Why do african violets stop blooming

These tropical plants need more moisture in the air to reach their full potential. Grouping your plants together boosts humidity; just keep the leaves from touching to prevent the spread of pests and disease. Placing your pot on top of a plate of pebbles and water or a humidity tray can also do the trick.

Just like you, your plant needs food to function. We recommend using a gentle formula every time you water for a steady boost that goes soft on sensitive roots. Want to learn more? Our guide to African violet fertilizer tells you everything you need to know. Buy specialty African violet plant food online here. African violets thrive around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. If your plant is either too hot or too chilly, it will stop using energy to bloom.

The fix for this one is simple. Drafty window? Move it somewhere warmer. Plant taking a beating from the sun? Pull it back and cool it down. We want fairly light—not compact growing medium.

Test by pushing your index finger into your current soil. If it goes in easily, it should be fine. Peat sphagnum peat moss has been widely used in potting mixes for years.

Because harvesting peat requires the destruction of irreplaceable carbon-sequestering ecosystems bogs , the search for sustainable alternatives is underway. Coconut coir is often suggested but it too has limitations. Hence, the quest to garden in an eco-friendly manner continues. African violets like to be slightly snug in their pots. This helps prevent excess water from collecting around the roots. For example, if the plant is 6 inches in diameter, the roots will be approximately 2-inches across.

For this size, choose a pot 2-inches wider than the roots 4-inches wide. How to Repot African Violets has everything you need to move your plants to the correct size pots. This is one big drawback to African violets: they rarely grow in good formation. Instead, they create extra crowns, suckers, or other strange leaf formations. You really have to keep on top of it or they get messy in a matter of months. This shows how to repot African violets and deal with excess growth.

The good news is, you can root your cuttings using these instructions :. Every time I repot and cut back some rows keeping just rows of leaves , I get new buds and blooms. This connects to what other growers mention: some plants become complacent.

The shock of a good trim and repotting can be just the thing to trigger new blooms. TIP: After blooming, trim away each flower. When the entire cluster is done, remove the entire flower stem gently. This helps encourage future blooming.

With good genes and the right growing conditions, you can expect flowers every months unless you have a genetic dud. In fact, watering the plants from below would be a good idea here. You can fill the saucer using water that is at room temperature. Allow it to sit for approximately an hour, and then get rid of any excess water. Let the soil dry out between watering sessions. If the water is too cold, it can damage the root system or cause spotting if you spill it on the leaves.

In order to ensure that your African violets will bloom, keep their surroundings warm. How you manage fertilizer can have a real effect on how well your African violets will flower. Typically, you will be growing African violets inside the house.

This means that the plants are entirely dependent on you and the environment that you create, as opposed to the elements that affect outdoor plants. You will need to be vigilant about providing just the right amount of fertilizer. This is important so that the plants will have the necessary nutrients to allow flowering.

With the high nitrogen content, this could actually lead to a lot of lush foliage and very little flowering. It would be a good idea to use a plant food designed specifically for African violets to make sure that your plant gets the right proportions of nutrients.

Hi Rose — Your damaged plant will probably recover. To hasten new growth, increase humidity around the plant. What can I do to help it survive?

To rejuvenate, snap off the damaged leaves, and then shift the plant to a smaller pot. Trim some of the roots, if necessary, to accommodate the smaller container.

Hope this was helpful to you. Well it seems that someone has had a small success or at least success as far as they can tell. Also I grow large standard African Violets for show. It is not uncommon for plant to be 18 to 26 inches across. Leaves are as big as 5 to 7 inches not including the petiole stem of leaf. Violets have fine fibrous roots and need a light porous soil. We call these soiless mixes.

A combination of peat and perlite. Plastic pots are used to maintain and evenly moist mix. Show plants are kept disbudded for months while the foliage is allowed to grow.

About 8 weeks before the show we induce budding. Want to know how to really grow an African Violet? Find a local club and join. Clubs love getting new people who want to learn how to grow African Violets.

