home to a spectacular display of color!

Question: I've seen trailers described as pendulous, spreading, naturally trailing, and semitrailing. Could you tell me the difference? How should they be grown?

Answer: These are terms adopted by some hybridizers and growers to describe the growth habits of trailing varieties. Unfortunately, these will differ somewhat amongst growers and catalog listings. This is partly because hybridizers don't adequately, or accurately, describe their hybrids. Also, growth habit can be influenced by the individual grower--even if the variety is predisposed to grow differently. We've had customers show us their "trailing" violets--not a trailer at all, but one that had been allowed to sucker, develop multiple crowns, and which had never been repotted. After a number of years, the necks were long enough to appear to be trailing over the sides of the pot. Though this plant was trailing, it wasn't a "trailer".

"Naturally" trailing and "semitrailing" should refer to the way in which the violet is genetically predisposed to grow--i.e. not as a result of grower intervention. A semitrailing variety will most often grow in a shrub-like manner, with most of the branching growth being vertical. A naturally trailing variety will produce branching growth in a more horizontal manner--growing out along the soil surface, rather than up. In addition, though semitrailers often require pinching to induce a good trailing habit, naturally trailing varieties typically are more freely branching.

Naturally trailing varieties more easily lend themselves to being grown in hanging baskets (pendulous) or as ground covers (spreading) since, by nature, they will grow more horizontally. To grow as a "ground cover", gradually move the plant into larger pots, so that branches, or runners, can grow along the soil surface. Be sure never to use a pot more than 3" deep since, though the plant will continue to spread, its roots will never grow deeper than this. If a deeper pot is used, fill the bottom with perlite or other drainage material. To grow as a hanging basket, don't go to a wider pot to accommodate the longer runner/branches--when they reach the pot's edge they'll begin to grow over the sides and hang! If' you've got good window light, trailers can be spectacular grown this way. The trailing species violets grow very nicely as hanging plants. We've grown S. pendula kizarae in a window this way, and S. magungensis var. minima makes an excellent miniature trailer grown in either a saucer or hanging basket.

Semitrailers, on the other hand, will tend to grow as a small "shrub" in the middle of a wide, shallow, pot, since more of its growth will be vertical. These varieties look best when grown as small, bushy shrubs, rather than as ground covers or hanging plants. Use a pot only large enough to accommodate the plant--don't overpot expecting to see runners that won't be produced.

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