How To Repot a Violet in Bloom
Can you repot a violet in bloom? Yes you can. I do it all the time! And they just keep on blooming! I had always heard that you have to wait until they quit blooming or pick off all the blooms first. But, not wanting to do that, I repotted this one in bloom and put it on a wick water system just to see what would happen. Although it already had started to bloom again with three or four bloom stalks, it just busted out with more blooms after I did that. This is a week after I repotted it into a wicking mix. Look at all those buds! And it's still blooming.
You do not have to pick off all the buds when you repot. I've heard it said that disturbing the roots will cause the buds to be stunted but that's not always true. If you are doing major surgery or cutting the roots back, you probably should but most of the time it's not necessary.
In fact, ALL my violets just had a growth and blooming spurt just from putting them in my "special" wick potting mix and on a wick watering system! You can make your own mix. Can't believe how healthy they all look now. And they have never bloomed better. I'd like to say it's the mix, but the mix doesn't really have anything special in it, it's just a basic 40/60 sphagnum peat/perlite mix, a little coconut coir, a little lime, a little vermiculite - but apparently that's what they needed to just take off on a growing spree! So don't put off re-potting your violets.
Well I've been repotting them in full bloom for a long time so I know you don't have to disbud just to add a little dirt around an already established plant into a larger pot. They don't even know they've been repotted - they just keep on blooming.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO
So a while ago I thought I'd push the "have to debud it theory" a little and try removing all the soil and even trimming up the roots while they were still blooming! I repotted them by completely removing all the old dirt off the roots and replaced it with new wick mix to see what would happen. I didn't want to wait until they got done blooming and I didn't want to pick off all the blooms.
To my surprise, ~~~ nothing happened ~~~~ crickets. My plants just kept on blooming like they didn't even know I gently rubbed out and removed all the old soil from their roots. I even trimmed some of the old roots up where necessary. I put them in my wick mix of 40/60 sphagnum/perlite and wicked them up. Then I set them back in the same windows they were in. I didn't bag them either and they were all just fine. Not one of them showed any signs of distress whatsoever.
I was fully expecting to see them in shock and all droopy like the next day but - to my surprise not one droopy leaf or flower. In fact, I thought they looked a little more crisper with fatter buds (it's called turgid). So, I moved more of them over the same way without disbudding. They're all doing great like they didn't even know they were re-potted. They kept on blooming without missing a beat! No stunted buds or new blooms either. Some of them put out more buds and started to bloom profusely. I didn't know they had been so thirsty!
Personally, I don't see any advantage to picking off blooms for any reason except if they are deformed or sparse and you just want the next flush of blooms to be better. I don't grow for show so I don't have to time their blooming periods. And I don't believe you have to sacrifice blooms to have healthy roots. It didn't set them back one bit - in fact, it improved their bloom output while the roots were adjusting!
NO RULES TO GOOD GROWING
So if you've been picking off all your blooms each time you repot, you don't really need to do that IMHO. I wouldn't call it an "old wives tale" but maybe an "outdated violet rule" people just follow along with because that's what they've been told to do. That may not apply so much any more with the new hybrids and tougher breed of violets we have today.
And now you know that you do NOT have to pick off the blooms for repotting. It doesn't stress most plants out and they don't need that "extra energy" to put into the roots after all. They can do both just fine and at the same time as long as you don't damage their roots in the process.
I repotted the one below in full bloom and 5 days later it still looked great. Ten days later it just put out more blooms and it's still blooming. Not one bud drooped, collapsed or opened stunted. It kept on blooming! One older flower died but that's pretty normal for 5 days of growth. Actually, I think the flowers look bigger and "juicier" too.
I've since repotted over 80 violets over a short period of time and most of them were in various stages of bloom - with no adverse affects, so that's the way I do it now. Your mileage may vary because your growing conditions and the condition of your plants, soil mix, light, air and watering methods may be different than mine.
But on my healthy plants in bloom with no other problems except they need repotting do not need to be disbudded! Try it yourself with one or two plants you have. You might be surprised.