Do a search for African Violet Show Plants and see what you find. You will see what a really good African Violet. Watch out for those clay pots. They dry out fast and harbor disease. Find a club in your area that is having a show and go. You will see what they are suppose to look like. These days, I grow Saintpaulia exclusively for pleasure — not for show.

Great site Kevin….. I recently bought an Oyama pot and a MoistRite pot to try… I also may try a clay pot…. With regular repotting they can live 50 years!

I have a question about lighting. I have cool whites like your setup. Many are like babies only a few inches across. Should these be treated like minatures for lighting purposes? Hi Susan — If all other cultural conditions are satisfactory sufficient humidity, not-too-large pots, etc. Kevin- So glad to have found your site. This year I got nothing, except one large one that my sister sent me a few months ago.

The temps have been colder than ever before so I keep telling myself that that is the problem. I do have a plant light mounted in this window that I turn on faithfully every afternoon and shut off when I go to bed late. Any ideas on why all this is happening- no blooms and failing plants?

I just discovered your site and I love it. The window with glass shelves are just lovely! I overlooked a 2nd crown growing and discovered 1 sucker so I separated them yesterday following your instructions.

I always heard not to get the leaves wet, use a brush to clean the leaves, etc but tried the shower according to your instructions. They look awesome and so happy grateful too today. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and great photos. Hi Kevin, Our city water has ph 8. I fill containers and let sit for days, then I have been adding 18 drops of vinegar to make the ph 6.

My violets are looking good and have many flowers, but is this the appropriate way to water. Please help! Hi Kevin, Lots of great information. Could you tell me what I am doing wrong. They do not reach up tall like I thought they should. The shower you talk about also.

Do you mist the plants with water? And how does that get rid of the dust? Thank you for your help Rose Ann. I have read many site on African Violets, but I really like yours. IT gives off a vibe that tells me you really know what you are doing. I wanted to share my story quickly. Well, after a friend of mine came over and told me that such healthy plants should be in bloom year round, I was excited!

So I did some research before I fund your site and did a few alterations. I already used liquid African violet fertilizer every time I watered, but added a pinch of epsom salts to it back in january, started watering from the bottom, and put them directly in the south east window sill.

Within a month it was in full bloom. This one has 3 individual plants in one pot and each one bloomed, but one of them had more flowers than leaves and they were quite dense in leaves, even though I keep thinning them out.

The funny thing is that they are completely different from the ones they produced before! More colorful, vibrant, and larger. One went from producing dull white flowers, to soft pink ones.

They are getting too big for their pots now but as long as they are happy, I will leave them alone! I think I will get a few more! My new favorite plant! I have a purple African violet that is 45 years old. It is my baby and I love the way it just keeps blooming and blooming and blooming. I like to feed it just African violet food.

I do have to separate it every once in a while so that I get more than one plant but the mother plant is actually 45 years old. It was a gift from one of my college friends when I was first married.

Every time I stop and think how old it is I am very surprised. Wishing you all lots of success with your plants. I have repotted it several times, merely moving into bigger pots without cutting any shoots off. I guess I will need to perform surgery, but am very nervous. Did I mention that I am not a plant person? I honestly ignore it and water from the bottom —- and it is in near constant bloom!

Any insight would be appreciated! I had a Violet for over 11 years she died about 4 months ago I could not saved her. I wonder if there is a way I can bring her back, I have not town away the pot, I was wondering if there could be a seed or something I can use to bring her back. I got attached to her. Thanks for the great info!

I had to repot my violet because of its trunk being too long. How long do I need to keep my violet in the plastic bag? I really enjoy reading your post. I bought an African violet about 6 months ago and it came in a small plastic container, and I have not been re-ported since, Most importantly I have been waiting for it to flower but it seems to keep producing healthy leaves.

