Saturday, November 18, 2006


"Shrinking Violet?" This african violet has me stumped! All my other violets growing in the same area are doing great, this one is droopy and weird! It's in a pot with capillary action, so it draws moisture from the water-filled pot below...so I know it's not too wet. I made sure the soil was moist enough around it too, so it's not too dry, either. I tried fertilizer in the water within the pot below in case it was hungry...but it's been over a month and no improvement! In the past, this plant has flourished, blooming for months on end... now what? Is it pot-bound? Is it dying a natural death? Anybody have any ideas??

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looks too small to be root bound. Nut it also looks like it needs water. Is the caplilary action WORKING?

David (Snappy) said...

Ahhh Lisa, my African violets looked like that when they dried out.They got stressed and wilted.My baby plant is growing nicely.I use a pot within a larger pot.The water inside the outer pot evaporates and makes the plant think its in a nice tropical east african environment.Has yours been in the heat?
Sometimes plants just keel over.We mourne them then think which one can i try now.
ie My hollyhocks have all died, all 18 seedlings.Who knows why?They all wilted then shrivvelled.
Keep your chin up, and it may be better next time.Do you have surviving specimins?

lisa said...

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'm not sure why the capillary action would quit working when it did before, but I'm keeping an eye on that inner pot. I also have a "mini-greenhouse" that sits on a shelf, so I put the violet pot in there to try and hold in humidity. But if nothing else, Snappy may be correct that it's just gonna "keel over" and that's that!

Bob said...

Its hard to tell how wet the compost is from that picture but it gives me the impression of being too wet. If it were mine I would take it out of the pot and check the roots, just out of interest to see if there are still any there. I don't think you can hurt the plant now I'm afraid to say. They like high humidity but hate water on the leaves which of course yours won't have had being watered from the bottom. Just take a look how wet the compsot is in the bottom of the pot Lisa.

lisa said...

Good idea Bob....since I put it inside my little tabletop greenhouse it looks worse anyway-so may as well take it out of the pot for a final inspection on it's way to the compost pile!