So there are no hard and fast rules that apply to everybody when growing violets. Just repotting a healthy blooming plant in my experience does not stress it out at all - as long as you don't damage the roots. It's like they are relieved they got a fresh start. Try it yourself and see what you think.
Violets that we grow today - they're more capable than you think, and they're very resilient.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 7, 2018 - All of the plants have improved and some of them are blooming crazy. Several of them have buds coming up. They've gotten bigger. I'm going to have to widen my shelves or consider another shelf unit... oh boy I've done it now...
You do not have to pick off all the buds when you repot. I've heard it said that disturbing the roots will cause the buds to be stunted but that's not always true. If you are doing major surgery or cutting the roots back, you probably should but most of the time it's not necessary.
Well I've been repotting them in full bloom for a long time so I know you don't have to disbud just to add a little dirt around an already established plant into a larger pot. They don't even know they've been repotted - they just keep on blooming.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO
So a while ago I thought I'd push the "have to debud it theory" a little and try removing all the soil and even trimming up the roots while they were still blooming! I repotted them by completely removing all the old dirt off the roots and replaced it with new wick mix to see what would happen. I didn't want to wait until they got done blooming and I didn't want to pick off all the blooms.
To my surprise, ~~~ nothing happened ~~~~ crickets. My plants just kept on blooming like they didn't even know I gently rubbed out and removed all the old soil from their roots. I even trimmed some of the old roots up where necessary. I put them in my wick mix of 40/60 sphagnum/perlite and wicked them up. Then I set them back in the same windows they were in. I didn't bag them either and they were all just fine. Not one of them showed any signs of distress whatsoever.
I was fully expecting to see them in shock and all droopy like the next day but - to my surprise not one droopy leaf or flower. In fact, I thought they looked a little more crisper with fatter buds (it's called turgid). So, I moved more of them over the same way without disbudding. They're all doing great like they didn't even know they were re-potted. They kept on blooming without missing a beat! No stunted buds or new blooms either. Some of them put out more buds and started to bloom profusely. I didn't know they had been so thirsty!
Personally, I don't see any advantage to picking off blooms for any reason except if they are deformed or sparse and you just want the next flush of blooms to be better. I don't grow for show so I don't have to time their blooming periods. And I don't believe you have to sacrifice blooms to have healthy roots. It didn't set them back one bit - in fact, it improved their bloom output while the roots were adjusting!
NO RULES TO GOOD GROWING
So if you've been picking off all your blooms each time you repot, you don't really need to do that IMHO. I wouldn't call it an "old wives tale" but maybe an "outdated violet rule" people just follow along with because that's what they've been told to do. That may not apply so much any more with the new hybrids and tougher breed of violets we have today.
And now you know that you do NOT have to pick off the blooms for repotting. It doesn't stress most plants out and they don't need that "extra energy" to put into the roots after all. They can do both just fine and at the same time as long as you don't damage their roots in the process.
I repotted the one below in full bloom and 5 days later it still looked great. Ten days later it just put out more blooms and it's still blooming. Not one bud drooped, collapsed or opened stunted. It kept on blooming! One older flower died but that's pretty normal for 5 days of growth. Actually, I think the flowers look bigger and "juicier" too.
06/01/18 before re-potting
I've since repotted over 80 violets over a short period of time and most of them were in various stages of bloom - with no adverse affects, so that's the way I do it now. Your mileage may vary because your growing conditions and the condition of your plants, soil mix, light, air and watering methods may be different than mine.
But on my healthy plants in bloom with no other problems except they need repotting do not need to be disbudded! Try it yourself with one or two plants you have. You might be surprised.
06/05/18 after re-potting
06/24/18 still blooming!
So there are no hard and fast rules that apply to everybody when growing violets. Just repotting a healthy blooming plant in my experience does not stress it out at all - as long as you don't damage the roots. It's like they are relieved they got a fresh start. Try it yourself and see what you think.
Violets that we grow today - they're more capable than you think, and they're very resilient.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES
July 7, 2018 - All of the plants have improved and some of them are blooming crazy. Several of them have buds coming up. They've gotten bigger. I'm going to have to widen my shelves or consider another shelf unit... oh boy I've done it now...
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