I left my African violet in my bed room. After reading your post, I know what type of fertilizer to use so thank you for that, however, could you please advise me on anything else i need to use or add. Thanks mate. It was really awesome. After reading about African Violets on your blog, I have been inspired to start growing my first plant. I recall my mother having some that she loved. I got a clay pot, tray with stones, waxed the edge of the pot and am watering and fertilizing as you suggest.

My flowers are terrific and continual. However the leaves seem pale. Is it that the sun is too direct? African violets are new for me, I have 3 and am going out of town for a month, how can I keep the alive? I have no one to care for them. Years ago I took my violets to my office to spruce it up. I even had salesmen comment on how beautiful they were. My husband took a job out of state and therefore I had to give my notice. I left them for my co-workers to enjoy.

How much deeper my pot should be to let the African Violet bloom happily? I am giving enough sunlight humidity and water to it. I am not sure what I am missing. But I kept it in a 2. Is this a reason? Sudheshna — You mentioned light and humidity — but not fertilizer. Try feeding your plant with a high-phosphorous formula, such as NPK , as mentioned in the article above.

Otherwise, your violet seems happy in where it is. As a rule, only shift to larger quarters when the diameter of the leaves measuring leaf-tip to leaf-tip exceeds 3X the diameter of the pot. Good luck with your violet! I am writing to you because I asked Google to take me to a website exclusively for self-watering African Violet pots. But as you can see, there is not ONE word on your website having to do with self-watering pots. I get so tired of Google leading me astray.

Why do they do it? And why do you let them? Thank you so much for this guide! I have since reading this over a year ago taken on several violets. I have been able to talk to people in my community into giving me a leaf of their healthy plant and created several wonderful starts.

I used to be afraid that I could only grow spider plants and other such common houseplants. I now use this for my violet starts. I never would have seen the possibility to use this container without reading your advice. Thank you for providing such great picture based advice. I truly appreciate it! Hi, Great info. I caught the bug two years ago and purchased a bunch of leaves from different sellers on ebay.

All were colorfully flowered variations, and of leaves. They grew like maniacs and are all healthy in one big pot- and it blooms regularly in the winter and summer but only WHITE flowers on all of them….

Was I scammed by all of these different sellers? You do have a green thumb! I thought you might have ideas on why. Thank you, Debbie. I found what looks like part of a stem growing out of one of the flowers. Never seen such a thing. I water it once a week, and have very healthy leaves, but I never get blooms.

Any advice? What a beautiful website and helpful posts! Quick question … I am planning on using AVs as my centerpieces at a wedding shower that I am hosting. If I pick up my AVs today, will the blossoms still be beautiful 5 days later for the shower? Reflecting, more or less really. We grew hundreds of these plants in our basement under fluorescent lights. The club had its own show and she received many rosettes, blue ribbons for her plants. We also had a booth at the lawn and garden show in the spring.

I grew them when I graduated from college and entered my plants in the category, window grown. It was a pink, ruffled variety. We also traveled to Pennsylvania to attend an African violet show, our president was a lady by the name of Sue Hill. Hi Kevin, I received a basket of 3 African violets surrounded by ivy. They were all potted individually. The minute I brought it home, the blossoms started wilting. The Ivy looks fine. What should you do with to many suckers?

In her casket spray we had 2 violets added. My brother and I each got a plant. He had never grown a violet. His blooms almost consistently and I have yet to have a bloom. What do I need to do? He loves sending me pictures of all his blooms, knowing mine is barren. Your site is very bright, very easy to follow and makes it sound easy to do. I have 2 African Violets, a pink one and a purple one. The purple one does not bloom and I managed to kill the one I had previously.

I am going to follow the instructions I read on your site and will let you know if it worked. Thank you so much for a great site. Hi Kevin, just loved your site and the plants look so healthy and vibrant. I am a nubie but I have a question. One of my violets started life as a green plant but now it is variegated.

Can you tell me what I am doing wrong? I also not that a leaf from the variegated plant was green and now it too is becoming variegated.

I just stumbled onto your site while looking for help with my African Violet starts. Imagine my excitement when I found great recipes also! I LOVE this site! The info on the plants is the most concise I have found and the pictures tickled me to no end.

I am a visual learner and these pics are like best friends for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Hi Kevin, I just discovered your great site today. I live in Peru, South America. Can you help me? Thanks so much. I love my violets but I cannot get 2 of my trailers to bloom at all, it was 3 but after6 months one has decided to start a bloom the other two? Hi Kevin, thanks for all of the great info.

Until I decided last year to try to get it to bloom it had not bloomed in almost that long. I read that I needed to bury the neck so I did that but in the process I partially broke it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Hi Kevin, I enjoyed reading all your tips and questions by readers. I love violets and have many different varieties of full-size and miniatures. I fertilize with every watering, and some of my violets bloom almost all the time. Others rarely or never bloom. I have no windows in the east, but the place I have them gets good sunlight most of the am and into the mid-afternoon.

This summer I went to an African Violet show with my grandmother and she bought me one of my very own. I can only really keep it in my bedroom. I have two windows, one West-Northwest and one North-Northeast. But I live in West Virginia and it gets pretty cold in the winter. Plus, our house has no central heating, so I use a little room heater. I also read somewhere that African Violets need 8 hours of darkness to bloom.

Right now, my violet has 9 leaves, including some really tiny ones in the center; 4 or 5 of those leaves are fairly large, and 3 of them have stems about 3 inches long. Thank you for any advice you can give! What am I doing wrong. Some of my leaves have brown spots on them. I am careful watering them. I always water from the bottom. I never knew all this about African violets.

My grandmother grew them when I was a child but never shared her wisdom with me about their care or propagation.

Thanks to your advice I am hoping to not only get mine to flower but also produce babies. I will send pictures when I do. I have had very good luck with African violets on a much smaller scale. I have used some of your method and will incorporate additional tips. Phosphorus is not good for the ocean. If I remember right it contributes to algae growth and algae robs the ocean of oxygen.

Having said that I have one plant besides my Christmas tree that needs to be planted. Anyway I just misted it and introduced it to our youngest feline Jewel who is very smart. If she stops knocking it off the cabinet the African violets long term.

I also gave the plant a modified pep talk and sang it one line of the Hallelujah chorus. I immediately repotted the plant in a four inch pot with miracle grow potting mix, vermiculite and perlite. I put a miracle grow fertilizer stick in the soil. It is sitting on a pebble tray with water does not touch the water to give it humidity and it is sitting under a grow light right now as my windows are not getting enough sun winter time.

I keep it under the grow light around 15 hours per day. It is getting enough water and I do not overwater at all. I have a flower garden outside with perennials and a rose bush and they flourish!!

So, the blooms all died. The leaves are mostly green and they are growing. One leaf has a brown tip. I removed the dead flowers from the plant. It seems I am giving this plant everything it needs so why is it not flowering and why the brown on the leaf?

I received Server error on numerous links. Felt you need to know these kinds of issues. Hope you resolve as I love reading all your articles. Thank you Kevin for all the valuable information! I have been growing a violets in my bay window for 20 years. I especially love the flowers in Winter. However I have never grown babies from a leaf. Thank you again! Noreen, Duxbury MA. My hubby gave me a violet about 20 years ago and it was grown from seeds that were taken into space.

The flowers are very ruffled and a tint of green on the very edges. I just love it. It seems so very happy, it blooms all the time. Thank you for your info, I will try it your way and hopefully get some this time. Thank you, Kevin, for all of the very helpful info and for sharing photos of your beautiful flowering African violets.

I had it in a subdued sunlight. Thanks again! I get a kick out of the flower variation…white to dark purple and many combinations between. Mine are in the window above the kitchen sink, north window,florescent light over night. I love my African violets. What I cannot figure out is that they all get the same treatment, yet some bloom and some do not.

What I want to know is this: are some violets that you buy all beautiful from the grocery store cultivated in such a way that they do not bloom later? This seems to be happening with my most recent purchases.